Last week, my kids and I joined some friends for a walk at the Orono Bog Walk. From the Bangor City Forest Report website, “the 4,200-foot long Orono Bog Boardwalk enables visitors to City Forest to see a bog up close and personal without getting their feet wet… The bog itself encompasses 616 acres on the Bangor and Orono town lines and is home to hundreds of species of hardy yet fragile plants and some of Maine’s rarest bird species.” It is a truly magical place; you walk along the boardwalk through the woods for a few hundred feet and you’re suddenly in a completely different world, where the ground is covered in squishy moss floating on water and trees can’t grow taller than my two-year-old.

This week’s color inspiration comes from the bog. Palettes are made using my photographs and Play Crafts’ Palette Builder 2.1.  I have included matching Aurifil thread for one of the palettes, but if you want the matches for all of them, let me know and I will start including them, too.

 Corresponding Kona cottons from left to right:
Moss, Ivy, Taupe, Coal, Honey, Mushroom

Corresponding Aurifil thread from left to right:
2905 Army Green
4173 Dk Olive
2372 Dk Antique Gold
1158 Med Grey
2910 Med Olive
2900 Lt Kakhy Green

This tamarack was glowing in the late afternoon sun. I honestly thought the palette would be more gold-orange heavy, but the dark background colors make a bold appearance. The golden needles in their perfect little swirls entranced me, and perhaps might inspire a quilt design for the future.

See how the tamarack, stunted in its bog home, glows in the late afternoon sun?! I also think it’s amazing how a “normal” tree can look so different when you get right up close and personal. Perspective is everything.

 Corresponding Kona cottons from left to right:
Moss, Ivy, Steel, Iron, Peridot, Raffia

 A sweet evergreen, bringing us cool and earthy greens and blues.

Corresponding Kona cottons from left to right:
Wine, Deep Rose, Mahogany, Spice, Bison, Leaf

This pitcher plant blended right in with the bright red peat moss! Pitcher plants are among my favorite plants, and they are ubiquitous in the bog. Their autumnal red and fuzzy trap-mouth make them so gorgeous this time of year! Did you know that pitcher plants are carnivorous? That’s right–they eat meat! Ready for your daily science lesson? Here’s a bit about how pitcher plants work, from Encyclopedia Britannica (it’s still a useful resource!):

Pitcher plants… have unusual tubular leaves that are shaped like urns, trumpets, or small pitchers, with a flap that partly covers the top of the pitcher. Insects are attracted to the mouth of the pitcher by a trail of nectar-secreting glands that extend downward along the lip to the interior of the pitcher. The lip is covered with stiff, downward-pointing hairs that are not easy for an insect to climb upward on once it has partly descended to gather nectar. Just below the lip, in the steepest part of the pitcher’s throat, is a very smooth area without hairs. Like a greased slide, this zone sends the insect tumbling down into the liquid pool at the bottom of the pitcher, where it quickly becomes submersed and drowns. The insect is then digested by an enzyme secreted within the leaf. (from Encyclopedia Britannica online article “pitcher plant”)

How awesome is that!? A hunting plant. Who knew that a carnivorous plant could inspire a quilt? Any other science geek quilters out there? What is the strangest thing that has inspired one of your quilts or craft projects?