Fun Quilts You Can Do Too
And bad Christmas-cracker joke day!
What carol do monkeys like to sing at Christmas time?
Jungle Bells, Jungle Bells!
😀 Today I am wishing a very merry Monkey Christmas to you all! The Chameleon and I ape you have a safe and joyous celebration with as many of your loved ones as you can, by whatever means that you can. And here’s an early gift for you – the Year of the Monkey block pattern for the Lunarcy quilt.
What a fowl year it’s been for many. With a bit of luck though, our collective year of rising roosters is coming to an end. And I’ve got a fitting appliqué to send it on it’s way. Today I am releasing the Year of the Rooster block for the Lunarcy quilt.
It’s been a few weeks since I managed to put out a blog post. Time flies (much more effectively than a rooster) at the best of times… and November/December always have us in an extra bit of a flap with birthdays, end of school year commitments, Christmas and so on. This year we’ve added travel and moving house to the mix, so I have no real hope of keeping up. Still, I have a couple of things I can crow about. I am glad to say that school is out, our eldest wrapped up the year with a bunch of successes, and our first moving trip is done. One more big moving trip to go. As for Christmas… that’s 10 days away, right? Plenty of time…..
READ ON TO KEEP COLLECTING YOUR LUNARCY PATTERNS
Dog Days: the hot, sultry, uncomfortable days of the Northern Hemisphere summer corresponding to the annual rise of Sirius (the Dog Star) over the horizon. Yuck.
Sirius (and its doggy constellation Canis Major) is a feature of the summer sky here in the Southern Hemisphere too. And since this past week was hot, sultry and super uncomfortable here… I’m proclaiming that our own Dog Days are upon us.
This was Arkaroola on Sunday. What you can’t see is the stinking-hot gales of wind to go with the humidity. It was still 42C (107F) at 6pm despite the dust and gloom. Yuck.
So, how best to distract from yucky Dog Days? By releasing the hounds, of course! And if that all sounds like Lunarcy, well…. Perfect. Because by my reckoning, it’s time for the Lunarcy Year of the Dog.
Another day, another dose of Lunarcy!
Ha! Ain’t that the truth?! Just for something different though, it’s the good kind of Lunarcy scheduled today – we are moving on to the next block of the Lunarcy quilt. Since we are working backwards through the Chinese zodiac (to arrive at the Ox on Chinese New Year 2021), our new block is the Pig. In the zodiac legend, the Pig finished last in the Emperor’s race. There are various versions, but one common story is that the Pig got hungry, had a feast – and the inevitable post-lunch nap – and barely made it to the finish line in time to be part of the zodiac calendar at all.
But for all that, the Pig is one of the most positive Zodiac animals – being seen as a figure of prosperity and good luck. People born in the Year of the Pig are said to be diligent, compassionate, generous, calm, happy, easygoing, honest, trusting, educated, sincere and brave. It seems there are much worse things you could be than a pig.
Especially a pig this happy!
Delve into the blog today to grab your copy of the Lunarcy Pig appliqué pattern. I hope you enjoy it. I also have more Outback Spring photos and the first block of a new quilt project I am working on for Show and Tell. And of course, lots of fun in our weekly linky.
READ ON TO KEEP COLLECTING YOUR LUNARCY PATTERNS
In the beginning there was the Rat. And the Rat jumped the queue.
According to Chinese legend, it was the Rat who (somewhat dodgily) won the Emperor’s race that decided the identity and order of the Zodiac animals. And so it is the Rat who is the first animal of the 12-year Lunar Calendar cycle. As one version of the story goes, the Rat caught a ride in the amiable Ox’s ear to cross a river during the race, but then abused the favour by dashing across the finish line first, claiming the honours.
And it seems that the ancient precedent for the Rat jumping the queue still holds. I started designing the Lunarcy quilt in 2018 with the Dog appliqué, and then followed in 2019 with the Pig appliqué, but it is the Rat appliqué that is released first. It seems only fitting though – 2020 is the Year of the Rat, the Year of the Lunarcy quilt, and coincidentally, also somewhat dodgy.
And so, today is the day to grab your copy of the Lunarcy Rat appliqué pattern. I hope you enjoy it. 🙂
READ ON TO KEEP COLLECTING YOUR LUNARCY PATTERNS