ITAD Competition Closed

The ITAD competition drew to a close overnight.  I am so pleased with all the entries. Thank you all who entered a temari or voted for one.

Head over to the ITAD site for more information. Also check out the Flickr  site to see all the temari photos.

I am tweaking the logo this week and should have it ready in the next few days.

Now time to plan your activities for October 22. What are you planning?

Latest C10

Here is the last C10 I've made. The original was in all pinks but I wanted to try something a bit different... I think the original ball was more effective because it made the relief pattern of the 5 petal flower stand out more. Maybe I made the dark triangles too large or the ball was too small. The instructions also said to make tiny triangle in the marking thread on top of the triangle stacks... I thought 'Ick no way!' so I stitched it with frosty nordic gold #4.

Anyway it is still nice, I will try this one again sometime.

We finally had a sunny day today so I took my light box outside and let nature supply the lighting. The neighbours thought I was crackers because I took the photos on the driveway with my box on a trestle table and my tripod set up. Because it was late afternoon the light wasn't as strong and was coming from over my shoulder so I kept setting the 2second timer and ducking to the side. I took about 50 photos so I imagine any onlookers would have had trouble working out what was going on.

Look what I found

I have been digging through my box of temari looking for examples of C8's that I have made. I came across these ones that I haven't shared before.

This one was a little sad attempt at an interlocking band design. I think it was from TK or from Debi's notebook. Either way it didn't work out so I added the flower design as pictured and on the other end I did a strange looking herringbone flower. I didn't immortalise it in picture. I tried again on the next ball. It didn't turn out right again... maybe the woven sections were done too close to the 6 part triangle lines so the shapes didn't quite turn out as they should have.

Oh well I still like it... I was also experimenting with variegated thread... did you notice? I always wonder when it is right or wrong to use a variegated thread. These look ok.

I really like this one. It is from TK. I had this base ball wrapped in Yellow for ages! I could never figure out what to use it for. Inspiration! this design said 'yep it might just work'.

This is one I have been working on this week. Strangely enough a similar ball came up in a question this week on TC. Isn't it strange that out of all the temari makers, in all the world two people should be working the same (or at least very similar) ball at the same time.

Furry Cousin comes to stay!

Does that title sound like a possible title for an Enid Blyton book??

My Brother and SIL have taken their kids to Japan to visit with relatives. We are minding Ninja, the furry cousin. Interestingly among the human cousins there are 2 boys and 1 girl... the furry cousins are in the same ratio. Our dogs (Chilli and Shadow) are the grumpy, old variety (about 15 years old), Ninja is about 6 months old (maybe a little less) so our dogs can't quite understand all the fuss.

Yesterday was our first rain free over 20C day for weeks. So my son and I took the 3 dogs for a walk. What a calamity!!! Our two dogs needed to keep stopping for a rest and walked so slowly (especially shadow who has bad hips) and our furry cousin wanted to run and jump around and play... so did my son. But after I showed the young ones the basics of walking at heel everything went more smoothly.

Today we are baking cookies.  I've got a long list of chores too. If I manage it all quickly enough I will still get some stitching done.

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.