Spindle Practice Redux

I've had another go at the spindle design this time using 1 row less stitching and a 0.5cm larger ball.

I think it turned out to look like a bag of musk sticks in this picture. Or maybe I am just a bit hungry. The colours are much nicer in real life. I think I am going to do this one once more... but with a twist.

Do you like my tea set? It was a birthday gift from Miho and Seth. I had just washed it up after making some Genmai-Cha with Matcha (green tea with puffed rice and powdered green tea).

Thrilled all over

I have a few temari UFO's kicking around but my arm has been too sore to settle to them. Here is my latest temari. I really enjoyed working on this one and just love how it turned out. It is inspired by a pattern in Cosmo 4 p24 #6 (pattern p52). I changed the colours a little from the original ball because I wanted it to really pop with rainbow brightness. After I stitched it I was unsure if I had got the rainbow colours right... despite just coming out of winter here I haven't seen any rainbows for a while.

I really like this eye catching cheery little C8 fellow. I think I have 3 all time favourite temari that I have made so far (I mean those I worked out on my own rather than asking for help on) the other two are.

This one is a C10 and it is almost an all over design. My other favorite is below, a S16.

I'm sure I see a theme... they all have blue on them. I've stitched the last two many times, and I think I'll make the top one again in graduated shades of colour to see the effect.  Hmmm what colour might I use? Can you guess?

Till next time... just keep stitching!

Pattern play part two

I've been stitching my heart out lately but there's not too much I can show right now.  This week I have been playing with patterns again. I have been trying out different colours on a wrapped bands pattern. This is a fun activity and I learn a lot every time I do this. I've done four balls in this design and while I think I prefer the blue and red one, I can't really place the other three.

Which one do you prefer?

I have also been playing with one of my favorite patterns from Cosmo 1. I've mixed it up a bit and am plugging in different colours to see how they look. I really like the shape formed at the pole area. I can't say that I have ever seen this shape before... could I have stumbled on something new? Not too likely, with all the hundreds of thousands of temari that have been made over the years since the first temari was stitched, I am sure someone else has stitched this before. I've never seen it though.

Which colours do you like best?

This last set are to temari I made this week working from a pattern I stitched for my JTA submission (the red one) last year. Please excuse the stitching on the pink one, it is a bit wonky... I was watching a German movie while stitching this one and as I don't speak the language I was mostly reading the subtitles... when will I learn that I can't 'watch' a subtitled movie and stitch temari at the same time? I might go back and try to groom out that flat side which I hadn't noticed being so bad until I saw this photo.

The more I play at making temari the more obvious it is that selecting colours to use on a project can be harder than working out the pattern when written in Japanese. Sometimes the colours I select are bang on perfect and other times what seems like a nice combination in my hand looks hideous on the temari. I have grabbed a bunch of lovely pale colours only to see them turn out all faded out on the surface of my temari. The 'pop' factor can be somewhat elusive. Occasionally I've grabbed random colours that don't seem to match only to see them sync up on the ball like magic.  Also interesting is that the same set of threads can look wonderful on one pattern and terrible on another. This is why I really like the exercise of trying out several colours on a pattern.

Maki Kagari AFL Temari

I didn't actually plan it at the start, but this is how it turned out. Last week I made a bunch of balls to compare the Cup measurement technique for filling temari cores.  I had always suspected that all cups were not equal and now I have proven it as far as rice hull and dryer lint anyway....

So as I had plenty of smaller sized balls I ended up making three balls made for one TK Maki (wrapped band) Kagari stitch along this week. I have also learned to mark a C8 by eye instead of measuring and have been practicing this new skill. I made several balls without measuring when I first took up temari making but I decided it really wasn't scientific enough as a techique so I stopped.... I bet with a bit more practice I could get quite good at this... It does save time with not needing to pin but then I am slower at actually wrapping the marking lines this way so it is probably no quicker just now.

The first one (top left in WCE colours) was wrong... due to an assumption of the instructions rather than the actual instructions. I really like it anyway. The second one (front in Dockers colours) was right... thanks to actually reading and following the instructions... and the third one (top right in Magpie colours) was just me wanting to cover all the marking lines.

In our family we support 3 different AFL teams (Australian Rules Football) Two teams are from Perth and the other is from Victoria.  It is almost the end of the season now and there is only 2 more weeks of finals until the grand final which is held on the last Saturday in September. Sadly, my team the West Coast Eagles (WCE) have been eliminated from the finals... OK they didn't qualify... alright they came last in the competition. Fremantle Dockers, my son's team, are in the finals for only the 5th time ever... OK they have only been in the competition since 1995. The Magpies aka Collingwood, is my husband's team. They are the team most people love to hate, established in 1892, they have only managed to win one AFL grand final... OK they did win 13 grand finals in the predecessor of the AFL which was the VFL. My worst scenario is that Fremantle and Collingwood will face off in the 2010 AFL Grand Final. That will be a terrible 100 minutes of viewing in our house followed by weeks of crowing/crying.

So like our recent federal election (held on August 21, 2010 for which we still have no result) choosing a team to barrack for in the Grand Final this year is more like eliminating the teams you least want to see playing until you reach just two teams... then deciding which of those two you would be least crushed to have win.

All this spot stuff is fun but actually pretty irrelevant, with major flooding in Pakistan, and on the east coast of Australia, people getting hit in major storms down the eastcoast of USA and a huge earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. I hope wherever you live you're safe and dry today.

Look what I found

I have been digging through my box of temari looking for examples of C8's that I have made. I came across these ones that I haven't shared before.

This one was a little sad attempt at an interlocking band design. I think it was from TK or from Debi's notebook. Either way it didn't work out so I added the flower design as pictured and on the other end I did a strange looking herringbone flower. I didn't immortalise it in picture. I tried again on the next ball. It didn't turn out right again... maybe the woven sections were done too close to the 6 part triangle lines so the shapes didn't quite turn out as they should have.

Oh well I still like it... I was also experimenting with variegated thread... did you notice? I always wonder when it is right or wrong to use a variegated thread. These look ok.

I really like this one. It is from TK. I had this base ball wrapped in Yellow for ages! I could never figure out what to use it for. Inspiration! this design said 'yep it might just work'.

This is one I have been working on this week. Strangely enough a similar ball came up in a question this week on TC. Isn't it strange that out of all the temari makers, in all the world two people should be working the same (or at least very similar) ball at the same time.

My Lazy Daisy Haze

I am working ball two of Barb's Sunflowers class this week.  I am totally enjoying it. This week I have learned that the Aussie colloquialism of 'She'll be right mate!!'* does not work in the world of temari making.  Put another way... if the instructions have notations that are printed in bold red and include the word 'not' in capitals... it is a jolly good idea to follow those instructions in a fairly specific way.

Save it to say that my ball was not exactly to the size specifications on the pattern and I needed to make some slight alterations to the pattern to fit it all in.  I know you read my blog Barb and I offer my unequivocal apology for the outcome of my ball.  Having said that I did unintentionally learn a lot about adapting a pattern. But I promise ball 3 will be perfect.

My lazy daisy stitch is really quite awful on some of the faces but they got better as I continued around the patterns.  I finally understand the french knot which is brilliant.  I don't know why some instructions don't penetrate my brain but I have never quite got the concept of how to make french knots until yesterday. (Yes you are all allowed to giggle at this) I can for example work out this formula but I have never mastered the times tables.

 (BTW it is part of the Black and Scholes option pricing model and I am learning the times tables with my 8yo son) If your brain just bugged out seeing that formula, you'll know how I feel whenever anything math related is discussed in temari... although Debi A's math info site is a great remedial help when taken with a small piece of chocolate.  Mmmm chocolate.... what was I writing about again???


Ah yes! OK on to some photos

The faces are 1>4 going clockwise from top left. The lazy daisies are progressively less dodgy on each face.  I might go back and do some more french knots on the 1st face and I didn't have space to finish the final row on some faces so I left it off all of them.
I have started the 3rd ball for this class... all marked up and the first few rows are completed on each end.


* 'She'll be right mate' translates to Don't worry, No problems or It will turn out alright.  We use it even when we know it probably wont be... see the link above for examples.

Latest Temari

As you all know I have been taking Barb Suess' Sunflowers Class.  It is progressing really well, and I am enjoying it a lot.  So today I have some pics of the first completed ball.  I am glad to have discovered that I have a similar purple to the maxi-lock thread supplied in my own stash so I may make the biggie big ball in the same colours... if I can get the same stitching thread colours here.

I am loving this class and find myself salivating all day on Sunday at the prospect of the next installment the following day.  I am not surprised at all to see several names on the class data base of people who also took the Echo Stars Class early last year.  Also I noticed that there is one other Aussie.  Hi J.C. from NSW!!!

Also here is a SPOILER ALERT in case you are doing the TT March Mystery Ball.  My attempt is pictured below. I remember now that I don't really adore making spindles.  Perhaps I am too rough but they love to scrunch in on themselves at the sides (if that makes sense) when they are single.  I never (touching wood here) have this problem when making layered spindles which cross near the center.

Now I had heard of Crocus flower but had never, to my memory, seen one.  So after I stitched the ball I googled Crocus and here is what came up with.... the image below is from here and there are a bunch (pardon the pun) of really lovely flower photos at this site.  I think I will save this link to my favorites.

I think after all my current projects are finished I will make a temari and yubinuki set. I think it might be interesting to try to make a thimble to use as a stand for a specific temari.  Hmmm maybe something to think about..... (brain beginning to percolate with ideas...)

Almost Easter... lots of projects on the hop.

The postman finally delivered my thread pack yesterday for Barb's Sunflowers class.  It actually made it here pretty quickly seeing as it had travelled 1/2 way around the world to get here. He (the Postman) must think I am a Psycho because I can recognise the sound of his van pulling up and tend to rapidly launch myself out of the front door to pounce on every parcel he delivers.  He is getting much faster at crossing from van to front door and back... maybe he is worried I might miss my target and accidentally scoop him into the house.

I have completed the first week of stitching on Barb's class and prepped all the other bases.  I have started on the March Mystery Ball from TK.  (No one cyber slapped sense into me and I have now completed the High School Classes and the TC Braided Challenge)

In this image you can see the 3 purple balls ready to go for the Sunflower class.  There is the white one for the MMB the only clues I have are spindle stitch and Crocus Flower (I have no idea what Crocus is - having a black thumb) and the coffee one is for my Adult temari class where we are making a C10 floral sampler.  The blue ball is just a blank I wrapped to try out the colour... now I need to think of a design to use on it.  Lastly, the huge black yarn wrapped ball is the extra challenge ball for Barb's class.  It has a foam ball inside (not for holding a bell but just to reduce the overall weight and at least 5 cups of hull.  My stocking hit maximum density so my only option was to use 150g of yarn (this was about 675metres long = 738yards) to get the mari to the correct circumference.  I don't know what colour I will wrap this base in... I don't know if I can get the same colour here as the other 3 purple balls so I might go for something else but I will definately wait until the rest of the class is finished before I start on it.

I am continuing to stitch on the white ball today. 

Wahoo!!! I got it!!! AKA second C8 2010

So here is the follow up to my last disaster post...  Not that it was entirely a write off as I did like the outcome... just wasn't what I had hoped for.  Well after a little sleep and a browse through my English texts I managed to make the pattern I had hoped for.  I got help from one of the Vandervoort books (Temari Adventures).  I hardly use this book because my brain can't handle the abundance of text and diagrams - I know I'm just weird like that. I can't decifer what is going on in this series but inspite of that fact I still have all the books in this set - I keep hoping one day the penny will drop.

I must admit I still wasn't too confident I'd be able to stitch the design so I picked a squishy mari that I had made from dryer lint (and had decided I couldn't stitch on because it was too soft) then used some #16 kreinick thread from my stash (reduced to $2.20).  I decided to ignore the band wrapping and only stitch the top layer... I figured it would save time, would be pretty cheap and wouldn't waste any lovely threads.

Here is how this version turned out.  I have nicknamed it 'Revelation' because when it finally clicked what 'cross over an intersection of 4 then 3 then 4 then 3...' meant the sound of the penny dropping was loud as a sonic boom.

The marking out is a little strange on this one but the real focus was on performing the correct stitch... next time I will work on getting it in the right place in the triangles... but first I need to work out how to find the triangle center.  Mmmm maths not my strong point... but temari is teaching me an awful lot about it!!

C8 frustration and what happens when plan B happens.

Ok so after making two C10's in a row I decided to try a C8.  I had seen a lovely set of snowflake inspired temari on Jane C's blog World Embroideries a while ago and really like the idea of trying something similar. In the image below you can see the red ball I was aiming for.  The pattern is in Cosmo 2 Page 4 ball 6. I really liked the idea and I set to work with a small 21cm ball and marked the C8 and wrapped the bands on the S4 & Eq. Given the limited amount of text in the pattern (which I admit I didn't even try to translate) and the funky diagram I decided that perhaps the next thing to do was the band on the 6 part triangle.  Then that is where I got stumped.  I don't know why but I just couldn't work out the rest.  My brain just stuck in neutral I was grinding away at the gears but none were engaging.  In the end I had a smallish size tantrum and decided to forget the pattern tidy up the ball and go to bed.  So this is what I came up with.

I knotted the 6 part triangle intersections, on the band intersections I stitched a single square over them to keep everything ship shape.  I quite like how the ball turned out even though it was NOTHING like the original design.  Looking again at the pattern today I can almost follow it and I am sure I have this design in one of the English books in my collection so I will go back to the drawing board and try again... when my brain is a little more rested. 

Now there's some nice lint balls!!

I had been saving dryer lint over the winter months and have recently worked my first temari using them as the core material.  I made the mari back when the TC Thread Challenge began so I was inspired by pink and purples (not what I usually stitch with).  The temari on the left and right have been detailed in previous posts but the central one was made during Christmas week and is based on Ice Crystals from Barb Suess' book. 

One of the ladies from our May Temari 101 class called saying she was having trouble with the stitches laying flat on this pattern and (although I hadn't stitched the design before) I offered some advice that I thought might help her.  As it turned out what I suggested did help when I used the same advice to stitch this ball.  I admit that while I don't actually like how my ball turned out (the colour choice and lack of sparkle is at fault not the design) I think I will try it again at another time.  I tend to stitch designs as pattern blocks (work up one shape then move to the next... I like to achieve in blocks) and as this one is stiched in woven layers (all the shapes are stitched in each round). 

I am trying to use up the Patina from our thread challenge.  It is lovely but too thick, I much prefer the rayon sold in our store. I did attempt to ply the Patina down like Debi A did in her challenge ball but then tried to stitch instead of wrap it. BAD MOVE!!! It didn't work for me at all!!! I just ended up ripping it out and doing this design instead.  I hate to waste thread so I put all my rip outs into my lint bag for another mari. 

A note on  using lint for the base... I wrapped 'Goldilocks' balls during my experiment with lint.  The first one was too soft, the second (of course) was too hard but the third... it was .... just right.  I have been experimenting with several core materials including shredded paper (not yet stitched on) but I must admit I am a rice hull girl at heart and it is my preferred temari core. 

Well this is my last post for 2009 so have a safe and happy New Years and catch you back here for 2010. Wow I can't believe I just wrote that... 20 something years ago I remember a group of friends working out the ages we would all be in 2010 and how old it seemed.  Now it doesn't seem too old at all. 

My new 'stitching' years resolution is to get out my list of designs to try and make 2 a month... that'll take care of 24 out of the 100's I have on the list... oh and to finish the quilt I began in 2007... still only 100+ blocks to go!!!!

最近の作品 by MIHO

最近作った作品の写真をアップします。


☆主人と娘の為に作った毬。二人の名前をスティッチして。
土台にはもみ殻を使いました。
このとても派手な糸は主人が選びました。

☆二人でよくキャッチボールをしています！！

☆ミニ毬。

すぐに出来上がるのでちょっと時間があるときにぴったり。

☆最近好きで練習しているパターンです。

C8もだんだん慣れてきたので、別のパターンに挑戦して

みたいと思います。

English translation to follow.

最近のお気に入りMy favourite design by MIHO

なかなか気に入った！！という毬が作れません。
まだまだ修行が足りないですね。

でも、最近ちょっと好きだな、と思う毬ができたので、
写真アップしてみます。
C8でバーバラの本から、DogWoodのパターンを応用しました。
地が緑で星がちりばめられているので、なんだかクリスマスの
デコレーションのよう。

ちなみにDogWoodは日本語でハナミズキ、ですね。

I have learned to do C8 using Barb Seuss' book. I am addicted to making the C8 division balls. The dogwood pattern is my inspiration for this ball. I also used kiku style stars on the poles. I like brighter colours so I chose a selection from my stash, it looks like a christmas decoration. Dogwood is the English translation for Hanamizuki which is a pale pink or white coloured flower.