Getaway Blog Hop with Island Batik

Cat on a Wall quilt by Dione Gardner-Stephen of Clever Chameleon

Paisley Park meets Cat on a Wall

Welcome to my stop on the Island Batik Getaway Blog Hop. This is my last project as a 2018 Island Batik Ambassador, and accordingly, a biggie.

Back in July I received a “Surprise” package. Inside were glorious Paisley Park fabrics that had to be kept secret for the longest time! But today I can show and tell all. My instructions were to use as many of the different fabrics as I could to create a quilt of at least lap size. And if I wished, to incorporate themes of travel and destinations.

Paisley Park fabrics by Island Batik.
Paisley Park fabrics by Island Batik

So much beautiful fabric, so many quilt options. But I’d had an idea that had been waiting it’s turn for a very long time, and around September it finally it dawned on me that the colour and contrast spectrums of the Paisley Park fabrics would be perfect for it. My Cat on a Wall design from eons ago.

Cat on a Wall quilt by Dione Gardner-Stephen of Clever Chameleon

Read on…. I’ll introduce you to my Cat on a Wall quilt – Paisley Park Getaway style. Of course, surreptitiously getting you hooked on these new fabrics in the process. 🙂 And then I’ll tell you how you could win a 5″ strip pack of 20 of the fabrics used in my quilt. I’d love you to be able to have a play with these fabrics, they are even better in real life.

The rumblings of a Cat on a Wall quilt idea

In a very early incarnation of Colour and Inspiration Tuesday, I found a magnificent photograph of a brick wall in sunset colours. Loved, loved, loved it. So I turned it into a colour board and noted how easily it could be turned into a quilt.

But then I thought that a simple wall quilt would be a wee bit boring…. you know I’ve always got to be adding stuff to quilts to make them more “me”! So I added a sky space to the design above the quilted wall….. Now it was a blank slate for all kinds of fun. What was sitting up on my wall….? Well, that could depend very much on which day you ask…. or even the time of day!

As it happened, at the time I was posting, there was an imaginary cat traversing my imaginary wall. So I ended up with a design like so, noting that it would be fun in all sorts of colour combinations, not just Sunset.

Cat on a wall, basic quilt design by Dione Gardner-Stephen of Clever Chameleon

So, when it occurred to me that Paisley Park is made up of a very light neutral print, a large number of glorious medium colour prints and a really dark purple print, a light bulb went on. To showcase all my fabrics, make that Cat on a Wall quilt! So, aided by a generous second helping of the lightest Paisley Park print from Island Batik so that I would have sufficient fabric for the mortar, I was all set!

Cat on a Wall quilt by Dione Gardner-Stephen of Clever Chameleon

Making the Cat on a Wall quilt – the materials

The fabrics, batting, and the thread used for piecing were provided free to me for this quilt by Island BatikHobbs Batting and Aurifil respectively. I used HOBBS cotton batting with a binder and my large cone of 100% cotton white 50wt thread from Aurifil. I am so happy to have had the opportunity to work with these brands the last 12 months. I’ve been very fortunate to be able to work with so many top quality products all year – thank you to all three companies for their incredible generosity.

I also used my favourite Madeira rayon threads for the appliqués on this quilt.

Pistachio Basics Batik from Island Batik
Pistachio Basics Batik
Chameleon Basics Batik from Island Batik
Chameleon Basics Batik

As I’ve already harped on, the main fabrics of this quilt are Paisley Park. But, bundled in with my Surprise fabrics were also two Island Batik foundation fabrics. One very aptly named “Chameleon” and the other named “Pistachio”.

The great thing about my Cat on a Wall quilt idea, is that you can incorporate any number of fabrics, or even make it from scraps. The “Chameleon” fabric had to be included…. of course it did! And I felt that the “Pistachio” colour really lifted the Paisley Park palette, adding some zing. So in went this tasty little number as well.

Mardi Gras Leaf Vine batik from Island Batik

The finished quilt is also bound with the Chameleon Basics fabric. And the backing is mostly Mardi Gras Leaf Vine, with scraps of many of the other Paisley Park fabrics forming a feature panel.

Making the Cat on a Wall quilt – the process

Heather MUM Batik by Island Batik
Heather MUM Batik

I started by cutting one 4″ WOF strip from each of my fabrics, except for the Heather MUM print put aside for the mortar. I then subcut these strips into various length “bricks” and stuck them back together with varying widths of “mortar”. I wanted a casual-ish look like the original wall photograph.

Grape juice MUM Batik by Island Batik
Grape Juice MUM Batik

Some fabrics, such as the bright purple Grape Juice MUM print required a second 4″ WOF cut to get enough bricks to obtain the colour distribution I wanted.

Because I didn’t use the same sized pieces for all the bricks or all the mortar pieces, putting together the quilt top actually took a really. long. time. Much longer than I expected, and I’ll admit I’ve been a bit up against the wall for time ever since. And that never bodes well for quilting, does it?

Anyway, I joined all my strips together, alternating with 1.5″ strips of Heather MUM, added a light purple strip as the top of my wall, and the dark purple for the night sky. Then I added the appliqué cat and stars. I had a lot of help with this stage. So far so good.

In my head, I had always seen the wall part of this design as a glaring invitation for further decoration. One idea I had was a flowering creeper or other garden motif, but I wasn’t convinced that that was the right solution for this colourway….. If I was going to do that, I’d probably start with a lighter coloured background. So the writing was on the wall….. it had to be idea number two.

Which was? Writing on the wall, of course!

Writing on the Wall

My first inclination was to splash big writing across the brickwork. And I might have, except that this is a kids’ quilt. And little minds do not need to be impressioned with anything that might resemble graffiti. Hmmmm….what else then? Oh yes, real bricks can be made with text and motifs printed into them – we have some in our school paving…… I could add words to my individual bricks!

Three Wishes Monkey Quilt by Dione Gardner-Stephen of Clever Chameleon

So what words to choose? The stars already on the design made me think back to another word quilt I made….. Three wishes monkey. The thought behind the words on the Three Wishes Monkey quilt went like this:

“Three Wishes Monkey came about from my desire for the sweet boy in question to have the things that really matter in life. And those things are generally not things at all, but good relationships and great character.  So I wished I was his fairy godmother and could grant him three amazing personality traits to set him up for life. But since I haven’t yet managed to get my fairy godmother’s licence, I had to settle for some quilted encouragement to develop his own character.” – An earlier version of Me

For that past quilt I chose courage, kindness and confidence as my three wishes.

Back in the present day, I thought, why not revisit this idea?

Since the fabric reveal blog hop has the theme of “Getaway” I used that to narrow down the field for three wishes to bestow upon this quilt….. and I chose Freedom, Wonder and Adventure. I also liked Curiosity, but with a cat on the quilt, that sent the mind in directions I didn’t want it to go. So Curiosity will have to wait. Perhaps I can use it in combination with Patience….

Cat on a Wall Quilt by Dione Gardner-Stephen of Clever Chameleon

Anyway, I drew each word in linked script for easy continuous appliqué stitching, and used my Brother Scan N Cut to cut them out. Love that machine! Then I layered things up and got to stitching down my appliqués. That started out well.

Cat on a wall quilt in progress

But then this quilt turned on me!

Cat on a Wall quilt back by Dione Gardner-Stephen of Clever Chameleon
The flipside of Cat on a Wall

After I had stitched down the word appliqués, things started to go a bit wrong for this quilt. It was already taking longer than I had naively allowed for. But then I discovered a tear in a brick. Oh Man! Luckly, I had not done the cat appliqué yet and with a little circus-grade contortion, I could get at the necessary seams to remove the damaged fabric piece and simply replace it. More time lost, but quilt happiness restored for a bit.

Then worse still! After I had nearly finished the quilting, I discovered a second very small tear. And there was no pulling that piece out. All the self-congratulations from fixing the first hole went out the window and the lights momentarily dimmed. Possibly for the entire suburb. In my favour, I didn’t cry.

appliqué word: wonder

In seven years of quilting, I had never torn a quilt. Had plenty of other issues, but never that one. Now I had two holes in as many days. I think they were caused by a basting pin that came undone. Presumably the fabric caught on it during the appliqué/quilting process. I didn’t find the open pin until much later, and that’s all I can think of that could have caused it. I will never look at those little blighters quite in the same way again.

appliqué star

What did I do about the second tear? Well….. what every good appliquér does….. shoved a star on it! Then of course I had to make it look intentional by adding more stars in other places…. so all those extra stars are our dirty little secret, ok?!

And the real head-banger? One of those new extra little stars is right next to where the first tear was. And so easily could have been used to cover it had the need still existed. All that reverse sewing and repair was essentially for nothing! To say I need to grow back into loving this quilt is probably fair, if not understated. It has just a bit too much adventure in it for this homebody.

appliquéd word: adventure

Paisley Park for the Win!

Cat on a Wall quilt by Dione Gardner-Stephen of Clever Chameleon

But I do still love the Paisley Park fabrics, and I hope you do too. Are you ready to win some? I have enough leftovers of 18 of the Paisley Park fabrics to cut a 5″ strip of each. Plus the two basics, chameleon and pistachio, makes 20 strips. This is the same amount of fabric as a jellyroll, but you can choose if you’d like to use it as strips or squares.

Paisley Park prize fabrics

This substantial prize can be yours if you can give me the best answer to the following question…..

If the Clever Chameleon was a fairy godmother (fairy god-lizard?) what are three wishes he would bestow on a newborn?

Tell me your answer in a comment at the bottom of this post. My husband Paul will be picking his favourite answer as our independent judge. Entry is open worldwide – everyone is welcome at Clever Chameleon! Entries open when this post goes live and closes at 23:59 3rd February 2019 Australian Central Time.

You can have as many extra guesses at the three wishes as you are willing to perform the tasks in the Rafflecopter list below. Leave a comment, then click on the “Leave a comment -> I commented” option to tell the Rafflecopter that you commented, and your other entry options will unlock for you. Please note that this is not a game of chance – Rafflecopter will not be used to pick the prize, just to obtain your answers and organise them. Hubby is doing the choosing based on his perceived quality of the entries. I wish him all the best, working that one out! 🙂

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and Conditions

This is a game of skill and the entry judged most suitable will win the exact fabrics pictured. International entries welcome. No purchase is required for entry. Instructions on how to enter form part of the Terms and Conditions. If the winning entry requires the entrant to follow Clever Chameleon by a particular method, this will be verified upon the outcome of judging, before the prize is awarded. Postage will be by untracked economy mail via Australia Post, and no responsibility or liability will be taken by Clever Chameleon for lost or delayed mail.

Over 18 year old entrants only, and only where your local law permits entry. Judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. In the event that there are multiple identical entries, the earliest instance wins. 

This competition runs from when this post goes live until 23:59 3rd February 2019 Australian Central Time. Winner will be announced on the Clever Chameleon blog on the 5th February 2019 and contacted for their postal address by email. Failure to provide a valid email address or answer your email within a week will render your entry invalid and a replacement winner will be chosen. 

Clever Chameleon values your privacy. Information submitted in the course of this competition will not be used for any purpose beyond running this competition and providing you with services that you have actively subscribed to.

More Prizes

Island Batik also have an official giveaway via Rafflecopter on their site. There are two magnificent prizes, each a rainbow of 20 fat quarters of batik fabrics! Wowsers! You will need to go to the Island Batik Blog to enter and scroll to the bottom of their post for another Rafflecopter app.

Getaway Blog Hop with Island Batik

Good luck! Make sure you visit all the Ambassadors on this blog hop… there are prizes galore, and I really hope you win something. Island Batik batiks are just the best to work with! Bright colours, fun prints and really resistant to fraying. They are also much softer and shed less dye than many other batiks I have played with. Highly recommended!

You can find the links to last week’s Getaway blog hop posts here. All amazing.

Just below you will find this week’s links. Make especially sure you visit Nancy Scott, who is also posting about Paisley Park today. The links for the next two weeks will be in the next two Colour & Inspiration Tuesday posts right here as well, so don’t forget to keep an eye on the Clever Chameleon. I hope you can keep up with so much fabric inspiration. Enjoy!

Monday, January 14 – Fortune Teller
Sarah Goer –Sarah Goer Quilts
Sherry Shish –Powered by Quilting
Jennifer Fulton –The Inquiring Quilter

Tuesday, January 15 – Gypsy Rose
Jen Strauser –Dizzy Quilter
Janet Yamamoto- Whispers of Yore

Wednesday, January 16 – Paisley Park
Dione Gardner-Stephen- Clever Chameleon <– that’s me!
Nancy Scott –Masterpiece Quilting

Thursday, January 17 – Soul Song
Carole Lyles Shaw- Carol Lyles Shaw
Toby Lischko –Gateway Quilts & Stuff

Friday, January 18 – Twilight Chic
Jackie O’Brien –If These Threads Could Talk
Tina Dillard- Quilting Affection

The Chameleon turns rainbow with pleasure when he hears from you. I normally respond by email instead. However, I will not be replying to giveaway contest comments unless you have a specific comment/question  relating to the post content. Then, of course, I would love to chat!


Would you like to keep in touch with Clever Chameleon and the fun quilty ideas I design as well as find all over the internet? You can follow directly for email updates, or through Bloglovin’, Pinterest, IG or FB. All your follow options can be found here. Don’t forget to link up all your current quilting projects on Tuesdays at our Colour & Inspiration Linky parties!

86 Replies to “Getaway Blog Hop with Island Batik”

  1. I think the Fairy GodLizard would bestow things he values: spontaneity (have you seen how quickly a chameleon changes colors?), appreciation of beauty (he must have quite the eye, given how close a color match he achieves), and resilience (wouldn’t someone who can lose its tail and move on appreciate that quality?).

  2. I love this, such a clever and unique idea. Beautiful way of showing off all those yummy fabrics. 🐾

  3. Cat on a Wall in Paisley Park is incredibly gorgeous! I think that the Chameleon would be a perfect god lizard if he bestowed good health, kindness and a generous disposition on a newborn. Those are the three gifts ai would choose for my soon to be born third great grandchild. Thank you for all you have done and taught as an Island Batik Ambassador. I’m so glad to have met you!

  4. We might, one day, have great grandchildren, and I would wish for them, in today’s world, Kindness, to yourself and all others, Courage, to face whatever comes, and Love. We do not know what is ahead, like the cat on the wall, and to be able to jump over and see the other side , or stay on the ground on the side you know the best? Which would we choose?Those fabrics are perfect for the wall with bricks and mortar .

  5. A old-world French philospher (Rousseau) once said, “There is no greater wisdom in the world than ‘kindness’.” My grandmother always said to cast your bread upon the water buttered, because if it came back you might have to eat it. So my next choice is “integrity”. One who can be trusted is of far better worth than a bank full of money. My third option is “patience”. It is a personal quality that will stand the test of time. Wonderful fabric, great use. Thank you for sharing.

  6. No one said it better than Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:13 : “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

  7. Love, peace and happiness! The cat is so cool! Enjoy your day!! angielovesgary2 atgmail dotcom

  8. The Fairy God Lizard could bestow the following three wishes. Patience, heaven knows as quilters we need it. Kindness which I believe quilters already have, just take a look around the web at the number of quilts quilters donate to charity. And last but not least is health.

  9. Beautiful quilt! Some quilts just want to be remembered. I think it might have been your cat on the wall that was stirring up all the trouble 😉

    There are so many little traits that are important as we grow. Patience with yourself and others has been important to me in my life. My boys are pretty good with patience but my daughter struggles and it shows me how important the ability to be patient is.

    Empathy – being able to understand and share how others are feeling is important in our relationships and community.

    Inner Beauty – Being able to love who we are deep down allows us to see the inner beauty in others. Inner beauty isn’t always about feeling beautiful but also accepting ourselves and others for their beliefs, feelings, and yes what some perceive as character “faults”.

  10. I would give a new baby “love, good health,and wisdom”
    Thanks for all you do. I enjoy your posts and patterns.

  11. What came to mind immediately was faith, hope, and love. I saw that was previously entered, but it would still be my choice.

  12. Three wishes to bestow upon a newborn: A mother to show love unconditionally, safe environment and a world of beauty!

  13. Beautiful quilt Dione. I really love the way you “rescued” your quilt.
    I would choose Love-Kindness-and Patience for my three wishes. Thank you for the chance.

  14. For any newborn, I wish good health, compassion and spirit. May we all benefit from a world where kindness is the order of the day.

  15. I love your cat on the wall. Your “helper” looks like about as much help as mine 🙂 My three wishes for the newborn would be to see the best in all people, respect for them as well as nature, and the ability to think for his/herself.

  16. I think he would bestow love, health and happiness. Thanks for sharing your Cat on the Wall quilt. Love the colors in the Paisley Park Collection.

  17. Common Sense, Humility, Patience

    Your quilt is wonderful. And yes, it portrays “Going Places”
    I love how you fixed things. Well done. Very creative.
    I love your idea.

  18. I just love your inspiration and vision. What a “purrfect” quilt for these gorgeous fabrics. Since yesterday was D-day for my kitties (they both got fixed) I have to say speaking for them…Their fairy godmother would have said, run, hide and find a new mom!
    hahahahaha

  19. Love your quilt!
    My three wishes
    would be laughter,
    adventures and
    cleverness for the
    baby.
    Carla from Utah

  20. I like your quilt, and think the stars make a nice addition.
    My 3 wishes would be for love, happiness, and empathy.

  21. Hi Dione! Oh, what a trial to end up with this beautiful quilt. Stars! The perfect solution to tears. Why didn’t I think of that when I saw your first fateful post on IG about the tear?! Ah well, it wasn’t meant to be huh?! But I do love the words you choose for a getaway kitty. And the fabrics – ooh-la-la. All of them on this hop are so tempting and rich. Hmm, since I actually have a newborn of only a week to grant three wishes to, here are mine. I wish for my great-niece good health, a kind heart, and an open mind. I think those will serve her well her whole life. ~smile~ Roseanne

  22. Love your quilt, the colors of this fabric are amazing! Three bestowed wishes: Grace, kindness & love!

  23. Flexibility, resilience and imagination would be what fairy godmother chameleon bestowed upon a newborn. Love your Cat on the Wall quilt…sucks when things go wrong, but applique to the rescue every time!!

  24. Love love love your quilt. Such a great idea and well executed! I would think the chameleon would bestow curiosity, confidence and charm!

  25. this morning, when I saw that first picture, I was speechless. I could not have written anything, I had to visit again tonight to let you know how I feel.
    It is just wonderful! such simple design (although I understand it might have been very difficult to create this simple aspect). Perfect to showcase that beautiful fabric.
    It is just a miracle of balance, just like a cat walking on a wall, il miraculously balanced.
    Congratulation, it is a masterpiece

  26. Creativity, Imagination, Love! Beautiful quilt, love the idea of a cat exploring at night.

  27. I love this quilt: the design, the fabric color choices, and message. And to bestow upon a little one, I would go with confidence, humbleness, and enjoyment in life. And so many other qualities after those.

  28. 3 wishes for baby, curiosity, health, happiness.
    Gorgeous fabric and love the story of your quilt .

  29. 1. A sense of wonder – for everything around you (stars at night, patterns/colours in the natural world)
    2. Be Kind and grateful – to others, yourself, and what you love
    3. Integrity – to do right even when it is difficult

  30. Fairy GodLizard would bestow: Never ending love, faith, and serendipity!!! Your quilt sings to my cat loving soul…I’m in love with it!

  31. Beautiful quilt Dione. My gift to every child and every adult would be to have peace, joy, and love in their life. My request of each is to be kind in all aspects of life.

  32. This is so beautiful! I’m sorry the quilt gave you such fits, but it really is a beauty. Paisley Park has such great colors!

  33. Absolutely wonderful quilt again Dione! I love how you incorporate a touch of whimsy into your quilts, and yay that you used all the fabrics too in this oh-so-clever way of showing them all off! I love the humour in here (curiosity, not going there, ha) and how you told about your design process, including the moments of angst and how you fixed them. It is an awesome quilt, with an awesome giveaway, for which I will not enter, being an ambassador myself. This is truly a beautiful, jewel-toned collection, which I would love to have!

  34. I believe that the fair chameleon would bestow the following wishes:
    Love – Both to be loved and to love deeply. always love, it is a necessity in life
    Understanding – both to be understood and understand others
    Sparks of joy when they are least expected

  35. You answered your own question with your quilt!
    Wonder – an unconquerable spirit of curiosity.
    Adventure – the ability to find joy in every situation.
    Freedom – freedom from negative influences.

  36. I think the Fairy GodLizard would bestow generosity, kindness and a love of quilting on newborns!

    I love this Paisley Park line – some of my favorite colors!!

  37. I love the quilt and the colors are wonderful. I would say good health, love from family and friends and happiness.

  38. Well I think a fairy god lizard might be more practical than some of the other comentors. How about : all the (slow) flies you need to be well fed, a firm stick to hang on to, and interesting surroundings to blend into at all times….
    Isn’t that what a young chameleon needs?

  39. Your cat on a brick wall quilt is amazing! It’s a great way to showcase the beautiful fabrics and the design really would look fabulous in any colour scheme 🙂

  40. I would say health, love and the ability to do work that you enjoy and love! Your cat quilt is terrific!

  41. Happiness, peace and kindness would be my 3wishes to bestow on a new little bundle of joy.

  42. I think my three wishes for a newborn would be:
    1: That they would know and experience the love of Christ.
    2: That they would find their gifts and talents and use them well.
    3: That they would always have a quilt to cuddle under.

    I love your quilt and how much flexibility it provides to use many different fabrics.

  43. Hi Dione, your quilt is really gorgeous….and what fabric! That was great thinking, putting the star on the tear. Unfortunately I’ve managed to have little cuts on my quilts – but not tears. Well done 🙂

  44. I love your quilt and my fairy chameleon would wish good health, the wisdom to make good choices and great friends and family that support him in his many endeavors in life. Thanks

  45. Great fixes but how annoying that you could have gone with the first. I sometimes think those tears are on the fabric from the get go – just my thought. I know I have done it with a seam ripper or rotary cutter but a pin? Anyway, it looks fabulous and such a great use of the fabric. I so love when you can really see the beauty of each. Your husband as the impartial judge is terrific. Congratulations on another stunning quilt.

  46. Oh my gosh! I love your quilt. I love the colors and layout, I love the writing on the wall (perfect for a kitty), and I love the creative way that you covered up the tear and made it look like the stars were planned from the beginning. Awesome job!
    If the Chameleon Fairy would grant 3 wishes for a newborn, I would want it to be compassion, true wisdom, and integrity.

  47. Three wishes for a newborn would that she/he would be surrounded by love, have a deep desire to learn, and will find joy in life.

  48. My wish is that the baby has a loving spirit, good health & a passion for life. Also, cleverly designed quilt.

  49. My mom always told us that if you have your health, you have everything, which, when you think of it, is really true. Good health makes everything else a piece of cake! Poor health makes everything else a chore. So…my choices are 1) health; 2) happiness; and 3) a loving person to blanket them with quilts throughout their life!! 🙂
    I also wanted to let you know that I love, love, LOVE your cute kitty on the wall quilt! I envy your creativity and skill!! Thanks so much for sharing!

  50. Thank you for sharing the story of your whole journey with this wonderful quilt! I would wish for any newborn a compassionate heart, wisdom, and resiliance.

  51. I adore this quilt! And the story of how it came to life simply makes it better. It’s the tough journeys that get deep into the heart once the pain, aggravation or stress eases. Okay three wishes- from my sense of the clever chameleon ( I found your blog only recently so the relationship is still new): be your own colourful self; cheer on other colourful selves; embrace surprises of all colours.

  52. My three fairy godlizard wishes for a newborn would be unconditional love, endless opportunity, and vibrant health, all for a lifetime.

  53. I Love your Quilt so much. I wish you would give the template for the cat. I am so bad with drawing I could never make a template for the cat. As for the newborn I think the chameleon would grant him 1)The ability to see Beauty in himself, in others, in nature, in the world. 2) The ability to love himself, others, and nature. And last but definately not least 3) 2 loving parents to share the beauty he is lives with and the love they all have to share with one another and others.

  54. I have no guesses for your question but I want to say that I really love the quilt you created. The colors, the pattern, the story behind it, the corrective fixes, all of it. Bravo.

  55. Absolutely stunning colours in the quilt and cats 🐈 are my favourite love it so much’. If I was a fairy godmother I would choose Kindness Adaptability and Good Health 🥰❤️

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