A Sticky Beak: Colour & Inspiration Tuesday

Blue Pigeons colour board at Clever Chameleon

Are you Blessed with a Stickybeak?

Curiosity!?! Got it here in spades. 😀 Also got problems not sharing things I am working on! Secret sewing is only fun in small amounts, the journey is far better when it’s a shared one. I hope you’ll agree.

I have so many secret projects on the go, it’s just silly. Mostly it’s projects for December. Because we are packing up our house and moving Outback, I have to get some things done early. Preferably before my favourite sewing machine goes in for a service because it will possibly stay packed after that.

December and its scheduled projects are still a week and a half away. But I reckon we can get away with an early sneak peek.

Do you want a stickybeak? Walk this way……

pigeon

This post is really about Penguins, not Pigeons

penguin looking up

But they’ve both got beaks that no doubt get sticky, and it just so happens that that today is my little brother’s birthday. So, in honour of my bigger-than-me-younger-sibling, and our avian theme, I will share with you my favourite birthday song that I ever wrote him (this is not this year’s offering to him, he gets a new one every year, lucky boy! hahaha). If today is your birthday too, this is for you.

statue with pigeons

You know the tune.

Happy Bird-Day to You
Happy Bird-Day to You
Hope you’re the pigeon not the statue!
Happy Bird-Day to You.

If it’s not your birthday, feel free to likewise torture your favourite birthday-person at the next opportunity! Happy Birthday Bro!

pigeon

Moving on… back to the Penguins

3D challenge

The last Island Batik Ambassador project for 2019 is a 3D challenge. As far as I understand it, the project brief allows for any sewn item that is 3D, any quilt that has 3D elements or a pattern that gives the illusion of being 3D. Because I have nothing better to do (ahem), I may do all three……

I have three projects, in Island Batik fabrics, that all need finishing by the end of December. So by happy chance, they all have a degree of 3D-ness. So, if all goes to plan, I will actually cover all of those bases by Christmas! Wish me luck! Let’s start with penguins.

A Sneak Peek at my first finish

Blue Sea fabric by Island Batik

Remember the Blue Sea fabrics I featured recently? Especially the deep blue one I didn’t use in the Safe Harbour Seahorses quilt?

Tropical Escape colour board

And do you remember the Tropical Escape fabric I showed you last week?

Well, I have combined a few fabrics from each line to make two toy penguins. That’s one of the great things about Island Batik fabrics, the ease with which you can mix and match between collections. 😀

The pattern I am using is Penny Penguin from Funky Friends Factory.

I was a good girl. I actually followed the instructions. Mostly.

I made cardboard templates.

pattern templates

And cut out the fabric pieces.

penguin pattern fabric pieces

And I’ve even finished one penguin. I did sew in the “cheeks” rather than attach them as felt. I felt the felt would look yucky and felted if the penguins got any significant usage.

But you’re not really supposed to be looking, remember. This is December’s project!

penguin toy under onstruction

I hope you’re not peeking…..

penguin toy under construction

I guess I’m not the only stickybeak here then! 😀

Penguin toy with honey

Just a thought…. how far has the Aussie/Kiwi colloquialism “stickybeak” spread? Hands up who has no idea what I am talking about….. (or educate yourself here……).

The penguin has been stuffed since I took these pics. But I’m saving that for December. Sorry!

Other things you might like to peek at then…..

Beary Colourful Bear

A shameless self-plug, thanks to the lovely Teres Hagstrand on IG @tereshagstrand. Teres was a huge part of the Beary Colourful quilt-along we did in 2018. She has just finished off a few last blocks into cushions. And customised them in the process. For example, my last bear had a summer beach theme; Teres has tweaked it to a European winter theme, and I want one!

For some reason, I can’t get Teres’ post to embed, so here’s a screenshot. Thank you Teres, for letting me share your fun work. You can find Teres @tereshagstrand.

December's bear by Teres @tereshagstrand

If you missed this series, the Beary Colourful designs are very high on my list to make available for sale once we are settled in Arkaroola. Stay tuned!

I also wanted to quickly share this gem from Make Modern magazine. Just for some seasonal relief. This seems like a good option when packing gets too dull!

If you are not on Instagram (or not following me 🙁 ) then you also missed my Space Platypus (also a Funky Friends Factory pattern) finish earlier in the week. This was a long suffering UFO that I resurrected to get my eye(s) in before I attempted the penguins. These toys make curved seamed blocks look easy, and you know how I avoid those! In the end, they weren’t too hard (just like curved seams).

Enough Instagram already……

What about a blog hop then? The final week of the Island Batik “A piece of…” blog hop is on! Here’s the schedule for the last three hop stops…..

Monday, November 18

Speakeasy fabrics by Island Batik

Denise Looney: For the Love of Geese
Geraldine Wilkins: Living Water Quilter

Tuesday, November 19

Tropical Escape fabrics by Island Batik

Jackie O’Brien: If These Threads Could Talk
Sally Manke

Wednesday, November 20

Tweet fabrics by Island Batik

Jennifer Thomas: Curlicue Creations
Leah Malasky: Quilted Delights

I’m super keen to see what Jackie and Sally have made with the Tropical Escape fabrics that I am also secretly working with.

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway.

Islander batik fabrics

This draw and prize is run by Island Batik and is the sole responsibility of Island Batik. The entry form is hosted here purely for your convenience, entry comments should be left here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


And don’t forget the competition for Blue Sea fabric samples on my stop on the hop. If perchance you haven’t entered, you can find that post here.

And then take a Stickybeak at this Party! Don’t worry, this is actually your business!

Strawberry stitched chameleon

First we are rocking out with Eve of Destruxion. Turns out that I’m not the only one with songs in their post lately…. but Eve at Patches of Destruxion’s choices are far classier than a butchered Happy Birthday. 😀 Yes, even Blippi is classier than a thinly disguised ditty about pigeon poop. Just. Find out why Eve has set her fussy cutting to music and give her a high five.

fussy cut patchwork at Patches of Destruxion

I’m still very much in “thinking about moving to Arkaroola” mode, as I announced last week. Arkaroola has amazing skies and two observatories. And I have seen Jupiter through their telescopes before. So an elephant appliqué with a Jupiter storm on his shoulder is just too good to pass up! You can find this fun elephant and his 3 friends at Michelle’s blog: My Bijou Life.

elephant appliqué

BTW, do you know where Arkaroola is? Don’t be fooled by that small map…. Adelaide to Arkaroola is 770km (480 miles). Well into Outback Station country. Love it 😀

map of Australia
Butterfly blocks chameleon

Tracie shared a really special post of her latest finish that means so much to her. It was the pretty and clever butterfly that attracted me initially, but the story was so much more again. Head over to Riceford Streams to read all about this quilt and the meaning it holds for Tracie.

butterfly quilt

Which just leaves you….

Rainbow Clever Chameleon logo

What are you working on, or have recently finished in your sewing room? We want to know so we can visit take a stickybeak 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!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

The Chameleon turns rainbow with pleasure when he hears from you. I am more reserved, so I will respond in gratitude by email instead. Now that it’s your turn…. Scroll right to the end, leave me a comment and tell me, what do 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!

12 Replies to “A Sticky Beak: Colour & Inspiration Tuesday”

  1. Well thank you for the map because I had planned to scope out Arkaroola once I linked up and you kindly did that for me. That’s a good 7 hours’ drive into the Outback, wow. I love dark skies, miss them from our acreage in Alberta, 23 years of them. Now we contend with greenhouses that are wonderful, think year-round veggies and even strawberries now, and of course lots of cannabis, since it’s now legal here, but we need to pass a law for them to install some kind of blackout shades so that when they have the grow lights on all night, my yard isn’t lit up like it’s early evening…the closest ones are 2 km away but that’s how bad it can be. Anyhow I love your toys, and the peeking penguin already looks adorable, anorexic or not. 😉 Wonderful work as always, and like you, I have several ideas for December’s 3D projects!

  2. Oops, PS nope, I’ve heard the stickybeak expression, maybe, but don’t really know what it means, so I’ll be following your link. I love learning new things, especially about other cultures.

  3. I’m so envious of you, that you able to move to the outback and explore natures beauty. Happy birthday to your brother. The funky friends are adorable.

  4. So many sneaky peeks, and they raise so many questions. You have quite a move on the horizon – thanks for the map – and so little time left. All that packing and unpacking – I seem to have done that so many times, still have things that haven’t found homes from 6 years ago. It will all be so exciting, a wonderful adventure for all! Looking forward to the next post and more details.

  5. wonderful, wild, colorful.
    I am loving your stuffies.
    you ALWAYS do such fabulous things.
    Thank you for all of the inspiration.
    off to check out stickybeak.

  6. I confess to ignorance about Stickybeak so I’ll be off to educate myself after this post. I did see your Platy on IG and look forward to seeing the finished penguin as well as your other December IB projects. And one of these days, I may figure out how to link up an Instagram photo to show off a baby quilt that is almost finished.

  7. Love your birthday song rendition. Have you heard/seen the “Hippo Birdie two ewe”? version. You can google for an image of it. So fun to send a fb birthday message with it. =D
    And, yes, secret sewing is fun, but so much more fun when you can finally share.

  8. Hi Dione! Just a few days until the end of the month and just a few weeks for the end of the year. I hope packing is going well. Aha – 3D challenge for December – that explains more about what I started seeing on IG. I’m back here, cheering you on with your projects, packing and the move. Well, everything! ~smile~ Roseanne

  9. Never heard ‘sticky beak’ and once I looked it up…I’m not one of those for sure!
    We’re in the process of making a move, too, not near as remote as yourself, but still cross country – so, long distance. Hopefully completed before Christmas!!!!
    My point? I understand the lure your (he)art has, but try to focus on the matter at hand…words spoken to myself as well.
    😉

  10. I have no idea what “stickybeak” means, but your platypus is unbelievably adorable. Reminds me of a children’s book called Platypus Lost that we used to read to our kids. The child in the book had a little stuffed platypus similar to what you’ve made, and kept leaving it behind and the mom and dad would have to go back and look for it. The refrain was “Platypus lost, Platypus found. This story goes around and around!” 🙂

    Now I have to look up “stickybeak” so I can stop feeling left out!

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