WIP: Color Inspiration from Disneyland

Last Thursday I flew to Southern California with my husband, Frank and son, Alex to brave three days at Disneyland.  Our other son Dan joined us for a bit on Saturday and Sunday. We just returned Monday and, although I had Tuesday at home, I was so exhausted I spent no time at my sewing machine since my last post.  Correction. I did repair an underarm tear on one of Alex's jackets, despite that old saying, "asking a quilter to mend is like asking a chef to do dishes."

Even though not quilting you can still get color inspiration from wherever you are, especially anything with the design hand of Disney in it. We were waiting to ride the Casey Jr. train in Fantasyland and these dainty little unique flowers were blooming right along side the pathway as we waited on line to board. I love the purple tones and delicacy.

Contrast this with the purple on the Screamin' Roller Coaster car Frank, Alex, and Dan rode in. Alex (front left) loved the ride! Somehow the look on Frank's face (second row) does not indicate that he is feeling the same pastoral ambience as portrayed by the dainty purple flowers nor the same jubilation as on Alex's grinning face.

Alex was a bit surprised by the section where the coaster goes upside down within the head portion of Micky Mouse, but was soon cool with it all. You can see the route of the coaster in the photo below.

The newest ride in Cars Land of California Adventure is the Radiator Springs Racers. What a fun ride! First you tool along a scenic route, then careen through a dark tunnel, then get outfitted with new tires or new paint job in preparation to race. The shiny bright finishes on these cars were very impressive and I loved the vividness of the red, aqua, and blue cars we rode. There were cars in yellow and deep green and an even wider variety of colors. Even down to the detail of the eye color they were a barrel of fun. We rode three times and won the race twice... two out of three ain't bad! Alex is the happiest of the bunch all times. Neither Alex nor I was driving the time we came in second... like we had any control...

We stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel in a room with a view of the California Adventure Park. Here is the view from our room on the 10th floor. It was fascinating watching the workings in the park and seeing the festive, glowing, white lights that remained on all through the night.

We got to watch the World of Color Show with its high shooting jets stream of water in various patterns and a myriad of ever-changing colors while listening to the accompanying sound track from the TV in our room.

I liked the bed runners that were draped across the foot of the beds. They added a nice spark of color. Notice the hidden Mickey icons of the white on green graphic. I am inspired to do something similar as some mini-quilts to drape across the end of our beds. They would require less work and less fabric than a standard quilt and less bulk to store so I could make several and change them out regularly for variety. The pillows on the beds were brightly colored beach balls.

A note was left on the bed regarding these beach balls stating that they should not be allowed to bounce into your luggage upon departure.

I was packing to leave and I guess my son Alex did not get the memo. Here is how he "helped" me pack. He did not want me to forget his back pack nor those beach balls!

So although I did not quilt much this week, I sure gathered inspiration. Here are my statistics of a different kind for this week.

Completed projects:

DISNEYLAND

1. It's a Small World – 3x
2. Indiana Jones Adventure – 3x
3. Matterhorn Bobsleds – 1x ( Alex and me)
4. Fireworks Show – 1x in person ~0.25 times form hotel rooftop
5. Splash Mountain – 2x
6. Haunted Mansion – 1x
7. Pirates of the Carribbean – 2x
8. Jungle Cruise – 1x
9. Tiki Room – 1x
10. Disneyland Parade – 2x
11. Mr Toad's Wild Ride – 1x
12. Winnie the Pooh – 2x
13. Mark Twain Paddle Wheeler – 1x
14. Casey Jr. Circus Train – 1x
15. Storybook Boat – 1x
16. Autopia – 1x (just Alex and me)
17. Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage – 1x
18. Disney Railroad – 1x

CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE

1. Soarin' Over California – 1x
2. Radiator Springs Racers – 3x
3. Aladdin Show – 1x
4. California Adventure parade – 1x
5. World of Color Show – 1x in person 2.5 x from room window
6. Mickey's Fun Wheel – 1x
7. Ariel's Undersea Adventure – 3x
8. Monster's Inc. – 1x
9. Toy Story Mania – 1x
10. California Screamin' Roller Coaster  – 1x ( Frank, Alex, Dan - no way for me!)
11. Red Car Trolley Line – 1x
12. Luigi's Flying Tires – 1x
13. Mater's Junkyard Jamboree – 1x
14. Goofy's Sky School – 1x (Frank and Alex)

Ongoing projects (unchanged since last WIP):  

1. Grinch quilt (see 2013/04)- sashings have been added
2. Color Play of the Day (see 2013/01) - awaiting binding
3. Sunny Spring Frost (see small insert 2013/02) - awaiting binding
4. Jack O'Lantern Trio (see 2013/02) - awaiting FMQ
5. Chicken quilt - awaiting FMQ
6. Overlapping square wall hanging - awaiting FMQ
7. Mask quilt (see 2011/10) - hidden away awaiting inspiration for arranging hexagons
8. Paper pieced block of the month (see quietplay's BOM)- downloaded/ready to print

New projects:  

1. None

Stats since last WIP:

     Completed  projects - 44 (26 at Disneyland and 18 at California Adventure)

     New projects - 0

     Currently in progress - 8

Now I am off to relax and rest while looking at what everyone else is doing at:

http://www.freshlypieced.com/