It’s the school mid-year break, so I have plaaaaans!
Since my days have been gifted back to me for a fortnight, I am going to …
- finish all the appliqués on the Lunarcy quilt!
- get ahead on my study assignments!
- finally answer the comments from my last two posts! Got a bit behind there, sorry.
- do more exercise!
- win the lottery!
- bake a whole batch of Sky Pies for the freezer!
LOL. All seriously and increasingly unlikely, but a Chameleon can dream. Since I don’t buy lotto tickets, that second-to-last one can probably be safely ruled out. But some things have to happen, so they will somehow happen. Particularly, I want the Lunarcy flimsy finished before school goes back. I’m headed in the right direction: here’s this week’s finish, the Year of the SSSSnake block.
Mr(s?) Snake has the same shape of eye as everyone else on this quilt, but somehow (s)he looks uniquely angry. Or perhaps up to no good. Definitely not happy. I guess I got it at the wrong angle? Or perhaps just shaped it too flat? Don’t know, I don’t think it looked like that on my blueprints. Never mind, it doesn’t matter, the quilt is coming along nicely overall. One animal’s strange expression isn’t going to stand out when it’s finished, surely. It will be fine!
A favourite lantern
I will admit, the snake is not my favourite block on this quilt. It was never likely to be, snakes are not my thing. But to balance things out a little, I have added one of my favourite lantern shapes to this block.
It was completely random how the fabric print fell on this shape – I cut out all my shapes with my digital cutter so the placement wasn’t planned – but I love how the lantern has the lightest part of the batik fabric in its centre. To me it looks like the lantern is glowing. If I ever appliqué lanterns again, I might even seriously consider fussy cutting them like this.
Here’s the finished block: SSSSuper! Still looks grumpy though. A little bit hissed off. Haha, actually now I love it. I’ll smirk everytime I see it now, because I am immature. See how easily amused I am? Beats ripping and trying again.
Back to adulting. In pursuit of my most realistic goal, I actually have all the remaining animals stitched down, and now I am starting on the last 150 flowers. I’m aiming to finish one colour per day now, until they are done. I took a day off sewing for blogging today, but I nearly finished the light pink flowers yesterday. Only five of those remaining unsewn in the bottom right corner of the quilt.
I don’t have any Arkaroola escapades for you this week. We are going to do a little side-trip further into the middle of Australia in a couple of weeks (covid willing). I really do need to get ahead on study and sewing to free up that time.
Let others be your guiding light….
The Chameleon was spoilt for choice in the Linky party this week! He had so much fun going through all the party participants, and as always, it was hard to narrow down the features. But here goes……
Kathleen at Kathleen McMusing linked up a Lighthouse mini quilt, and not just any lighthouse, but one near her home in Maine. Hence the choice of colour board today. I love lighthouses for their history and their imagery of safety and hope. Things we need in spades right now. And of course, the humble Chameleon believes that he is a shiny beacon of light for when your quilty path gets too dark and stormy! So he loves lighthouses too.
Isn’t Kathleen’s mini the sweetest?
By the way, one day I am going to do a lighthouse quilt too. And I’m going to add glow in the dark bits! But I digress….
Carol Andrews at Quilt Schmilt is making a mystery quilt. Not just any mystery quilt though. A scrappy mystery quilt run by Joy of Days Filled with Joy, my real-life blogging friend. Normally this time of year Joy and I would be trying to catch up at a quilt retreat, but we all know what has happened to quilt retreats this year. 🙁 Carol’s quilt brings happy memories to me by association, and a ray of hope for a better time next year.
Joy can correct me if I’m wrong, but I think I saw some of the squares for the original quilt being cut at our retreat last year 😀 I would have been tempted to play along with this quilt-along, except that I didn’t bring my small scraps to Arkaroola.
Susan of Quilt Fabrication linked up this beautiful quilt. I don’t think of myself as an orange-sort-of-person. That’s partly why I have a pretend Chameleon as an alter ego; to do the orange stuff. But I love this quilt. Turns out I do like orange, a lot, in the right context. This is definitely the right context – a deliciously modern quilt displayed in natural surroundings. Bright, light, airy.
I don’t normally do double features either, but Susan of Quilt Fabrication also linked up this video tutorial, and it was too good to let pass. Since this a very helpful tip that you may want to add to your repertoire, the Chameleon is treating this one as a community service announcement. For a safe and rewarding quilt experience: wash your hands, carefully distance your quilting and reduce your bulk!
Rebecca Grace at Cheeky Cognoscenti linked up this awesome quilt proposal – she is such a creative light. Head over to Rebecca Grace’s blog to pressure her (nicely) to make this design… and give her some feedback on a new Linky Party she’d like to get up and running.
And a timely reminder that you don’t even have to have started a quilt, much less finished it, to get the Chameleon’s attention. Squirrels caught in your high beam are just fine.
Let your little light shine!
Your turn to brighten our week again…. Tell us – what are you working on, or have recently finished in your sewing room? Have you had a light-bulb moment? We want to know so we can visit and be inspired. Link up a blog post, an IG post or simply a photo from your computer. See if you can get the Chameleon to turn quilted with happiness. We’d love to see your quilting colours!
- Link up your latest or recent quilt/sewing excitement. All quilt construction stages welcome – finished quilts, quilt blocks – even fabric pulls! Or inspiration sources!
- You have 50 characters in the link description…. tell us who you are and what your fantastic project is.
- URL links are not necessary to link up…. non-bloggers 100% welcome! If you don’t have a URL, you can link up with just a photo.
- Take a moment to visit some friends who came to the party – leave a little love and make their day. And a link back to Clever Chameleon is always appreciated.
- Do it now……. before you forget!
The Chameleon turns rainbow with pleasure when he hears from you. Now that it’s your turn…. Scroll to the end and tell me what you think. Thanks for connecting!
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!
Hope you are able to get everything ready and done, and be able to take your trip. I think the snake looks great; he/she has snakey eyes and yet a grin on his/her face. You are making great progress on the quilt!
I think the snake looks happy, even seems to be smiling. All the blocks so far are wonderful.
Snakes aren’t my thing either. I went back to working on a Judy Neimeyer dahlia quilt that I need to finish. You said you are on break, so are you a teacher or a student somewhere? Our break lasts for about two months during the summer. Enjoy!!!
I have a few lighthouse photos my SIL took with the thought of making a quilt. They’re still in my phone to save for a less stressful time. I love how your quilt is coming and the lantern is perfect. Hope you are all staying well. Thank you for the linky party.
Hi Dione! No quirky bugs at all in this post. Darn it – I’m learning a lot from your time in Arkaroola wandering around. You’ve talked me into liking the snake block – I can totally see the smirk now and I’m in agreement about the lantern. The colors in your lighthouse picture are just gorgeous!! Enjoy the mid-term break! {{Hugs}} ~smile~ Roseanne
I loved the lighthouse and to think I helped with a tiny bit of the inspiration – hooray. I did feel a presence in my study – must have been that clever chameleon checking things out! So many awesome features this week, I am truly honored. Good luck with your week, I am about to start my sewing week (ha ha….its Thursday, I know).
I’m not a fan of snakes, either, but it’s my sign according to the lunar calendar. Love that lantern! And all the flowers are so pretty! This is truly going to be a stunning work of art.
Hi Dione, hope you have time to play this holiday week. I was wondering why your children had school holidays but of course it’s winter there….not always so quick here 🙂 I like your snake….it looks like it’s up to no good. Take care.
Thanks for the shout-out, Dione! I hope you enjoy every moment of your “time off for good behavior.” 🙂