Tampilkan postingan dengan label Links. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label Links. Tampilkan semua postingan

Selasa, 12 April 2011

Kiku (Chrysanthemum) Temari for Japan - Update

Update on my temari project for the TT stitch for Japan effort. I completed and posted it to Ginny this week. Someone... maybe Laura?? asked to see the side view. It is very simple, but here it is.


I hand wrote my message on the card Ginny made for us to use but I did print a Japanese translation on the lower half. I discovered that there isn't actually a translation to Japanese for my hubby's surname... but now as I write this I am wondering if it is because his surname is Dutch.  Not actually 'Dutch' but from The Netherlands. I'm going to google translate after this post and see what comes up as a translation if I select Dutch to Japanese instead of English to Japanese...

Also a quick update on my brother's fundraising efforts... he has inspired people to make $4,700 worth of donations to the Red Cross appeal for Japan.

I've been so busy this week (seeing as I lost a few days last week with my head cold) catching up on a backlog of things. Mr W has been taking swim classes at school so I've been over at the pool 3 times a week watching that on top of all the volunteer stuff I do for his class... it has really been cutting into my day. I've been communicating with several suppliers, counting deliveries - discovering items missing and packing orders like crazy. I think the lady at the post office is tired of seeing me. Today I had to post a few customer orders and parcel to Ginny and my drivers licence to pay - which was already a day overdue... better than months late like last year because I totally forgot about it. I also had a bunch of books to return to two different  libraries today, lucky for me I enquired with the librarian if I could return them all to her even though the belonged to two different branches, her answer was yes, and it shortened my list of chores considerably. When my hubby called me at lunch time to see what I was up to he was surprised to hear I'd just returned to the house after heading out at 8:20 for school.

Tomorrow I am going to make a mold for a thimble and get into stitching one... with any luck I will have a go at this months challenge from MaMercerie. Why don't you join me?! There is plenty of info about making thimbles on the MM website.

After that I am having a go at my next Amigurumi which is a Mario star character called Luma because I found some yellow yarn in my stash which will be perfect and I know I have black and white felt somewhere in that craft room... I have plenty of projects stored in my computer now that I've had a few days of Internet surfing... the silver lining of being sick for a few days!

And at some stage this week I must have a go at the 20 face marking challenge from TC... and re-look at last month's project which I've not had time to begin as yet. I will get there though.

Senin, 28 Februari 2011

Thimble (Yubinuki) instructions from a photo

Debi has written another excellent post on how she works out yubinuki patterns from a photograph. I encourage you to visit her Temari Train of Thought blog to read it.

Love your work as always Debi!

New Zealand Earthquake Update

Christchurch New Zealand is still searching for missing citizens and trying to start cleaning up since the quake last week. These people are doing it really tough and it is estimated that more than one third of all the buildings in the quake zone will need to be demolished.

Image from dailytelegraph.com.au

I have added the vertical red line in the photo above of the Hotel Grand Chancellor so you can see how far off from vertical that it is. Many believe that this building will fall down, many believe that if this happens it could trigger another quake.

Image from News.com

Since September 4th 2010 there have been more than 5,000 earthquakes and aftershocks, look at the map here to see them. Select sticky dots in the display options. It is difficult to absorb that number, but there have also been more than 250 aftershocks just in the last week. This really brings what the city's residents have been dealing with into very sharp focus.

Image from News.com

I am so glad that my friend Louise and her family have remained safe, as I mentioned in a previous post she was in Christchurch visiting her family. At the time of the quake last Tuesday, Louise was planning to head out shopping with a friend and maybe take a ride on the gondola. Just the day before she had been touring around many of the areas that are now destroyed.

Thankfully Louise managed to get back to her adopted home here in Perth, but I know she had very mixed feelings about leaving her actual home back in New Zealand. I am hoping we will catch up over the coming weekend.

Yesterday the New Zealand government launched an appeal to raise funds to help rebuild the city of Christchurch. If you can help please visit the link to donate to the Christchurch Earthquake appeal.

Jumat, 18 Februari 2011

Interesting Results

A few posts back I mentioned that I had relabelled the 200 posts on this blog. It was a huge task (now I know why most people don't do it retrospectively) but it confirmed a few things I knew and others I had not even suspected. Here is a screen shot of the labels today.



The things I knew:
My favourite stitch is Uwagake Chidori Kagari.
My favourite division is C10.
I went through a phase of labelling posts with my name... but as I have ended up writing the majority of the posts... it was a bit redundant so I stopped.
Because of my desire to keep my threads straight (also because I forget to label my shapes and get lost when working the whole ball at once) I tend to make temari using Nejiri (interlocked weaving) rather than Kousa (layering).

What I never suspected:
My most used simple division seems to be S8 which is ahead by a nose (although most of the other simple divisions look fairly evenly utilised.)
I use a lot of stars (Hoshi Kagari) and pine needle stitching (Matsuba)
I should have a label for pentagon shaped stitching but I'm not sure what it is in Japanese... but I bet there would be a lot of that used too.
I use a lot of links to other sites.
I also like wrapped bands (Maki Kagari) more than I realised.


Join Temari Challenge Yahoo Group to download a copy of this document.
I think my next goal should be looking through the skill checklist created by members of the Temari Challenge Yahoo group for new directions (new labels to add) to push myself toward and also review the very small labels to see what else I can do with those stitching elements.

Post Note: I have removed store and shop from this label list and replaced them with Supply Store Updates (Things I Sell) and Treats (Things I Buy).

Kamis, 17 Februari 2011

Temari Train tips for understanding Japanese patterns

Debi A at Temari Train of thought has written an excellent post for anyone just beginning to decipher all those wonderful temari diagrams to be found in books or on the net.

A common bother for all new comers to foreign language temari books seems to be the reader's inability to read what is written in the text. We all get worried about that in the beginning... or at least until we realise how much information can be found in the diagrams and photos.

Here is the link http://temarimath.info/temaritrain/?p=1784.

Thank you Debi for writing your informative post... I expect if you listen carefully you may hear the sound many pennies dropping all around the world.

And now that you have some clues on how to understand the patterns... have a look at our range of temari books available in our store.

I've got a new temari to share but I'll post it tomorrow because I forgot to take a pic in the daylight today.

Minggu, 06 Februari 2011

Busy weekend

This weekend just whizzed by so quickly. On Friday afternoon I took Mr W to a Karate trial. He has always wanted to do it, and really enjoyed the lesson... now we need to see if we can juggle it into his after school schedule or it we'll need to wait until the soccer season ends in August.

Saturday morning Mr W and I went grocery shopping... an entirely boring task for a 9 year old and not that much more thrilling for me either. We visited the large grocery store, then the fruit and vegetable shop and then Seoulmart (a Korean shop that also sells Japanese foods) where we picked up two packs of Natto for Miss D and a bottle of Mr W's favourite Japanese 'remon' soda drink which has a marble that seals the bottle shut. 

When we returned home I put prepared a big pot of pasta sauce and let it cook in my huge jam pan (thank goodness for stainless steel - I couldn't have done this in a copper pot) for several hours before pouring it out into 8 large pasta sauce jars that I have been saving. I gave 2 jars to Miho.


Saturday afternoon we invited Seth and Miho (and kids) for dinner. We had 4 homemade pizzas and a huge salad. Miss D (3yo) helped me cut the pizza toppings which was very nerve racking because all my knives are super sharp and we almost lost a finger tip several times. She and Mr W did very well at kneading the dough, rolling it out and slopping on the tomato sauce too. We were all starving by the time the pizzas were cooked and we happily ate them outside under the patio.

After dinner we did 'paint nails' for Miss D, she had purchased a matte purple nail polish with her Dad... it was a bit icky (in my opinion) so we did a top coat of silver and purple micro glitter polish which improved the look greatly and Miss D was more than happy to the glitter polish take home when I suggested it.

It was lovely under the patio in the early evening, we put the dogs away into the carport so we didn't have them under out feet or begging for food (a personal dislike of mine), straight after dinner we opened the gate to let them back in with us. Chilli came out but we couldn't find Shadow anywhere. My hubby and my brother eventually discovered him whimpering and stuck fast under the 4WD (think you guys in the US call it an SUV). DH must have run over some roadkill on his long journey to/from work and Shadow loves to sniff at the tyres and wheel arches... he must have ventured too far in under the car and with his old arthritic hips so he couldn't get back out again. He was fine once he had gotten a few gentle pats and been lovingly told 'Oh you silly old dog" a few times. Here they are (at least 9 years ago), when they were our number 1 fur-babies and got dressed in silly scarves... i.e. before Mr W came into our lives. Shadow is on the left and Chilli is on the right.


When I went to pay their 3 yearly dog registration in October last year the woman behind the counter casually said 'oh they sure are old' (they're almost 15 now) 'this will be the last time you need to register these guys.' While the reality of it is true, I did feel big tears well up in my eyes at this prospect. We have had them since they were puppies. They are brothers whose mum died from a snake bite during a fire, to this day they still have little areas around their legs and paws where no hair will grow. We originally just planned on having Chilli but when we returned to the pet store to buy more puppy food (after we had Chilli for a month) we saw that Shadow was all sad and alone there so we decided that if we had enough money in our bank account (it was almost the end of the pay month) we'd buy him too. Well we did, so he came home with us that day.

Sunday was spent cleaning up, doing some washing and looking after DH who came home from work (after only 2 hours) with the bad cold that Wesley and then I had over the last few weeks. We tried to stay shut up in the house on Sunday due to smoke from one of the several large fires burning around the outskirts of Perth. One fire has burnt out about 40 homes in the area where I grew up... more are expected to be lost today. Thankfully no lives have been lost... we need the winds to drop and a big dump of rain. Thank you and safe passage to all our firefighters working hard around the clock to contain these blazes. You are all heroes.

Kristy emailed me today and offered to send us some rain from Queensland... she says they've had enough of wet weather. I hope it arrives soon!

I am glad to have the distraction of temari making and cooking which are both good for my soul. I wrapped 4 new temari bases and got some stitching done. I am reworking the last pattern I made again, this time on a ball 1/2cm bigger and using 1 less row in the spindles. I'll post a pic when it is finished.

Just keep on happily stitching.

Sabtu, 05 Februari 2011

C10 Flower of The Month Sampler


V ruler number is 8.78cm, the needle is 9cm long

I have had a change of heart about my C10 Flower of The Month Sampler project for TC. I still haven't added the borders to each pole, but I have been giving the flowers a lot more thought.

First off I thought of doing Australian flowers, then I considered doing a Southern Hemisphere flowers of the month, or just favourite flowers of my relatives for their birthday months. But today it occurred to me that maybe I should try to do flowers from my own garden. I began to think about the varieties of flowers that occur through the year in my garden.

We have several Rose bushes, Gardenias, and Azaleas, then there are spring bulbs such as Tulips, Iris, and Ranunculus. Also during the spring we have the Plum (Ume Blossom), Lemon and Lime blossoms. And at other times of the year we get to see Strawberry flowers, Nasturtiums, Cosmos and even Dandylions when I haven't weeded the garden for a while.

I think I need to percolate on this a little more before I decide what to do.  Barb Suess has been posting on her blog about the progress being made with her temari (which is coming together particularly nicely) if you haven't seen what Barb is doing click over to take a look.

Sabtu, 29 Januari 2011

Now here is something really special!!!

Earlier in the week I mentioned I hadn't been organised enough to make a special Australia Day project for the 26th. Well some other Aussies (the team at Planet Cake in Sydney) were organised and they made a gigantic cake shaped like the Sydney Opera house. Click the video below to see it being presented live on breakfast television on Australia Day. You can see all seven days worth of videos which show all the energy put into preparing this monster cake by all 10 employees and 23 volunteers.



 
There are no other words... simply amazing!!!

Kamis, 27 Januari 2011

Mt Kirishima blows

This morning a place I have very fond memories of woke to a large and growing cloud of ash. One of the volcanoes in the Mt Kirishima area on the Southern Island of Kyushu has woken up yesterday and is very grumpy. I recall that somewhere I have a picture of me with a group of other young people at the Kirishima Shrine (Kirishima-jingu). I had a great weekend up at My Kirishima onsen when I was escorted by one of my students and her family. Mt Kirishima is situated in a very volatile range of 20+ volcanoes including the very active volcano Mt Sakurajima in the Kagoshima Bay.


I lived for a while in Kagoshima, and Mt Sakurajima kept me awake on many a night with its' grumblings and rumblings, but I never saw anything molten coming out of the top just ash, ash and more ash. Some days almost 2 inches would cover everything when I awoke. I think my worry was made worse by a visit to the island where Sakurajima resides... I saw and in fact stood next to the shrine whose top cross bar now sits just a metre from the ground.

Thankfully Japan as a country has embraced disaster training and conducts regular emergency drills for its' population. I hope everyone stays safe and sound... and I also that this activity doesn't wake up Sakurajima which is overdue for a major vent.

Come on Mother Nature please, please, please go easy on us for a bit. No matter where you live on this great big rock this last few months has given us many reasons to wonder how we can get back on Mum Natures' good side again.

Sorry for the lack of images on this post but I can't seem to locate the box containing my Kyushu photos. Click the links to see the shrine and live pictures of the volcanic activity.

Selasa, 25 Januari 2011

Blog Shout Outs

Finally it has happened, Barb Suess, author of Japanese Temari - A Colorful Spin on an Ancient Craft
(ISBN 1933308125) and co-author of Japanese Kimekomi, Fast, Fun, and Fabulous Fabric Handballs (ISBN 1933308214) has begun blogging!


Here is the link: http://temaribarb.blogspot.com/ Barb's blog is so fresh and new that it doesn't yet show up in a google search, but please pop over and say hi. Her first post is about temari obsession... or as Kristy S from Kuriosity and the Kat and I joke temari ORBsession. Yes we temari makers are all orbssively absorbed in our craft.
Something I have noticed and loved about many of the English language temari blogs in 2010 was the crossover into other languages.  From time to time on this blog we have posts in Japanese, Jane writes in Spanish on her blog , and Rod has done some blogging recently in Italian.


I never imagined I would be a blogger but I love reading everybodys posts, as they allow us to see little snippets of each other's interests in temari and other things too...
 
I'm looking forward to reading more of your blog posts this year.

Minggu, 23 Januari 2011

Temari definitions with illustrations

You can find some wonderful resources on the internet for temari making and here are two places to visit where you can find lots of help with terminology.

Barb Suess has consolidated a set of definitions and illustrations onto a single web page here. There are also several links (in red type) that will take you to step by step pages and other additional learning resources.

Temarikai also has a long list of how tos in the toolkit here. There are also definitions on other pages.

Why is it important to use the same words? Well simply it helps us all to communicate effectively. Temari makers are scattered across the globe and we all speak our own native languages (even English is different based on which country you live) so by learning a unified temari language we can all understand each other and discuss temari concepts in spite of our own language differences.

Sabtu, 22 Januari 2011

Jammy Jammy Jam and Oprah in Oz

We had our jam making session on Friday. Mum made apricot, Miho made plum and I made cherry. We shared them all out so I came home with 2 jars of apricot, 2 jars of cherry and a jar of plum. Miho and I also make some Japanese pink pickled ginger.

My hands are so stained from pitting the cherries... all 2.5kg of them. Mr M didn't eat too many, Miss D tried - and loved - the cherry juice (before we added the sugar of course). Mr W had apricot jam on toast yesterday for breakfast and gave it a big 2 thumbs up.  I purchased 2 more kilos of cherries today, I'm going to wash, pit and freeze them for use later on. This time I will wear gloves though!


I have been watching the Oprah in Australia shows this week. The shows really make me want to go to Australia... and then I remember that I actually ALREADY LIVE HERE!!! Lucky me!! I am amazed at how many freebies* are given away on American talk shows like this. I loved the pearl necklaces given away from Kailis Pearls. 
image from http://ultimategift.kailisjewellery.com.au/

I have been into the all the Pearl showrooms in Broome (here they grow the South Sea Pearls) when I have visited up there and the Kailis and Paspaley pearls are to die for. A lot of pearl jewellery made from Broome pearls also feature Argyle Diamonds. Pearl is my birthstone and while they used to be thought of as an 'old lady' jewel these days they are so much more modern and even considered a bit cool.

*Freebie - This is slang for something given free. Promotional merchandise, items, products, gifts given away to promote a company, corporate image, brand, or event.

Michelle asked for the pink pickled ginger recipe: I used the one from this book. We also made the apricot, plum, strawberry and raspberry jams from this too. This book 200+ pages of lovely jams, jellies, curds, cheeses, vinegars, pickles, chutneys, sauces and relishes. There are also some recipes for flavoured liqueurs.


ISBN: 9781405329545

500g Fresh Young Ginger Root
1Tbs Salt
250ml Rice Wine Vinegar
115g Caster Sugar
Peel ginger (if necessary) and slice finely (we used a thick cut peeler) and place into a bowl. Sprinkle with salt and combine well. Sit for 1 hour. Rinse and pat dry with paper towel. Pack into hot sterilised glass jars.
Place vinegar and sugar in a stainless steel pan and heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil  then carefully pour liquid over ginger while hot. Cover with vinegar safe lids and cool then keep in fridge for up to 4 months. To get the ginger to turn pink you need young ginger... I couldn't find it (of course I didn't look to hard either but the book suggests Asian grocers or specialist food stores). Miho says that not all Japanese pickled ginger is pink so not to worry.

There is no way the two of us could use this much ginger in 4 months so we just made 100g of ginger slices with half the quantity of the liquid mixture and divided it into two glass-lock containers. It tastes delicious.

Selasa, 18 Januari 2011

Stitching projects online

The international temari community is slowly returning from hibernation. Everyone seems so busy in the months leading up to Christmas that many can't commit to new projects etc near the holidays. 2011 is beginning with a new project on TC and TK.

Let's talk about the TC one first. An election was called for new projects for the group to work on for the start of 2011. The clear winner was a Flower sampler (one for each month - fits perfectly on a C10!) with 28% of the votes. I think I voted for Multi-centers marking, Thread Challenge and Character temari - geisha, samurai, emperor, empress etc.

I've almost finished wrapping my ball for the flower sampler and it is a whopping 50cm circumference, I've used a muted green for the surface wrap. The next job is exploring the flowers to use, there are a few schools of thought on this, some people are using the flowers of the month (seasonal or birthday) and others have suggested using the state flowers (such as of USA). Now I'm an Australian so using the state flowers from America (beautiful as they are) doesn't seem too patriotic so I started to investigate some of our native flowers.


Images from http://goaustralia.about.com/od/discoveraustralia/ig/Floral-Emblems-Australia/
 The top flower is the Australian Golden Wattle and is our national flower.
The second row has the Australian Capital Territory flower the royal bluebell and the Waratah from New South Wales.
The third row shows the Sturt's desert rose of the Northern Territory and Cooktown orchid from Queensland.

The fourth row features Sturt's desert pea floral emblem of South Australia and Tasmanian blue gum,
The last row features the Common heath from Victoria and the red and green kangaroo paw which is Western Australia's floral emblem.


So the result of that is maybe I need another idea because there aren't enough flowers to fill a C10 and I wouldn't want to stitch any of these twice anyway even if I could work out how to stitch them. I decided if I wanted to stitch Australian flowers I'd need to look beyond the floral emblems so back to the internet I went.

Of the 100's of images available of Australian Native flowers these are the only ones I liked the look of.


Images from http://www.anbg.gov.au/gallery/colour.html
 And some of these flowers I really only liked the common name such as the top right image which is called Eggs & Bacon Pea... how classic! I think my most favourite of these images is the top left one which is the NSW Christmas bush. I am sure I could translate this flower onto a temari... given enough time!

So I need to ponder this a bit more.... Or I might go another way and just do flowers I like no matter where they come from.


~~~~~~~~~~~

Next is the project from TK. It is a S8 spindle based stitch along which is being presented by text, no diagrams. I did well with the first 2 steps but the wheels fell off at step 3, I can't follow the directions at all, and I think the problem is I can't imagine stitching a hexagon over 8 lines. I read the instructions several times over the morning, again after I'd eaten a healthy lunch and once more after a few squares of chocolate but they still don't make sense to me. I know the answer is obvious... I usually get tripped up by the most obvious things, so I guess I'll just wait until a progress photo is uploaded in a few days. In the mean time I'm going to finish wrapping my big green ball for the TC project.

First Temari for 2011

I've had these ones finished for a few days now but I've not had time to post them. I'm not sure which one I like most, probably the yellow one, although the pink on is very effective too... but then the purple temari is growing on me. I haven't removed the scrap thread yet on the purple one. I don't make many temari that need to have the marking threads removed, I really like the effect of the design not appearing anchored to the ball.


I want to draw your attention to Rod B's Japanese Textiles blog today so you can see a new temari he has been working. He included a draft version of the pattern (there is no diagram yet) but the steps have been written. I really love his use of colour on this one... I think they seem quintessentially Japanese.

I need to work on varying my colours more, I find I get into a colour rut and have trouble escaping it. I think I will go through my Japanese fabric stash for some inspiration.

Rabu, 05 Januari 2011

Japanese Temari Book Review Resources

Barb Suess has been reorganising her bookshelves and supplies, and has kindly consolidated all her resources for anyone interested in information about Japanese temari books into a single downloadable file. Here is a link to the PDF file on her website. There are 7 pages of book reviews which include each book's cover images, also a listing by ISBN and another by title. There is even a convenient book label page so you can print it on sticky paper and stick the title in English on the spine of your book.

Ginny at Temarikai also has a listing of book reviews here, it is spread over a few pages and the link will take you to the first of three pages... you can click the other pages from there.

Check out both of these excellent resources, you'll gain a valuable insight into which book(s) are right for you. When you decide which book(s) you want visit our store to purchase them at very reasonable prices... better than ebay. I've got a huge (more than 20kgs) order of books making their way from Japan, and we will be expanding the range of books we carry... keep an eye out at our supply store.

Jumat, 31 Desember 2010

Sound the trumpets it's 2011


Welcome to 2011! Wow how fast did 2010 go?! I set myself some temari goals for last year I think achieved most of them. This year I aim to knock off the one I missed out on... an entry into the Perth Royal Show. I have researched the categories now and I think I might be able to enter into one of three: Folk Art, Handicrafts or Needlework -Hand. Now I just need to dream something up.

I was amazed to see that I posted 123 posts and had 13,000 visitors to this blog in 2010. We also began celebrating our love of all things temari by celebrating International Temari Appreciation Day on October 22. Our temari supply store expanded to include a wider range of threads and books and personally I achieved my first step on the JTA study path.

I can't help but wonder at the possibilities for this new year? Where will we be in 12 months? It's time to sit back and reflect on what I want to seek out in 2011 and then develop some plans to make sure I can achieve them. I know there are some wonderful things waiting to come for all of us... we just need to be ready to catch them as the fly past.

If you are interested in so goal setting hints Anne-Marie Faiola from Brambleberry has some excellent pointers on her amazing SoapQueen blog. She sure is a lady that inspires me.



Finally back to temari making

The last few weeks have been so busy, it seems like I have done EVERYTHING except make temari or yubinuki. During the afternoons this week I have managed to pick up my needle to complete some UFO's. In the late mornings I've been taking my son to swim classes at the beach.  I must say I am amazed at the number of people laying on the beach frying away. I wear a huge hat, 3/4 sleeve shirt and 3/4 length pants and any exposed bits are generously slathered with 30+ sunscreen, the only bit that is bare are my feet which I bury into the sand - trust me there is nothing worse than sunburned toes. I am lucky to have been injured in a car accident when I was 16, the plastic surgeon who stuck me back together was most firm at drumming in the sunsafe message for my facial scarring, and almost 3 decades later the message has still stuck with me even after the scars have faded to almost nothing.

After an hour and a half in the baking sun I am exhausted so we get all our chores done before swimming and then try to do as little as possible afterwards. I have been working a version of a pattern from my small Ondori booklet. This is a S4 with additional support lines. Sorry this picture is a bit dark, but I got called away this afternoon and when I got back it was too dark for natural light.


I think I will pull the band back off and re-wrap it in some other colours because in this pic it looks awful. Let's see what it is like in the morning light. While I have been stitching this, I am also thinking about the design options for my last two JTA temari.

I also have just purchased 3 stockings for next year from an ebay store located in Canada can you guess which one will be mine?   I haven't seen stockings like this in Australia.



Our Aussie dollar has gone so high against the USD hitting 102 cents today, which is the highest in almost 30 years. This means that I could treat myself to a bit of discretionary spending. Sadly the yen hasn't done the same thing... the Aussie dollar is still languishing around 81 JPY.   :-( but we did have a good spot with the Yen about 3 years ago when we could buy 105 JPY per AUD... maybe that will happen again.

I am expecting to need to find several quiet things to do for a few days starting on January 1st... our weather forecast is for 4 or 5 consecutive days over 40C. Egad! When I saw the following forecasts from the WA bureau of meteorology I can honestly say I nearly cried. I think I will be spending as much time as possible over the next week doing early morning watering on the garden and trying to keep the chickens cool with a little misting, I'll even give the dogs a super big brush to get rid of as much loose hair as possible as the clippers that will manage to cut their hair has not yet been invented.

1.1.11 Saturday Sunny. Min 19 Max 36
2.1.11 Sunday Very hot, sunny. Min 21 Max 40
3.1.11 Monday Very hot, partly cloudy. Min 24 Max 40
4.1.11 Tuesday Very hot, partly cloudy. Min 25 Max 40
5.1.11 Wednesday Hot before a humid change. Min 25 Max 40
6.1.11 Thursday Partly cloudy. Min 22 Max 32

On the plus side I realised that new years day has a date that I like. All number ones. Hopefully this is auspicious and can signal new beginnings for all that want them.

Well that's it for this year. In a few hours it will be 2011, I wish you all the best for your celebrations, stay warm, safe and dry until next year.

Cheers and 乾杯 (Kampai)  

Rebecca and the Aussie Temari Addicts.

Rabu, 29 Desember 2010

Meet the girls

We finally got everything finished and have installed our 2 chickens in their house. Mr W named them Itchy and Scratchy not only because they are scratching around all day long and adjusting their plumage but because he liked the names from the Simpsons - not that he has regularly watched the show - he doesn't need that type of role modelling, but he has seen it once or twice.



I remember seeing some chicken inspired temari being showcased on temarikai a while back and now that I have looked closely at some real chickens I can see the inspiration. Click the link above to see the pattern by Karin Karlsson.

I am hopeful of getting enough stitching done soon to be able to show off something temari related.

Sabtu, 25 Desember 2010

If you feel a bit *blah* most of the time read this

I recently began this program of eating along with my mum, because we had both been feeling unwell for a long time, me for more than 12 months and she for nearly 9 years. Are you like us? Do you avoid eating particular foods because you feel sick with pain afterwards? Do you suffer from painful joints and lack of energy? Need a little nap after lunch most days? Get stuck in the bathroom? Did you answer yes to any of these questions?

Release your self from pain and suffering with this easy to follow method of eating which will give you back your energy and health. There are no special foods or pills to pop but you will feel awesome following this program. I would never ever endorse something I didn't completely believe in, so believe me when I say this works 100%. I am a skeptic, I rarely believe anything I am told, I began this program just to pacify my persistent Mother... how lucky for me that I did (even though I refused to believe it would make any difference to my health). My Mum and I feel better than we have in years after less than a month and we noticed the changes in just a day.


REVIEW OF GREAT TASTE NO PAIN

Quick Overview:
With more than 1 out of 3 adults in the US (70 million) taking OTC or prescription pills for digestive disorders and the pain associated with them, as a nation, we have serious health problems. And we're spreading our problems around the world.

What most people are frustrated with is that even if they eat how most health professionals consider to be healthy, a large percentage of people STILL experience digestive problems. And so most people resort to drugs, surgery or eating bland foods. Or they just continue to suffer.
That's why the Great Taste No Pain System was developed -- to help slash some of the $42 billion dollars spent on those pills in the US alone.

This simple eating system is designed to dramatically reduce the acid pH measure in a person's entire body -- not just in the stomach. It does so by increasing the ratio of alkaline forming foods eaten and by showing you how to combine foods in a way that radically decreases the amount of acid digestive juices in the stomach and small intestines required to break down foods. With me so far? Hope so, because this is important stuff.

One of the primary components of the Great Taste No Pain System is the science of food combining, which was first introduced into the US in 1911 by Dr. William Hay, a New York surgeon who used it to cure his Bright's Disease, a kidney disease which was often fatal at that time. In fact, among the many thousands of lives it claimed was Teddy Roosevelt's first wife, who died of Bright's Disease at just 22 years of age.

A basic knowledge of Junior High chemistry is all it takes to see the logic behind this science: Mixing foods that require alkaline digestive enzymes with foods that require acid digestive enzymes slows and can even stop the digestive process. It can and does delay digestion by as much as 10 hours and more. This is incredibly bad for the body. The Great Taste No Pain system alleviates this problem, speeding food through your body, allowing it to absorb nutrients from foods at a much higher level.

In addition, one of the manuals in the Great Taste No Pain system, 'Foods That Create Acid, Foods That Take It Away,' is as clear as I've ever seen this data presented. Follow this simple guide and your body will use a minimum of energy in the digestion process, which leaves more energy for healing and other daily functions your body carries out.

This is a timely set of guides, because with our society's addiction to the convenience of processed foods, in many respects our health challenges are far worse than they were in 1911.

Great Taste No Pain author, Sherry Brescia, was a former Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) sufferer herself. In fact, in 1991, she spent 7 days in the hospital with bacterial colitis.

As a health insurance researcher and Chief Underwriter, she was able to research the benefits of an alkaline- balanced body and over the next 15 years perfected the system she now calls Great Taste No Pain.

She meshed a number of philosophies proven to help alkalize the body to create this simple system that anyone can follow regardless of where they are or what food choices they have available to them.


What I Like:

Taste: Unlike most restrictive diets, Great Taste No Pain cannot actually be called a diet, because it allows you to eat even great volumes of luscious, delicious food as long as you combine it according to a few simple guidelines. It truly requires very little willpower. Perhaps the greatest news for people who love to eat is that the 176 page recipe book in the system is stuffed with breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks that are unbelievably tasty. No rabbit food. Gourmet all the way, yet the meals (if you like to cook) only take between 15 and 30 minutes of prep time and make tons of yummy leftovers. So you can throw away the belief that you can't eat healthy on a super-busy schedule.

Speed: I love that you don't have to read 300+ pages before learning what to do. In the first guide, 'How To End Stomach Pain Forever, Even If Your MD says, "No Way,"' it provides a brief background on the science and then quickly moves onto the step-by-step 'how to.' I really love that.

Simplicity: The second Guide in the GTNP System is 'What To Eat With What.' This is a massive compilation. Every kind of food that you could possibly put in your mouth is listed, along with the corresponding foods that combine with it for easy comfortable digestion, and those foods that don't. This guide is so complete and so easy to follow, if you screw this up, it's back to pre-school for you.

More Simplicity: Traveling is the one thing that can ruin even the healthiest eaters. But in Great Taste No Pain, Sherry gives you a 'Pocket Guide For Pain-Free Dining Out.' This tool is phenomenal. You can store this little baby with your credit cards and, until you understand what combines with what, all you have to do is pull out your pocket guide and quickly note the rule, so you can eat and enjoy the rest of your day, pain-free.

Would you believe that you could eat McDonald's food and not suffer gassiness and reflux? Now you can!

Meat: While meat is not something people with digestive issues usually tolerate well on a daily basis (hence the daily pain), the problem isn't so much the meat as it is what you eat with the meat.

That is why each of the Guides in the system, including the recipe book, lists every possible food you can combine with meats without suffering. Most people will suddenly be able to eat beef, chicken, fish, pork, turkey, venison and any other type of meat they want. As long as you combine it right... no pain at all! And broccoli, lettuce, cucumbers and other veggies that can create havoc suddenly will not. That I love.

Fruit: Ask anyone that suffers stomach problems about fruit and you'll hear horror stories. So sadly, the most perfect food on the planet is shunned by a huge part of our world's population. No longer. Because you will soon learn why fruit causes you trouble and how to easily change that. You CAN eat fruit again, even if it now makes you turn blue! It's true!

While each Guide in the system is detailed and complete, they are "dumbed down" in the clearest language possible. So I don't doubt Sherry's claim that any 11 year old could teach it. This I really love.

Things To Watch For:

The one thing you want to be careful of is that once you start eating as prescribed in Great Taste No Pain, you could quickly begin to feel all powerful. You might start to think you are "cured" of your digestive problems since they went away so fast and since you have so much extra energy.

That would be a mistake.

Because technically there is no "cure" for most digestive problem, because technically they are not diseases at all. They are maladies brought on by eating the wrong foods and by eating them in the wrong combinations. So the principles in Great Taste No Pain is not a "cure," since people with sensitive stomachs will always be sensitive. GTNP is merely a way to make all symptoms go away forever and give you a lot more energy.

For example, let's say you've got it bad and have Diverticulitis or Crohn's. Great Taste No Pain can help you get rid of your symptoms very quickly.

But a year later, if you start eating like you used to, guess what? Yep, the symptoms will come back. You see, the principles that Great Taste No Pain is based on are sound. They work for everyone. But if you think that because you've been symptom-free for a long time, you've been "cured," think again. Go against these principles of easy digestion, and the problem can come back with a vengeance. Remember, good health comes from living a healthy lifestyle, not a"do it once and you're fixed" approach.

Another thing you might want to be prepared for is that since Great Taste No Pain cleanses your digestive tract, initially you could get a little diarrhea. If you experience constipation on a fairly regular basis, you might get a little "looseness" at first, but it will end soon.

Also, due to the detoxing going on, you might get a runny nose or get some other cold-like symptoms at first. It's nothing to worry about. If you do, while it might not be fun, it does mean it's working. It means your body is becoming purer and the toxins are leaving. And that is a very good thing.

Conclusion:

When I began following the system, I personally was amazed at the amount of energy I had, even late into the evening. I had no discomfort, no bloating, I didn't feel the need to eat again within an hour and no need for caffeine after meals.

Professionally and personally, my strong recommendation is that for anyone who wants more energy, sounder and longer sleep, migraine headaches to stop almost immediately, pain from gastritis and acid reflux to stop almost instantly, and the pain of digestive problems to stop or be reduced dramatically, click here to get over to the Great Taste No Pain website now and get the whole system. You will be thrilled.

And frankly, it won't take a full day for most people to feel a major difference in their bodies. Often it just takes one meal. After you have been following it for a week or more, feel free to let me know how you like it. I personally believe that anyone who adopts this simple, enjoyable food combining method will reap gigantic health benefits. So if that is what you are looking for, get over to - http://www.greattastenopain.com/cmdt.asp?id=1289201&t=374931 and get started today.

All my best,

Rebecca Armstrong Koelma

Kamis, 09 Desember 2010

Wonderful Surprise

This week I received a package from Kristy S in Queensland. It was a most lovely and unexpected gift.

I wasn't expecting any parcels so I was surprised to see the postman holding a package at my door. I turned the parcel over in my hands, saw the 'from' address and I instantly had a jolt of excitement run through me. I guess without being conscious of it, my mind had worked out by the size, dimension and weight of the box what was inside. I'm glad I was alone because I tore the paper off like a woman possessed.

My very first temari gift. I have made many temari to give for gifts but I've never participated in a GITS (Great International Temari Swap) through TalkTemari so I have never received one from another temari maker. Kristy took some beautiful pictures which are posted at her website. Please click here to have a look... you will link to Kristy's blog. The base thread is a gorgeous shade of deep blue (Kristy knows blue is my favourite colour) and the purple toned threads used for stitching the design are just divine.

Thank you Kristy you made my week!