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2020 – Year of the Rat

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 ...

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 ...

I’m on fire!

I’ve finished three assignments in one week and I’ve sewn down the remaining flowers onto the Lunarcy quilt. I even have a plan for finishing the flower centres, I think. Everything is on schedule for the Chameleon to be able to go AWOL for a few days very soon, touch wood!

Maybe my luck is holding because it is the week to unveil the Year of the Dragon appliqué block. My birth sign, and my favourite block on the Lunarcy quilt. Here he is…. one over-spec’d lizard.

The Chameleon knows a kindred spirit ...

Desert winters are nothing if not unpredictable

Winter is a funny thing in the desert. The nights are mostly bitterly cold, while the days are pleasantly warm. But very occasionally we get a wind blowing in with heat from somewhere, and the night can stay ‘balmy’ for many hours after sunset. We had one of those evenings on Friday night. While the freezing cold nights (think frozen water pipes) are bug-free, warmer evenings bring small collections of brave new winter visitor species we haven’t seen before. Mostly lazy moths decorated in interesting patterns, like this pretty little thing that ...

Thirsty, Busy, Romantic Visitors

June seems to be nesting season at Arkaroola. There are lots of pairs of birds around, and I’ve even been seeing a few different species collecting nesting materials. A Little Crow went past my lounge room window on the weekend with several large sticks in its beak. The Mallee Ringneck Parrots seem to be collecting moss or lichen from my roof. And all the lads have started trying to impress their dinner dates by bringing them to the very exclusive Chameleon’s freshwater café and bar.

The nights here have become very cold recently, which ...

Ladybirds for Luck

So…… This week, things are going pretty well here…… Covid restrictions easing. My latest assignment written (and submitted!) on time. Three more blocks on the Lunarcy finished….. which gives me some breathing space to do some of the pattern writing for a change. And a four day weekend due to a public holiday yesterday combined with a student-free day today…. Puts me in the mood for a lighthearted look at Lady Luck, since that’s where the themes in my sewing room, the great outdoors and my linky inbox seem to intersect this week.

Why luck? The ...

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 ...

The little blue flower that started a neighbourhood dispute…..

Or was it the yellow butterfly? Or someone else entirely…..?

Watching the local pollinators compete, you would be forgiven for thinking that flowers are scarce in Arkaroola right now. Which, I think you probably get the idea: they are not. The cooler weather, plus the months elapsed since our big rain, has resulted in a bloom of both flowers and insects. Wanted and otherwise.

But apparently some flower locales are more desirable than other blooming addresses. Even within the best Cattle Bush Restaurants there appears to be premium tables where the ...

The Chameleon thinks he’s vindicated!

Annoying!

That’s what it is… annoying…. when someone unashamedly thinks that they are the centre of the Universe, and then it turns out that they actually are. Or close enough to. Can you imagine how big the Chameleon’s head is this week since he found out the entire galaxy revolves around him?!

Okay, he is still exaggerating. But he did find a constellation named in his honour this week, thanks to some stargazing adventures in one of the local observatories.

And consequently, the Chameleon’s head?…… it is Huge!

My progress on ...

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 ...

Noticing all the Details

Funny how the most obvious things can bypass me sometimes. And amazing how much more there always is to learn about a place if I just stay still long enough. Changes of seasons bring new rounds of wonders….. and colours… and challenges too. Many of our days here in the Australian desert are still sunny and warm, but the nights are getting bitterly cold already. The nocturnal moths have mostly stopped coming to the windows. But the cooler weather is bringing out some more interesting day critters.

So, the Chameleon requests permission to talk a little ...

Flowers this week. Lots of flowers. No more creepy crawlies…

The Chameleon objects, naturally. But I am more sympathetic to the bug-not-lovers out there…… I’ve just realised that the size of the local insects dictates the size of the local spiders. I’m a bit off bugs this week.

So, luckily for me there is a new interesting array of flowers out to show you instead. We’ve been having yoyo weather…. it was up to the mid thirties (degrees C) the other day and now we are heading into the mid-teens, tops. And we’ve had a little ...

Is it a plane? Is it a chameleon? No, it’s a Superb Katydid!

Confession time. Staying at home absolutely all the time messes with my head a little. Paul and I are, (in theory at least), two grown adults with: lots of hobbies, study and work to do; a couple of kids to nurture; and plenty of internet friends in different circles. But things are degenerating here regardless. Bug Spotters Anonymous is likely launching its inaugural Chapter in our lounge room….. read on for reasons if you dare!

In my saner moments though, I have been doing some more ...

Everything grows like weeds after summer rain!

Including the weeds. This week we have been madly helping out with weed control around the Arkaroola village. It’s a crucial few days where the weeds are big enough to easily identify amongst all the beneficial plants, but haven’t started dropping seed yet. The window of opportunity is short, and for the Bindii is almost shut already.

Between that, and schooling, I have still managed a little sightseeing and a little sewing. It helps that we had a public holiday yesterday to get a few things done. I’ve got all ...

Time is a bit Weird in the Outback

I know this can happen anywhere, but it seems to me that Arkaroola is in the grip of some strange sort of time warp phenomenon thingy. I work really hard, do and see so many things and yet time stands still. Nothing changes, every day is the same. But then I find that the calendar has skipped an entire month….. and everything has changed while I was looking but not noticing. And it still feels like no time has passed….

But it must have, because I have finally done some sewing. Lunarcy ...

The desert was only sleeping

I have been into the Australian Outback many times in the last 20 years, but this unique environment never fails to amaze me. It is resilient and diverse, and just because everything is bone dry, it doesn’t mean that everything is dead. On the contrary – when the conditions are right…… BAM! Life emerges from places and in forms you wouldn’t believe! Two nights ago I saw what looked like an ant that was only about 1/4 inch long, but with an antennae over an inch in length. It was investigating around about ...

Hoping to be past the dramas and back to sewing soon

Sorry that I missed you last Tuesday. We were on the road and it all got too hard in the end….. as you will find out shortly(!). It’s taken three attempts since School Induction week for us to make it back to Arkaroola, but third time’s the charm! We have been here for a week now, and almost settled into a routine. Not the routine that I think is sustainable for the year, but a routine nonetheless. Regular food, laundry, ablutions, schooling and sleep. Now to sneak ...

When life sends you weather…. play BINGO!

Still no sewing for me, only a little frogging…. because we are now rained out and we can’t get home. After three years of severe drought, all the outback roads have closed due to rain, just one day before I wanted to use them! Yup, Arkaroola has had 68.4mm rain in the last two days, which is more than double their last year’s entire rainfall. It’s absolutely fabulous, except that we are on the wrong side of raging creeks, washed out crossings and government road closures. A small price ...

Happy Lunar New Year 2020!

As I write this, it is Chinese New Year today and Australia Day tomorrow. So I’m wishing everyone who celebrates either or both occasions a very splendid day.

I am celebrating today, albeit in the absence of the Chinese branch of my extended family, with the next step towards launching our next free BOM here at Clever Chameleon. I got word this morning that the Lunar New Year quilt BOM will be supported by Island Batik, who will very kindly supply the fabrics shown in the picture above so I can make the demo ...