There’s a LUCKY sale this week! So many great Asian patterns! Of course they are great even when there’s not a special sale!

CHINESE NEW YEAR??? WELL there are New Years celebrations all over Asia. Japan has Oshogatsu on Jan 1st, and Little New Year on Jan 15th. In Indonesia it’s Tahun Baru Imlek. So Hooray! – It’s a great time to celebrate everywhere.

At Meadowlyon you’ll find exciting Asian patterns from all of them.

I love my Chinese Pandas quilt! Many people have asked for a pattern for it!
So, this year for Chinese New Year I’m delighted to offer you a simple pattern for the Chinese Lanterns I made to border the Chinese Pandas Quilt.

Why do I like Asian things so much?

Because I lived there!

My History with “Chinese things.”

I grew up in LA and we OFTEN stopped by Chinatown to buy those fun little balls -“prize balls! Have you ever seen them? There is a narrow paper ribbon wrapped round and round forming a ball. As a child unwraps the ribbon little prizes spill out: a ring, a tiny plastic animal, or a candy! I’ve been looking online and can’t find the name or pictures of them. How sad! They seem to have disappeared!

Another influence was Mrs. Lila L who lived up the street. She wore her hair in a bun pierced with two chopsticks and in her home were beautiful treasures including a large black lacquered dresser inlaid with mother-of-pearl. I wanted that when I grew up!

Little did I know then, how excited I would be when I married a man who took me to the Orient!! (Well, the Army did—but that counts!)

My first experince living in the Orient was in Korea. I loved walking through the market and enjoying the beauty of the Ancient culture all around me. That’s when I first found out there actually were tall thin mountains as I had seen in Oriental paintings!

Other places were Malaysia – I didn’t even know where that was before we got sent there! That’s where I got interested in Wayang Golek (Indonesian Puppets). From there we visited Singapore.

Later my husband and I were missionaries in Thailand. There was amazing “Art” and inspiration there.

Okay enough reminiscing!!

Now some FOOD for thought!

Chinese Almond Cookies are a MUST for New Year!

I made this recipe for the first time and it was GREAT! Probably sweeter, more delicate, and richer than those I’ve had before. The ones in Chinatown back then, in the old days, were probably made with shortening and these had butter. It was a notable (good) taste! I got the recipe from Pinterest, so I can’t publish it here. Sorry! But if you search chinese new year recipes and look for “CHINESE ALMOND COOKIES,” you’ll find several with all very similar ingredients. I will tell you this, the one I choose had almond flour in it. I think it was significant. Luckily I had some on-hand!