Rising Roosters: Colour & Inspiration Tuesday

Lunarcy Quilt: Year of the Rooster Block Release Day

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…..

At Arkaroola lately…

… everything has browned off since we talked last. Most of the staff and tourists have left, and the bugs are back. Although thankfully not in the numbers that arrived after the rains. Here are two new-to-me arrivees sporting some serious camouflage and hair-dos. Even after most of a year here, the biodiversity around about still amazes me.

• 

• 

We have also had small furry visitors while we were away. On the evidence we assumed they were mice, but the locals say that they are more likely dunnarts. While the gnawing, defecating and nesting results are much the same, somehow it seems much better to know that the culprits who dunnart are not filthy rodents but mouse-size native marsupials. 😀

Finishing the year on a good note

While the dunnarts were exploring our food stores and nesting in my photography umbrella, we were in Adelaide and Port Augusta competing at School of the Air Sports Day (in the incessantly pouring, but thankfully warmish, rain!), attending graduations and presentation nights, and exploring new school communities for 2021. My kids’ team finished last in Sports Day, but took out the annual Quiz Trophy. Our eldest also achieved the Year 7 girls sports day medal (which she practiced very hard for), as well as academic Dux of Year 7 and specific academic achievement awards for Home Ec and Music (her more natural strengths). She also placed first in the School of the Air art show for sculpture. She entered her very fun final assignment (an extension task) from her Home Ec classes.

Both kids were very enthused by their new schools for 2021 and have already made new friends on their orientation visits (a huge relief for all of us).

Not to be outdone

In my own sewing space, I finished my Spring Garden Party quilt, complete with a maroon binding. I also entered it into the School of the Air art show section where it placed first in the adults section. I’ll show you a picture of the finish another day – I don’t have a photo as I left it in Port Augusta so I had one less thing to move between houses. I also graduated from my Certificate III in Education Support I was doing this year while schooling the kids, and received an academic achievement award for that too.

While we were travelling I cut and fused many of the appliqués for my Esmeralda’s Garden quilt designed by Suzy of Suzy’s Artsy Craftsy Sitcom. It’s been good having something to work on that I can take with me and work with on the go.

Enough Crowing…

… time for the next installment in the Lunarcy pattern.

If you were born after Lunar New Year in 2017, 2005, 1993, 1981, 1969, 1957, 1945 or 1933 etc the Rooster is your Chinese Zodiac animal and today I am releasing your special block. People born in the Year of the Rooster are traditionally seen as confident, intelligent, straight forward, responsive, distinctive perfectionists who are good at managing teams.

Also according to Chinese legend, the Rooster teamed up with the Monkey and the Goat to finish the Emperor’s race, which is why they are grouped together in the Zodiac. As luck would have it, the block layout I choose for my quilt has these three animals in the one row – which I now specifically like and would have designed on purpose if only I had done my research in advance.

Roosters are also apparently good at warding off evil spirits. But since real roosters are not so good at warding off irate neighbours, perhaps it’s best to just sew a rooster on your quilt and sleep soundly.

Part Six of the Lunarcy Quilt pattern is available to download via the button below. This new pdf supplies you with all the appliqué templates you’ll need to create the Year of the Rooster appliqué and his Chinese lantern.

This quilt pattern is very kindly supported by Island Batik, who supplied all the fabrics to me for the sample. The fabrics I used are detailed in the pattern, and are all from their Foundations Basics and Blenders collections. This means that if you wish to use any or all of the same, they are still available through your favourite Island Batik stockist.

Year of the Rooster download

**** It is really important that you print this pdf at 100%, otherwise your pattern pieces will be the wrong size for the quilt blocks. Turn off any “fit to page” options in your printer dialog and ensure that the printout size is set to 100%. There are check boxes supplied in the document. If your printout is successful, these will measure 1″ square. The document is designed to fit on US Letter and A4 paper. ****

Inside the Year of the Rooster pdf you will find the templates for the Rooster and his lantern, and also an appliqué placement key. The placement of the blossoms is given as a suggestion, but feel free to add as many or as few as you’d like.

The next release will be the Year of the Monkey appliqué. We are going to be a little pushed to be done by the Year of the Ox, but I think we can still squeeze everything in.

The Lunarcy Quilt measures 75.5″ x 94″ and is designed for a single/twin bed. Part 1 of the pattern lists the fabric requirements and details how to put the quilt top together. It is your choice whether you prefer to do this before or after the appliqués. You can download Lunarcy Quilt Part 1 here. Part Two of the pattern is the Branches and Blossoms motifs used throughout multiple blocks. There will also be 12 animal appliqué files, of which today’s Rooster is the fourth. You can find the Rat pattern here, the Pig pattern here and the Dog pattern here. The remaining animals will arrive in this order: Monkey, Goat, Horse, Snake, Dragon, Rabbit, Tiger and Ox.

I hope you will enjoy making something from this pattern and I’d love to see what you’ve made if you do. If there are any problems with the file, please let me know.

And, your weekly dose of Linky Inspiration….

Here are my Chameleon party highlights for you. The articles are a little on the aged side now, due to the Chameleon’s prolonged absence – but quilt ideas are timeless, so I hope you’ll enjoy them anyway.

That’s your Chameleon Quota for the week. Now it’s your turn to share!

Tell us – what are you working on, or have recently finished in your sewing room? We want to know so we can visit 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!

---

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!