Skip to main content

What do you call a full moon?


That might sound a silly question.  You call it a full moon, of course.  But a full moon has different names given to it at different times of the year.  Those names vary slightly according to which reference book or website you consult, but here are the most popular: 

January -Wolf Moon

February - Snow Moon

March - Worm Moon (also known as the Egg Moon)

April - Pink Moon (alternatively, the Seed Moon)

May - Flower Moon

June - Strawberry Moon

July - Buck Moon

August - Sturgeon Moon

September - Harvest Moon

October - Hunter's Moon

November - Frost Moon

December - Cold Moon

Apparently the naming goes back to Native American culture, a way of keeping track of the seasons, the names reflecting what was going on in the natural world at that time of year.  The Worm Moon, for instance, was to do with Spring, the weather warming up, earthworms rising to the surface, migrating birds returning to the land.  More info about each month's name can be found on this page from Country Living magazine - link here - and more info about the moon in general is available via the Royal Museums Greenwich site - link to them here.  I love all those words applied to the moon's visibility.  A waxing crescent moon, a waning gibbous moon, a waning crescent.  So evocative.  

But why am I telling you all this?  Because of my current obsession with doll making, that's why. 

I've completed three dolls so far.  Except for adding ribbon loops to hang them from, and I also want to make labels to attach to each, explaining which moon they represent.  I'm still working out how to make those labels appear stylish enough.  My calligraphy skills are non-existent and the labels need to look a certain way.  Not like they're simply an address tag on someone's luggage.
The doll on the left has to be either November's Frost Moon or December's Cold Moon.  The middle doll is surely April's Pink Moon, while the doll on the right is slightly harder to place.  To me the colours are of early autumn.  That time of year when you get odd days that make you think it's still summer.  But those warm, mild days are deceptive, and you know in your heart that the season's turned and summer's really over.  I might leave off assigning a name to that doll until I've made a few more.  

I'll need to dig out the gell plate and print more fabric, but have temporarily run out of calico or enough plain white cotton to work with.  I did try printing on synthetic material, but it proved too difficult to stitch into, both by hand and by machine.  In fact, the sewing machine threw a major hissy fit every time I tried using the painted-on synthetic material.  Lots of snarled up thread and ominous clunky noises.  Shan't be trying that again!  

Okay, I'll finish here for today, and settle down to watch the early evening news.  That'll no doubt be full of gloom and doom.  Maybe I'll dodge the rain showers and go out for a long healthy walk afterwards.  Nothing like fresh air and burning off the calories to brighten the mood.  Bye for now.  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Threads of Freedom and charity shop bargains

  It's Saturday afternoon, and I haven't done half the things I'd meant to.  Partly because I spent most of this morning messing about with paints, stencils and the gell plate.  Never mind, everything on today's 'To Do' list will join tomorrow's 'To Do' list ... it's hardly life or death if I don't haul the hoover around the room or pull up weeds in the front garden.   I thought I'd show you what I made on Wednesday.  I'd gone to my monthly StitchArt group, and this time we did something a little different.  There's a project called 'Threads of Freedom' which is working with various community groups across the city.  It's about creating little stitched pieces, some of which will be included in a textile panel to go on display at Leeds art gallery.  There was lots of fabric we could choose from to sew with, and I picked this vintage tray cloth with the roses embroidery.   My own embroidery's not a patch on those flo...

Sari scraps, PVA, a couple of books and a necklace

  I'm typing this as snow's falling, and has been steadily all day.  It's not settling to any great extent, though I bet by tomorrow morning the paths will be slippery with ice.  Which always makes me paranoid about falling over and at the very least looking undignified, but at worst breaking a bone or twisting an ankle.  Oh well, it's ideal weather to stay inside and craft, isn't it?  I finally got around to listing packs of sari scraps on Etsy this morning.  I only made up six bundles as I've no clue whether they'll sell or if I've set a reasonable enough price point.  Time will tell.   This is a link to the listing, if you're interested.  This vaguely pink fabric isn't from one of my Etsy packs.  It's from a bit of experimenting I was doing yesterday.  I'd seen a post on Instagram showing how a DIY version of batik could be done without using hot wax.  The Instagrammer used PVA instead, and I wanted to try this out....

Another week's flown by ...

  Saturday's rolled around again, and it's not been the most eventful of days.  Cleaning and hoovering, a walk to the shops to buy groceries, an hour on the allotment, then home to do some odd tasks in the garden.  The strawberry plants are sending out runners, so I've been dealing with those, plus deadheading the perennial sunflowers, and cutting back the gone-over flowers on the sage and marjoram.  I'm sad to see those blooms gone as the bees loved them.  This afternoon I spent a few hours finishing 'Dawnlands' by Philippa Gregory.   It's a really good book, a page turner where you care about the characters and want to be reassured everything's going to work out well for them.  Plus you become enraged about the corruption of the so-called justice system at the time of the Stuart kings and queens, about transportation of prisoners to the West Indies, and about the vile nature of the sugar trade in the 1600s and the vast profits made from it....