Madeit Update

It's been a long time empty but I've started to add some items to our Madeit store. I have been so focused on stitching, studying and teaching, blogging and selling supplies that I almost forgot about the madeit store. I know, bad me.

If you've never heard of madeit here is the low down.

Madeit.com.au is a handmade online buying and selling destination, which showcases Australia’s most creative, undiscovered art, design and craft talent. Lovers of handmade can purchase items on madeit.com.au, direct from the sellers and can choose from fashion, art, homewares, accessories, stationery, children and babies clothing and toys and much much more.
Madeit.com.au is different to other online designer destinations as it only supports local Australian talent. Shopping on madeit is a great way to support local designers and crafters and sellers can gain exposure and sell their wares all day every day and to every corner of Australia and the world.

I have made some lovely purchases at madeit too. I'll try to remember to showcase some of them over the next few weeks.

New C10

I think this is my most Japanese-looking temari to date. It is similar to the other recent temari I've made. I have been trying to break away from my Western colour mindset and use colour combinations that don't really come so naturally to me. I an doing this by reviewing the stash of Japanese fabrics in Miho and my collection. So here she is.

I treated a grouping of 3 centers opposite of each other as 'poles' and used the red embellishments and the remaining 6 pentagons around the 'equator' were decorated with the yellow centers. I really didn't like the colours when I started this temari but I think they worked out really nicely.

This is one of the pieces of fabric that inspired the colours of this ball. It didn't scan as prettily or brightly as it looks in real life.

Book Stock Arrives

The first box from my large order of books has arrived from Japan. I have replenished all the Cosmo books that were previously out of stock so here is your chance to grab one. There is another large (I mean huge) box on its way... which contains some books that we haven't previously carried. I'll put them up in the store when they arrive.

New Zealand Earthquakes

Today I arrived back from reading at school and turned on the morning news to see that our New Zealand cousins are suffering a terrible day with many new strong after quakes from the major quake last September.


I know there are many temari makers in New Zealand... a good number of them are around Christchurch.

I immediately sent a text to one of my very best girlfriends who was born and raised in Christchurch. She replied a few minutes later to tell me she was actually there and she was still getting shaken about as many small shakes were continuing. I haven't spoken to Louise for a few weeks and was unaware that she was heading home for a visit.

Image from news.com.au more before and after pictures available there.

Many buildings that shook but stood last year have fallen today. This image breaks my heart. I've walked around many of Christchurch's beautiful buildings including the church above on a visit to NZ a few years ago. Just 5 hours after the quake there are already 65 confirmed lives lost and many hundreds of people are trapped and injured.  
We Aussies and Kiwis always enjoy a good natured ribbing of each other, but today our hearts and prayers are with you.
 
If you can please say a prayer for these people.

For up to date news visit http://www.abc.net.au/news/abcnews24/ which is telecasting news directly from NZ TV3 news.

Sharing temari with our community

I have finally hit maximum density with my temari storage space. Like most temari makers I have so many temari balls around my home, they fill vases and bowls, sit on stands and are tucked away into boxes and drawers.

To free up some space I have donated a box of temari to my son's school. You might think that is a strange thing to do but at my son's school the children learn Japanese as their second language. As far as I know the other schools near by learn Italian and Indonesian. So we are really lucky that our school has Japanese because it fits our family dynamic to a tee.

The Japanese classroom has moved into a different building this year and when I visited the room yesterday it looked very big and a little empty. I offered the temari to help decorate the room and to be used (or given away) by the teacher however she sees fit.

I added simple hangers to all of them and added a tassel to all the smaller balls to make them seem a little more special. Here is a picture of most of the temari, they wouldn't all fit on the tray, ready to be packed up into a box.

When I stitch temari I am very still and focused, I can feel everything around me slow down and stitching seems almost like meditation. I guess that a little piece of my soul passes into every temari I make. The temari I chose to donate have been made over a wide span of time. Some designs were made when close to when I started making temari, like the Dogwood designs, others were experiments along the way and a few have been made just recently been stitched, like the black and white one. If I had to guess I'd say it probably took me about 3 or 4 months in total to make all of these balls - and I enjoyed every minute of that time.

I was a little surprised how hard it was to put them into the box. Boxing up 26 at once seemed like a big part of myself to give away (like when you make a gift temari but keep it for yourself and need to make another to gift away), but I hope these will brighten the Japanese room and bring happiness to the everyone who visits. I know that they will be appreciated and I am so happy that I can share them.

Also as an added bonus I have some more space to make new temari and my DH can't complain that there is no room for them... for a while at least. A win/win situation I am sure you would agree.

Happy temari making!