Goodness me it's three thirty

It's been a few days since my last post. I have been busy working on a few projects and my real life has been busy. (Happy birthday to my baby brother, you have been an excellent brother for 36 years and I love you to the moon and back.)  

On Saturday night I went to bed at 3:30am... I hadn't planned to go to bed so late but I was really was into stitching my temari project and hadn't noticed how late it was. Therefore not only did I miss Earth Hour but I kept my light burning until the wee small hours.

I have been making a series which I have called 'Revolution of Thought'. There are two S10's, three C10's and a 32Center temari. Now I need to work out how to display them together to show the progression (evolution) of the design. I am thinking suspended between two discs of acrylic sheeting or an acrylic ledge with cut outs to let the temari rest in sequence. More thought required on that.

I was also making soap, and playing around with embedding. Embedding is where you enclose small items (such as soap pieces or rubber ducks etc) inside a larger block of soap. The soaps are nothing amazingly flash and are just for our own use but I like how they turned out. The photo doesn't show the nice purple mica colour of the main part of soap but never mind. It is really nice to use and we all smell delightful!

Update on Chrismas baubles

Earlier this week I posted about the temari balls I've been making for the neighbours in my street. I am about half way done with this project now. Here is a new progress shot. I can see from the finger marks on the plate how many times this project has been moved around the coffee table.

All the small size temari are completed. Three of the medium size are also done and another has the obi band done and is awaiting the pole designs. There is still only one large temari finished, I am saving the large ones to stitch last. I still can't decide whether to string the sets of 3 together to make one graduated bauble or if they would be better as 3 separate pieces. I am leaning toward the prior but I've never strung temari together before so I need to work out the best way to do it, also I am trying to decide if they would look better hanging smallest to largest or largest to smallest... and lastly would I use a tassel and which thread would I used to make it?

The more I stitch these tiny temari the more I am falling in love with them... they're just so darn cute. I've been chanting to myself  'I am making these for all our lovely neighbours' from time to time as I stitch but truthfully the neighbours could possibly end up with baked goods for Christmas instead of these temari.

Happy stitching!

Ooops, I missed a week.

Sorry there have been no posts since last week. I got a bit distracted by physio and some strange 'fever and chills combination' that lasted several days and made it impossible to make temari (or do anything else for that matter). All better again now... yay for good health!

Shaking off last week... and so here we are with a new week and a new project. On Sunday I helped my Mum make some cushion covers for her friend's daughter. Mum was having trouble getting the bits all folded in the right places and thankfully I could remember how to make the covers from my high school sewing classes.

My temari project for this week involves making some little temari ball sets for the neighbours to hang on their Christmas trees. I am making 3 temari for every neighbour... lucky I live in a short street... there are only 8 houses. I've got 5 stitched so far and the other 16 are wrapped and ready to go.

These temari are a lot smaller than the ones I usually make. These bases are made with foam cores, I only used thread wrap for the small size and for the other two sizes I used some very thin machine knitting yarn under the thread layer.
The circumferences are 8.5cm, 11cm and 14.5cm. Obviously I can't use perle 5 for these so I am using Gutterman Rayon Sulky #30 for small, Gutterman Top Stitch for medium and Thread Art Cotton Perle #8, for the marking thread I'm using Rainbow Gallery Treasure Braid Petite for the smaller sizes and Nordic Gold for the large size. Luckily I did some experiments with several threads when I began making yubinuki so I have a few sizes of thin thread.

I am making 3 different designs, S8 on the small temari have a Maki Kagari design with a simple herringbone on the obi, S10 for the medium using a Hoshi Kagari (Star) in different colours on each pole with a stepped herringbone obi and S12 Uwagake Chidori Kagari on the large balls with a double herringbone on the obi. I cant decide if I want to place these on individual hangers or make a larger ornament  by stringing them together with a bit of tassel on the bottom. I guess I need to percolate on the idea a bit  more.

I'm taking a break from my recent yubinuki bead project and when these temari are done I've got some fabric notebooks to make for my Mum and Miho.

Hope you can settle down and enjoy some stitching through the week.

What's stitching this week.

I've been minding my Step Nana this week while my Mum and Step Dad have some well earned R&R. Seeing as she is 92 I have had a fairly quiet week, so between making cups of tea etc I have had plenty of time to stitch. If only the lighting here was better!!! Every light fitting has at least 4 globes but they don't cast as much light as I'd like... of course at home I spend most of my stitching time under a bright work lamp. The only decent lighting is in the entry hall which has the most beautiful light shade... but I need to wear SPF30 to sit underneath it. Here is a picture of it.

This week I have finished a JD Sakura design that I began a few weeks ago. You might remember the series I was doing with colour experiments. So here it is all in muted tones of beige and tan with a brown obi.

I have also had a go at one of the yubinuki featured on Debi's Temari Train Blog. It was a little gappy in one spot but still turned out nicely. I think the main problem (besides my poor measuring) is that I tried to make it from memory of the instructions... instead of from the instructions. I got there in the end, and this was one of those times when blind faith is required as the pattern doesn't really emerge until you're almost done stitching. I love how it turned out and will probably try it again but the thimble Debi made this week is calling to me. It is so beautiful.

I have also been working on another pattern from Debi's Notebook for the birthday challenge set up by Kristy in QLD over at the TC group. It is a really cool pattern... here is my version.

This last pic is a ball I finished a while ago but forgot to add to the blog. Can you tell it has been cold here? All reds and oranges on this ball trying to keep warm.

When I get home I need to go through all my boxes of temari and photos and look for my C8 and C10 balls. I hope I can find some, I do try to regularly gift my craft items away. Our home is a single level house with no basement and no attic (like the majority of homes in Perth)... therefore no huge amounts of storage. This means the more I want to create the more I need to gift away.

Post note:  While I was away my dear husband took it upon himself to clean up our office and my craft room. Aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrggggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh no!!!!!  The questions I had to answer about all those supplies!!! Such as why I had 75+ 3inch Styrofoam balls, 20meters (at least) of assorted fabric and 8kg of soap. Hope he didn't find the 15 balls of wool and the 100's of buttons I have in one of the crates... He probably did but I guess he gracefully let it slide.

Pattern play

I have been working on some patterns this week and have stitched several balls to see how the colours effect the design.

Here is the first pic.

I stitched the light pink one first. I adore the colours and think the background sakura shape the emerges is amazing. I stitched white, yellow and green on this one with Nordic Gold #4. You can just see a hint of the sparkle in the center. The next ball was the mauve one. This one is cream and 2 shades of purple with Nordic Gold #10.  I think the metallic was a little too bold for this design, still nice. The last ball is the cerise one. Stitched with white, yellow and navy and Nordic Gold #12. Which mix of colours do you think works best? I think my brain is drawn automatically to the light pink one because it is more likely to exist in real life. How often have you seen a cerise or lilac coloured sakura flower?

Here is the next pic.

I made the blue one first. I always think of stars being in oranges and yellows on blue backgrounds. I wanted to try to break the mental mould so I chose 3 colours at random from my wrapping threads and decided to stitch them. First I made the one on the far right. It is kind of a burgundy shade and has a lipstick pink, orange and pale yellow. I quite like this one in real life... it is much brighter. Next was the grey one. It is made with sky blue, lead grey and steel blue. It is really cold looking. The last ball I made was the coffee coloured one.  It is stitched in 3 shades of pink.

Which one do you think is nicest? I think my brain prefers the blue/orange one, but my heart can't really choose between the 3 others as they all seem to have such a different feeling.

Last pic for today.

These are the flip side of the balls in the previous pic. It is interesting that while I really couldn't decide on my favourite for the other side, I definitely prefer the ball in the top left. I really like all of the balls but this one really says fiesta to me. What do you think?

Rush rush rush.

I am hurrying to get everything done this week. I have a new round of Temari 101 classes underway and a one day workshop booked in about 10 days so it's all systems go and full steam ahead too.

Yesterday I wrapped 12 white balls for the workshop. The bowl looked very boring so I've put in some patterns I've been playing with which are my effort toward some new beginner ball patterns for future classes. Can you spot the weird thing in the photo, besides the dodgy lighting? (the answer is at the end of this post)


How to come up with a new pattern? I wouldn't feel right teaching from other people's patterns so I always endeavour to come up with something original. This can be very tricky because, let's face it, Temari making has existed for several hundred years and so it must be very difficult indeed to arrive at something absolutely unique. In addiction there are so few resources for Temari makers (especially in English) that we must all be following a similar 'artistic consciousness'. Still I do try... The first thing I do is get out every book I have and leaf through the pages looking for inspiration.  Next I get a feeling for an element I want to incorporate in the design... then I go for it. I don't make notes as I go... after the ball is finished I make retrospective notes and then see if I can do the same ball again from the notes.  I also 'tweek 'as I go and make reedits along the way. This is  probably completely backwards to the way everyone else does it... but it works for me. 

I wanted to do something with stars, hence the two attempts above and also something floral is always nice so there is the Sakura shape too. I usually teach a really simple Chrysanthemum ball as part of every class, no skips just up and down, but I think it is time for a change. I like the Sakura but want to work on the star a bit more the outer star needs to be a bit fatter and the inner star needs to be thinner.... or something.

I also squeezed in an hour or two at the Bassendean textile workshop today where we learned finger crochet. I made a few strands of it to contribute to the city logo mural the organisers are making.

Photo Answer: The front blue ball is casting a white reflection on the bowl. I photo shopped it in from another picture I had taken because the blue ball is actually one ball with two different patterns. I nestled it on top of a white ball. Did you get it?

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...)

Well July is over so my Christmas theme has come to an end. Pink is the 'new' red, green and white. I have been experimenting with some designs I haven't done before the first is Jyouge Douji which you can see in the first two photos. It is a concurrent North/South stitching pattern and in this instance it is representing Sakura or Cherry blossom. I really like the white crystal thread used at the poles.

Next is a rose garden. I have done them before with Squares but this is my first attempt with Pentagons. I really wasn't too fussed with how it was turning out as I stitched. The pattern didn't really emerge until I completed the last round and when I held it back a distance I saw the rose pattern. This one has a Yubinuki style obi - which we wont talk about - other than to say that I now know that Orange can be written in Kanji as well as Katakana and not to try Yubinuki stitching while watching TV as it is a recipe for wonky-donkey edges.

Last, I completed my Mitsubishi temari recently. The one on the left I LOVE! But I can't say the same for the right one. I really love the concept of it but the colours are just not to my taste. This was my last Christmas coloured temari. It was a learning ball so I can live with the execution of it being so-so but I can't get past the colours. I am sure next time I make this one it will be less wabi-sabi and more in colours I love. I also plan the remake the ball on the left. I have a feeling of blues and purples for it. For some reason it reminds me of hydrangea flower and I'd like to try it out in graduation... I might think on it a bit longer.

1st picture on our blog

Wow, our first picture on the Temari Addict Australia Blog. These temari were made by Rebecca and were inspired by a lovely pattern in Barb Seuss' book Japanese Temari, A Colorful Spin on an Ancient Craft. I made the first one (the lowest one in the vase) and was so pleased with it I got a little carried away and have made 7 so far....

I loaned the book from my local library, but you should find it at any good bookstore. Actually, I was so sad to give the book back to the library, I went straight out to buy my own copy. I recommend you do the same, especially if you are starting out. It is a great resource, written very simply and includes great artwork.

I can also recommend that you have a visit to Barb's site: http://www.japanesetemari.com There is plenty to drool over and there a several free patterns to try. Barb also sells patterns not featured in her book and offers on line classes. I have signed up for a Echo Star Class starting in April 2009, I think she runs several per year ranging from beginner to more advanced temari.