Latest Temari

I finished my c10 Temari last night, and I think it turned out beautiful. There are 12 roses on it, and each is surrounded by a pentagram in the same color. The green base is cone thread, the marking is a very fine silk thread (that I don't remember the name of), and the roses are 3 shades of Trebizond silk. It was engrossing to stitch, but I still found myself wanting to hurry up and get it done.



Tonight I think I will work on a c8 with just an obi wrapping at each division mark. The one I've been looking at doesn't weave the wraps. I wonder how hard it would be to do that.

Still plugging away.

I did my first C10 division on this ball on Tuesday night, and I was so excited I just admired it for the rest of the evening. Last night I started stitching on it and discovered that 1) it's not as even as I thought at first and 2) you have to make sure your little pentagons line up with your big pentagons or it will look funny. I didn't discover this last fact until all the little ones were stitched, and I was starting on the next step. Luckily, only 3 of the 12 were wrong, otherwise I'm not sure I would have changed them. I'm all set now to continue stitching.



At the girl's club last night I was very encouraged by their enthusiasm. One of the girls "got" crochet and finished the body of her pot-holder, and every one else decided "well, if Alex can do it, so can I" so every one was working hard. My co-counselor is also enjoying the project, so things are going well. I won't have them in a class again until the new year.



I have been watching the corn grow all summer out my window at work. Finally this week they are harvesting it. I could see the golden kernels pouring out of the machine into the trucks to be transported. It's a big field, and a lot of corn grew there! Farming just amazes me!

Pay It Forward

I won a "pay it forward" challenge on Ange's blog. I'm excited!

Now I want to pay it forward as well. I will pick 2 people who comment on this post and I will send them something hand stitched within the next year. I don't mind mailing to anywhere in the world so join in! Anyone can win! You can even participate if you don't have a blog, just keep it going.

Here's the small print: how it works: If you would like to receive something handmade by me within the next 365 days, please comment on this post to say that you are interested & tell me a little something about yourself. I will then draw two names from a hat. If you are one of the chosen two, please post the same offer on your blog in return- hence the name Pay It Forward!

I will do the drawing a week from today, Tuesday, November 25. See you then!

Nice Weekend

I had a nice weekend. We were expecting kids over on Saturday, and a restful day on Sunday, but the kids didn't arrive until Sunday, so Saturday was the restful day. I got this ball stitched. It has a base of cone thread. The marking stitches are DMC multi-colored metallic thread (3 strands together on a spool), and the stitching is done with floche, a cotton fiber that is very smooth. I really like how it turned out.



I think I'm enjoying these so much because I like the way the threads interact to make different shapes. I loved geometry in high school, because it was fun to figure out theorems, etc. This is the same process. You have to figure out how to stitch the pattern even though the end process doesn't look exactly the way you might think.



I'm counselor for a girl's club, and I'm trying to teach 6 girls how to crochet this year. I'm finding it quite frustrating because we don't have enough time in the classroom to really work with each girl until she catches on. These are the projects I've made this year to get them enthused.



The hot pad is made with 3 strands of cotton thread, I made this one last night in about 1 hour. The elephant is cute! One of my girls is dying to learn to make amiguri animals like this. I don't know if I can keep their interest long enough for them to learn. We'll have another go at it this week.



My mom and dad spend their summers in Michigan and their winters in Arizona. There seem to be some amazing estate sales in Arizona, and one of my mom's hobbies is shopping them, for me. (The only thing that would be more fun is if I were there shopping with her!) This is the latest piece she picked up, isn't it gorgeous? She said it is a long piece of linen, something like you would use for the top of a piano. I can't wait to see it in person. Thank you mom, it is beautiful!