Kiku (Chrysanthemum) Temari for Japan

Here is a picture of the temari I am sending to Japan as part of the Talk Temari Kiku for Japan project. I have the other pole to complete, so I hope to post it in the morning.

I think that this style of Kiku is my favourite, I have trouble adding many rows near the top of the stitch... I always forget to lay the first row down a little loosely so I could only manage four rows on this occasion. I wanted more petals so I added another section of Kiku petals underneath the main design using the same Chidori kagari stitching. I was thinking of the type of flower with a tight center and additional rows of petals surrounding it - see the image below.  The Obi design is very simple on this one, I feel like this is a time to quietly honour tradition instead of show something flashy to take away from the design at the poles. I used 4 shades of Cosmo thread (185, 186, 187 and 188) and Rainbow Gallery ND4 for the markings on a pale cream ball.

As I have been stitching I've meditated on my desire for a prompt recovery for all the damaged cities and towns, I stitched my strength into this temari. I've prayed for everyone who have lost their family or friends, I stitched my love and compassion into this temari. I focused on the symbol of the rising sun, which is featured on the Japanese Flag, and stitched my belief and optimism that the sun will rise again for the nation of Japan.


Image from: Mze Photos



TT Kiku stitched temari project

I have been communicating with several friends in Japan this week and they all agree that their country is thankful for all the donations being sent to help Japan and that they are taking comfort in the knowledge that the rest of the world is sharing their pain, sending them love, support and thoughts to those in need. Although it may not be tangible this is providing much needed moral support for all of the Japanese population the knowledge that they know they are not alone in grief at this difficult time.

I know I have felt 'stuck' since March 11, not physically but emotionally numb and frozen. I can only imagine how hard it must be for the people living in Northern Japan if we are feeling so badly here in our safe city so many thousands of miles away. Because I know so many Japanese people and spend a good portion of my day doing and reading about Japanese crafts these events are rarely out of my mind.

Ginny from Temarikai has suggested a really nice idea this week that will be very healing too.

All temari makers learn about the significance of the Chrysanthemum (Kiku) to Japan. This flower is part of the national identity, being a symbol of of longevity and prosperity due to the abundant petals which drop slowly from the flower over an extended period of time. Many books about temari cite a history of women meditating on their needlework and passing their thoughts and wishes into their work. Japanese culture have long held the belief that all thing living and dead contain a spirit and as we make our temari we can help form it's spirit.

So Ginny's idea is to combine these ideas and stitch a Kiku temari for Japan. She has suggested we make a temari for ourselves and as we stitch it, we can follow that legend of a thought with each stitch offered up to those that have been so affected by recent events in Northern Japan.

The suggestion is to make a temari using Uwagake (Chidori) Kagari using any division and marking as long as it has a Kiku flower when completed on at least one pole/center.

Members of TT are invited to share an image of their completed temari in the album. If you would like to see these you'll need to join the TalkTemari Yahoo group.

For those newer to the craft of temari making, visit the TemariKai.com tool kit to see step-by-step photo tutorial on this stitch, and there are also various references to making a Kiku design in How To on TemariKai.com

I will use rice hulls and Cosmo threads to make my temari.

Unexpected surprise

Yesterday when I returned from doing volunteer Math Goals testing for my son's 4th grade class my husband handed me a package that had arrived while I was out. See 'when you do good you get good'! My Mum is right on that one.

Kristy's gift temari to me

The package was from Kristy in Qld. The moment I touched the package (before I even shook it or squeezed it) I knew what was inside. There were three spools of surface wrap thread that I had admired on the beautiful ball she'd sent to me at Christmas. What a darling you are Kristy! Thank you so much for thinking of me and taking the time to post me some of this gorgeous thread. I love it!

My hands were already aching because I had re-made three temari in the last 36 hours (two C10s and a S12 and I still have a couple to go), and although I should have had a rest tonight I found a yarn wrapped temari and I couldn't resist covering it in this beautiful coloured thread. The of course I wanted to stitch it, something simple, but I wasn't sure what.

I reviewed all my old temari in boxes recently before donating a bunch of them to my son's school, and one part of a pattern stuck in my mind. The green layer from the Mema is a Star ball that I purchased form Barb Suess a couple of years ago. So I decided to try to work out the green layer from the ball (which is always displayed in my lounge room). When I was done with that part of the pattern I added some 6 point star bursts (Matsuba) to fill in the open areas. When I finished my temari I sat back and thought gee that is pretty neat, and an original design too. Well yes and no, it is original in the sense that I altered a design and added my own embellishments but actually I realised that there was a ball pattern out there that is strikingly similar. I got Barb's blog update about her Echo Star class beginning tomorrow and took a visit over to her Esty site. I discovered that Barb beat me to it and she sells the pattern on Esty but when I compare the images side by side they are actually different. Just goes to show you can't claim something as an original design too easily in temari making.

New temari

Perhaps new is a misrepresentation... This first temari is one that I unpicked the bands on not once but twice so this here is the final version. Still not 100% happy with it but I wanted to put it away so I could focus on other things.

This one is my 'disco' turtle temari. It is what I came up with from the TK stitch along. The pattern was discussed during an online hookup that I missed so I was really stitching blind, there was no final project image shown at the commencement of the project. I remember now how much I dislike stitching this way, call me a spoil sport but I'm not a big fan of mystery stitching... I am a road map person I need to know the destination and I'm happy to learn the land marks as I go. Of course having said that... I did learn some interesting pointers about not making assumptions and working from verbal (written) instructions alone is an important skill to acquire... I guess the reason I don't like it is because I'm just not too good at it. I've got a few green colours I'm going to add as a startbust onto open areas on the sides.

I am wondering what to do with my really huge C10 ball for the TC flower challenge. It is wrapped in mid green with treasure braid petite marking lines. I think I am going to outline the shapes before stitching the flower but I'm not sure what would look best. I might just go with woven pentagons to keep the framework simple in the hope that my stitching on each pole will pop. I also need to examine how to subdivide the pentagons to increase the number of centers so I can stitch multiple flowers in each section. I am either going to stitch the flowers in #8 perle cotton or KYO. So many choices!!!

Tonight for dinner I made basil pesto from the herb patch basil. It was delicious... or at least I think it was... Mr W said is was gross but I'm not sure if that was due to him having a 9 year old palate or due to me having a raging head cold which means I have few working taste buds.

I didn't use a proper measured recipe for it, I've made pesto before, so I just threw in garlic, pine nuts, romano cheese, EV olive oil a little salt and of course lots of basil. I guess I should have added pepper but I don't like it so my hubby can grind some on top if he wants to.
Tomorrow we are having a big clean up of the yard, sick or not, there is a Category 3 cyclone (named Bianca) heading down our coast line and it is expected to hit land at either Perth or Bunbury (about 2 hours south) so everything that could possibly get picked up and/or tossed about is getting secured down and moved away from window areas around our home. I really hate cyclones. We are lucky that it is rare to get them this far south, but this one is predicted to hit Perth directly... hopefully it will get downgraded to a Cat2 or Cat1 by the time it gets here. Fingers crossed!!! So here I go looking for the silver lining... ok... got it... I'll spend some time on Sunday stitching temari because the storm should hit about 10am and we wont be able to leave the house.

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.

Images from: http://stores.ebay.com/Calleycats-Treasure-Chest 

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.

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.

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.

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.

Linda's Basketweave ball finished

I stitched up the rest of this ball tonight after dinner. The original ball is stitched in Yellows and Blue/White on a mid blue ball. My ball is a bit different... I seem to have a red and orange this going at the moment. The basket part was pictured in this post. I figured that stitching yellow would be too much and due to the base colour being white... I wanted to avoid white too. So I pulled a bunch of blue tones and a pale grey.

I also wanted to encircle the kiku with the green instead of breaking up the kiku with it. I left off the french knots. So here are the final pics.

I quite like how it turned out. I will make this one again on a larger ball, so I have more space at the pole to make the french knots. 

 Now I have 4 UFO's to complete. There's the last colour variation of my JD series from last week, a S6 spindle design, a S12 braided kiku and the project I was working on from Cosmo 6. Then I need to get going on my ball I promised to make with Jane and I'd also like to try out a ball that Rod has worked on recently... They are both on my to do list.  Oh I forgot I am also part way through Joan's weaving stitch along on TT..

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?

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...)

Year 10 Japanese Class - Session 2

Monday 15th was my second visit (and sadly last) to teach temari at school.  Now it's back to actually learning the Japanese language.  Wow! Didn't our classes just fly by??? 

Here is another shout out to all the students reading this blog. You know who you are!! I thought the classes were great fun.  We made great progress.  I am sending along a set of videos for Sensei to help you complete the design.  But there are some photos below to remind you.

Thank you for showing your interest in these temari making classes... I know we all learned something new.

Getting out of the rut - Unusual Colours

I've been in a colour rut.  Many of my temari are stitched in either blue or red (red always seems so traditionally Japanese to me).  I tend to binge on making temari bases and can make up to 20 in a day, but I can never leave them in their undies (just at the yarn layer) I am always compelled to wrap the thread layer. Hmmm... so this could be why I end up in a colour rut. 

Back in July 09 I made a huge number of Red, White and Forrest Green coloured bases and have been using them steadily ever since.  I had the last two green balls sitting in my stash for ages but I couldn't think of what to do with them.  Forrest green is a tough one to stitch so what to use?? I decided that if I was ever to get out of this rut I had to challenge myself to using colours that I either disliked or wouldn't normally put together.  I came up with a palette of similar mid tones in blue, green, yellow and orange.  I then looked at my to do list and picked a pattern I liked (that would be fun and easy to make after the HHG challenge).  I found my pattern inspiration on page 16 of the 12 more months of temari book.  This is what I came up with. The image from the book is inset bottom left.

It is a loose interpretation from the picture, there is no pattern written up for this one.  It is basically just wrapped bands with a small amount of Herringbone stitch to secure the green layer crossovers.  It has a simple blue band obi at the equator.  I really like how it turned out (it was not so tightly packed at the pole as the picture)  I would like to make this one again in a different set of colours.

That used up one of the dastardly green bases but what to do with the other?? Well... I am finally taking a (twice postponed) group of high school girls for a temari lesson next week and I decided to re familiarize myself with the designs I am using.  So here is how they turned out.  I did each pattern on opposite ends of the same ball.

This pole shows a design found in many books and I have made this time and again in so many colours. My favourite version is found in the first pages of Cosmo 1 and features purple tones.

I think this pattern is actually featured in almost every book I own.  I know Barb used this type of pattern in blue and white on a different division (Arrowheads I think) in her book and it looks great on many divisions.

So all in all I am quite happy to have broken out of the rut and be moving towards new colour horizons.

I have decided that for future wrapping binges I will not wrap more than two bases in the same colour.  This should help to keep my colour choices open.

HHG Challenge Completed

Well I have finally finished the HHG challenge and I must say I really did learn a lot from the experience.  There are loads of lovely work being done but I must say I am rather drawn to the one completed by Jane C of World Embroideries fame.  Click here to see it

It took me three goes to get the crossover stitch right (the stitch taken to move from one shape to the next) but I am glad to say I did it.

Doing the stitch to move between shapes is not particularly difficult but for some reason I just couldn't quite get my head around it.  The pattern builds up row by row with HHG designs so I was already a few rows in before I twigged that something was funny. Note the error inside the circle.

I had another go on a C10 so I wouldn't have to commit myself to so many stitches before I could discover if something was wrong.  Lucky I did because you can see from the image below I had a rip out session and this is the thread I had to cut off the ball.  Also in this pic you can see the correctly stitched crossover on my third attempt.

Now I am confident the I worked out how to get the stitch done, I will have another go at a 32 center ball.

I still like the mistake ball and had I not pointed out the error people (those that don't  make temari) probably wouldn't pick it.  I think it speaks of 'wabi sabi' or imperfect perfection / finding the beauty in imperfect things.

My latest temari set finished

I have been working on this temari set for months trying to get it PERFECT for submission to my temari mentor.  Usually I make temari just for me and rarely fix mistakes because I like to see how my ball making has progressed (of course when making temari for other people I do want them to be perfect too).

Now I have finished these and sent them to my mentor I want to share them with you.  Top left is a S4 Masu Kagari (Square Stitch), Top right is a S6 Mitsubane Kikkou Kagari (Triwing Stitch),  Bottom left is a S8 Jyouge Douji Kagari (Concurrent North South Stitch) and Bottom right is S12 Uwagake Chidori Kagari (Kiku Herringbone Stitch).

I think this is the last time I will be stitching with this colour palette for a little while, I have been using these colours so much since July I really need a change.

I am beginning my study on C8 now and to facilitate this I have pulled out all my Japanese Temari books (ok not all of them just the Cosmo 1-7 series and a few others).  I seem to have lost my list of dream temari to make so I am going back to the drawing board so to speak and selecting balls I want to make.

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!!!!

Current Temari Projects

S4 Masu Kagari (Square Stitch)
So I am revisiting the S4 square stitch temari - I have only done a few when I first began making temari and have either wrapped over, given away or otherwise vapourised them so I need to begin from scratch. I only have one face done so far - this pattern really tests the roundness of the mari and reminds me that I should at least try not to drop them so often on the tiled floor as nothing flattens out a mari like being dropped from the kitchen table onto tiles. The picture above is a progress shot with just one and a half squares completed.

S6 Mitsubane-kikkou Kagari (Triwing or Trefoil Stitch)
I have also tried out the S6 tri-wing with hexagon (I have never made them with the hexagon in the middle before) I think it turned out ok. I quite liked it actually and filled the negative space with a 1/4 and 3/4 starburst running around the equator.  As you can see from the photo above I am still using up some of the remaining red, white and green balls from the 27 I prepared in July so I have limited my colour scheme to include greens, white and black.

S8 Jyouge Douji Kagari (Merry go Round Stitch)
I also made a S8 JD-esque temari from the front cover of a little Ondori booklet that Michelle (check out her blog Little Rabbit Miniatures) and I both have. I like it but I can see where I screwed up the stitching so we'll call this one a 'learning ball'. It was fun to stitch because every second guideline was stitched from pole to equator and the others were stitched equator to pole.  In the pic above you may see where I have forgotten to keep the needle over the thread as I exit the ball in one of the early rounds so I have two threads that lie side by side... it is a pity and I probably should have ripped it out but it was a fun practice and I learned something too.

S12 Uwagake Chidori Kagari (Kiku Herringbone Stitch)
To know this pattern is to love it. I have made a lot of this one, but I do tend to make a ton of this and then none for a few months.  Ok this one is no where near completed but I figured that I'd add it too.  This is the ball I was playing with when we were at the Waldorf School Fair.  I am not sure where I want to go with this one so I haven't added more yet.  When I finish the masu (square) temari I will come back to this one.