And then she used the awl

A couple of posts back I mentioned I had misplaced my awl. Well I still haven't found it but I ended up buying another one.

So I got to easily insert the hair pins into some more mini Temari. Yay! No busting off my wrist, squeezing the heck out of the poor little darling, or getting frustrated and saying bad words.

So here is my next hairpin. I must say I do love this one.

I even dug out some stone and glass beads to hang off the end of the pin which match really well. I am not that good at making the little loops at the top of the headpins but I purchased a looper tool which makes it much easier.

Not sure why but this colour combination always makes me smile.

What colour combinations make you happy?

Rainbow Inspiration

Remember the rainbow from a few weeks back? I guess that image has stuck with me because I am working a new Renzoku in rainbow colours. We have been puzzling out some photos supplied my Joan at Temari Challenge. The sample ball had a light and dark tone in 3 colour-ways but I decided that I'd make mine with 7 colours in the sequence as they appear on a rainbow on a bright bluish coloured base.

It is really chaotic (maybe a little psychotic) but quite fun. For the Obi  I wrapped two rows of each colour so there actually is a real rainbow at the middle. I probably should have made the obi first but I didn't know how long my legs would be so I completed one side first and then stitched to match on the other.

I feel happy looking at this one, how could anyone be misreable looking at all that crazy colour.

Working on a stitch along...

or should I say stitch behind! Over at TC the group has been exploring Renzoku design with the guidance of Joan Z. Last month they did S12 design and this month (read this week) I started it.

I just used a ball that I had wrapped and ready to mark, it was roughly the right size but I would preferred to have stitched this design on any other colour had I had the option available. Let's face it, had I needed to actually wrap a ball... this stitch along would still be in the to do list. It didn't turn out too bad, the purplish blue works in OK and I used some blue goldfingering thread I had in the back of my thread draw. As far a variegated threads go, I don't seem to have much luck getting nice ones here in Perth but I think the green I used isn't too bad. I will definitely stitch this one again. Everyone did their own thing to decorate their equator area and I also offset the colour. I did 1/2 star-bursts in green and then filled the remaining space with blue in the other halves at the equator so that's something a little different with star-bursts inside my diamond shaped negative spaces.

The rest of the group moved on to puzzle out another similar design. I will get to that soon-ish but for now I am happy to have been able to complete this one. The positioning of the thread in relation to the needle needed to be over or under based on where the stitch was taken... this gave me curry until I finally figured it out, but there were still a few rip-outs and restitches going on after I though I had it mastered.

My JTA Temari Submission

I just realised I haven't shared the pictures of my temari which I submitted to the JTA in June as consideration for the Koutouka level.

Sorry to have overlooked this, I guess my excitement at everyone's successes just got away with me and I simply forgot to share my own temari.

C8 Group 2011

C10 Group 2011

Level 1 Group 2010

I know there are a few years before I can even consider making a submission for Level 3 but the dark, quiet spaces in the back of my mind are percolating ideas already... which is a good thing because it will take a long time for me to develop enough original temari designs which are stitched with a suitable level of excellence to be considered worthy of Shihan status.

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.

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

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

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

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

I am continuing to stitch on the white ball today. 

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.

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.

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.

Preparing for ... Christmas in July

Well being July what better time to look forward to Christmas? Last week I posted about the 27 balls I had wrapped in Christmas colours and here are a few of the photos.

As you can see I am working in Green, Red, White, Gold and Silver.

When I have completed these balls I plan to make more in 'Non-traditional' colours like Purple, Blue.

The photo of 3 temari show my latest efforts. The top left temari is the ball I was working when I wrote the last post. The bottom one I made whilst trying to keep my fingers from freezing watching my Son's soccer training and the right ball was made today. Although my boys say "Oh no! Not temari again..." stitching this one inspired my Son's little buddy to make a teeny temari today which we attached to a mobile dangle for his backpack.

It is pouring again outside so it looks good for stitching more temari tomorrow.....

New Temari Completed

I finally found a cute bowl to display assorted temari. It is on my coffee table and really brightens up the room. I plan to make various themes of temari to swap them through the year.

The red and white Temari are inspired by a photo from Glenna Kipp, a fellow member of temari challenge. My version is a little different to the original but I just couldn't resist stitching this pattern for the Kiku. I love to work out patterns from a photo, it often requires many rip outs but there is real satisfaction in getting to the goal.

The cerise, black and white set of three were made for my Mum's birthday. She also makes temari, and I gave them to her as pictured above. She decided that, although my plan was for her to complete the largest ball, I should complete it. So the picture below shows the set finished. It was an exercise in doubles, each ball has twice the volume and divisions as the smaller size. So the small ball is 3/4C rice hull and six divisions, medium is 1 &1/2C and 12 divisions and large is 3C and 24 divisions. The stitching itself is exactly the same on each ball, but you can see how different each ball turns out.

The "stitching" on the largest ball was given for Mother's Day instead of the usual bunch of flowers. I'm amused by the fact that Kiku is Japanese for Chrysanthemum which just happens to be the type of flower grown and traditionally given in Australia for Mother's Day.