What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

After I had been quilting for a while, I discovered there were formulas for making certain quilt blocks faster. I thought this was amazing and proceeded to find all the formulas I could. This was great but they had to be calculated properly to work.  Sometimes I would enter a number wrong or add a number when I was supposed to divide. Then there was the problem with cheat sheets. They could be

After I had been quilting for a while, I discovered there were formulas for making certain quilt blocks faster. I thought this was amazing and proceeded to find all the formulas I could. This was great but they had to be calculated properly to work.  Sometimes I would enter a number wrong or add a number when I was supposed to divide. Then there was the problem with cheat sheets. They could be

The Lunarcy Quilt continues today

Wasn’t the “It’s A Garden Party” row along this past month fun? I hope you were left with lots of resources and ideas. Now that that intermission is over though, we should return to our regular programming to see what the Chameleon’s been working on.

The big event in the main ring at Clever Chameleon’s circus at the moment is the Lunarcy Quilt, and it’s definitely time to get on with it! So, Part Two of the Lunarcy Quilt pattern is available for you to download today. This new pdf ...

Welcome to the Show and Tell Day for the Garden Party Quilts!

I hope that you’ve enjoyed the past month of the “It’s A Garden Party” row along. I certainly have. Congratulations to Marian at Seams to Be Sew on another successful event, and many thanks to all my co-designers for all their wonderful quilt block patterns and blog posts. Another huge, generous series this year.

And now – today is “Open Gardens Day”. The last day of the blog hop and time to share projects already made from one or more of the myriad of newly released patterns ...

Quilt, quilt as fast as you can!

A surprise package of quilting-friendly weather arrived here at Arkaroola yesterday. You’d never know it now, but the week started out with days of 37C (99F), with severe wind and dust storms. Some poor school holiday campers in the caravan park even had to down their tents and book emergency accomodation in the main village; it was simply that YUCK. But then yesterday a cold front rolled in and now it’s raining. Today’s predicted maximum is 14C (57F)! I know, crazy, right?! Spring!

Mr. Mew is not happy. He’s ...

School’s out for a fortnight. Time to play!

The Chameleon’s on Term break. The Arkaroola “school house” is closed. The tables have been reclaimed as sewing spaces. It’s time to catch up on some sewing, writing and other activities that have been on the backburner so long that they might just have mutated into new life forms.

To celebrate, I’ve started with sewing the next batch of blocks for my Garden Party quilt. Did you catch last week’s quilt blocks in the “It’s A Garden Party” row along and blog hop? I released my ...

Welcome to Day 6 of the “It’s A Garden Party” row along!

Please excuse the pigeon. He says he’ll be with us in a moment.

Once a year Marian of Seams to be Sew hosts an amazing event – a huge row along where lots of designers come together on one project. This year we have each designed a garden themed block for you to collect – mix and match them into a project that you love!

If you follow along with this event, you will find lots of beautiful gardening blocks, flower blocks, garden produce blocks and fun critters ...

A little birdie wants to tell you…

… all about the quilt I am making. It’s from the It’s A Garden Party row along. Oh, oh, he is hopping with excitement! Of course, the little birdie must not tell you too much just yet, but he can drop a few morsels of information. He can definitely show you what I’ve sewn from patterns already released in the It’s A Garden Party row along.

He can also tell you who is participating in the hop next. The hop hop of excitement has really only just got into full ...

Aren’t Hummingbirds the greatest?

Don’t tell the Chameleon, but I think so. One of Nature’s little oddities, and beautiful into the bargain. We don’t have hummingbirds in Australia, and I’ve never seen one, although I’d love to one day. In the meantime I have settled for making an appliqué version…. yup, I started playing around with some of the free patterns being offered in the It’s A Garden Party Row Along that popped up last week. I hope you’ve had a chance to look into that blog hop for both the patterns ...

2020: What a Rodent of a Year!

Well, I think it is safe to say 2020, the Year of the Rat, has not gone to plan. I, for one, will be happy to draw a line under this year and recycle all my 2020 New Year’s hopes and plans for 2021. Easiest New Year’s resolutions ever and environmentally friendly too! read more

Happy Winter, from the Southern Hemisphere

Our winter officially started here yesterday. Although if you were here, you’d be forgiven for not noticing: 18C (64F) and sunny. Truly lovely weather during the day, although the nights are chilly now.

The desert knows it’s not summer anymore though. The Salvation Jane weeds (also known as Paterson’s Curse) are growing their incredibly perfect rosettes of teal leaves in the creek bed. Hate the weed, but got to admire that growth habit in our colour board! Also, another weed that has been insipidly hanging ...

As luck would have it…..

As I was trying to work out where I should draw colour inspiration for today’s post from, nature volunteered. This was tonight’s sunset, as seen from our back patio. The colours were brief, but some of the very best we’ve had since we moved here.

Good timing, Mother Nature. Just glorious, thank you!

Pinks, yellows and oranges and last minutes on the Lunarcy too

Progress continues on the Lunarcy quilt this week. I now have a Pig block to go with the Rat block from last week. I only finished the pig ...

Have you ever played with texture on a quilt?

You know me, I often like to experiment with texture and embellishments in my quilt projects. Quilting is for me where “art meets sewing”. Two itches, one colossal scratching!

So when Island Batik announced that December was 3D month for the 2019 Ambassadors, I was in both ecstasy and agony. Right up my alley…. but, oh! Which alley to choose!?!? Thing is, I just about need a street directory for all my alleys. I didn’t even have to make up any new projects for this challenge, and I still had ...

Holy Cow! We are Finished!!

Love with a Twist is done and dusted! Can you believe it? Last month we finished all the blocks for the Throw size versions of Love with a Twist. However, to complete the Twin size quilt top we need one more block. The last bonus block.

Today we unveil our last block, and it is a balloon cow. Udderly amazing! And a little bitter sweet. It’s been so much fun. Read on to collect your cow balloon appliqué pattern. Also, make sure you’ve collected the whole Love with a Twist appliqué set. They ...

Finally! The Blue Sea quilt reveal is here!

And with it, your gateway to a month of eye candy and lots of chances to win luscious latest release batiks from Island Batik. Welcome to Colour & Inspiration Tuesday meets the “A Piece Of….” blog hop!

November is blog hop month for half the Island Batik Ambassadors (specifically, the half who did not hop in August). Our theme this time is “A Piece Of…..”, open to any interpretation we wish. The instructions given were to make a quilt, lap size or larger, showcasing as many fabrics as possible from our allocated collection ...

Our penultimate balloon appliqué for Colour & Inspiration Tuesday is here!

I’ve been shunning the internet as much as possible this week to work exclusively on my secret sewing Storm at Sea quilt for next Tuesday. But today I will briefly climb down from my hobby horse that has become a bit of a workhorse to bring you a seahorse instead.

Today our very last standard Block for the Throw size Love with a Twist quilt along – Block 9B. If you are making the Twin quilt, there is still one more bonus block to fill out the design. Read on ...

There’s no gilding this Lily!

I don’t, as a general rule, do Halloween. Except for this! This is a Dracunculus vulgaris, a Stink Lily. Also known as a Voodoo lily or Dragon Lily. It grows green and lush in winter from a fascinatingly hideous tuber thing, and has the most amazingly beautiful leaves and dappled stalks. And then it flowers in Spring with huge purple lilies in mid-late October. Just in time for a naturally stunning Halloween display of offensively stinky flowers before it dies back down to avoid the Australian summer.

Don’t let appearances fool you ...

The Soul of the Party at Love with a Twist…..

You know that intolerable squeaky noise that balloons make when they are twisted and folded into shapes? Well, did you know, that’s actually the trapped soul of a departed parrot? The screeching balloon is passing on the parrot’s desire to party one last time before he heads off to wreak havoc in the afterlife. True! read more

Wishing all my Canadian friends a wonderful holiday for the coming weekend

Australians as a whole don’t do Thanksgiving, although many traditional churches do have a low-key harvest thanksgiving service in our late summer or early autumn. But I like thankfulness, and since it’s likely impossible to indulge in too much thankfulness, the Chameleon and I are getting on the Canadian bandwagon today. Happy Thanksgiving for the weekend and Monday, Canadian friends and everyone!

It wasn’t until last year that I became aware that Canada has its own Thanksgiving Day, separate from the American occasion. And then ...

October’s Island Batik Challenge is “Top It Off”

My challenge as an Island Batik Ambassador in October is to: create a holiday runner or table topper, any size; must include appliqué. But don’t you think that’s a bit too easy for the Chameleon? He’s a challenge veteran by now!

So, let’s make it a proper challenge then. Purely self-imposed. Hmmm…… How about also: use the Accuquilt Cleopatra’s Fan die supplied in the July ambassador supplies box; make it juvenile; and choose a culturally irrelevant holiday. That should Top it right Off!

Hahaha. Sure! Luckily ...