Advent, Day 20

And more angels:





There is supposed to be a red one too, I wonder where that went off to?

(Happy Anniversary, Mom!)

Advent, Day 19

Multitudes of Angels!



These two are from the advent calendar I made for my daughters when they were little.



This is my Christmas stocking. My dad stitched it for me several years ago.

Here's my latest Temari, it's a simple one, but it still took me 3 nights to finish it. I copied the pattern out of my Japanese Temari book, but I changed the colors. It is a 5 point star s5 division. The detail of stitching down the outside intersections really adds a lot, I think. It is a Styrofoam base mari, wrapped with cone thread. The stitching is with DMC #5 perle, and the marking with DMC spool metallic.



This ball is a little too large for this pattern; too much of it has been left unstitched. That is another balance thing I will have to continue to work on.

This side was an experiment, and I like how it turned out. The white center is a "tri-wing" pattern, except it is stitched with 5 points instead of 3. Then I did the green star, tucking the stitches under the white to emphasize them. It still looked a little unfinished, so I just stitched around the outside in white.



This is what we are dealing with in our area this morning. Ice is coating everything. It looks beautiful on the trees and bushes, even though it is very hard on them and a lot of branches break. However, ice on the roads is no fun. I saw one accident, and another different car in the ditch on my way in to work (late) this morning. Ice on the wires isn't fun either. Our lights were flickering this morning; hopefully the ice will melt before it does any damage.



The excitement here today is that the ice is sliding off the metal roof in sheets, we can see it through the clerestory windows. It sounds like a roller derby or a bowling alley!

Advent, Day 18

Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host!







According to C.S. Lewis angels have colors we can't even imagine, not limited by the spectrum of light our eyes can pick up.

Advent, Day 17

An angel of the Lord appeared to them and said to them "Do not be afraid, I bring you good news. Today a Savior has been born. You will find him in a manger, wrapped in cloths.



I do apologize for the fuzzy picture. I keep trying to get too close.

Advent, Day 16

Shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks at night.



This shepherd's robe is really cool. The pattern called for tweeding your thread, combining a bright color with a shade of green; but I was stitching on 22 count, using one thread. What to do? It was sheer luck that it worked out the way it did, but I did 1/2 the cross stitch with the bright color, and the other with the shade of green. The reason I say it was luck, because it turned out that all the bright colors were underneath, and all the green was the top leg, without planning it that way. When you look at it closely it looks like woollen fabric woven with a colored warp and a green weft. Sheer luck!

Here's the Temari I made on Sunday. I'm showing you both sides, because they are different. It is a s16 division; cone thread for the base, DMC perle #5 for the stitching, and DMC spool metallic for the division. The first side showing was done with 4 sets of kiku overlapping, giving the nice chrysanthemum effect. The second side was done with 2 sets of kiku, only overlapping once. The petals look much pointier and the whole effect is much less complex. The color and pattern were inspired by a picture in the Mary Woods Temari book.





I wish my orange and red had been closer in value, I think it would have looked better. I'm excited to try this pattern in many different color combinations.

Advent, Day 15

And there were shepherds living out in the fields near by.



The bowl/vase I keep my Temari in is overflowing. I will be sending some away to new homes this week.



This is the Temari I finished on Saturday. It is a c10, with cone thread for the base, DMC spool thread for the marking and for additional stitching in the hexagons, and DMC perle #5 for the stitching. There are 12 pentagrams, and 20 hexagrams. You could probably call it a 32 center Temari. I saw the picture in the Japanese book I got, and was able to follow the pattern from the pictures and diagrams. If I had to do something differently, I would make my pentagrams and hexagrams with 4 rounds of stitching instead of 5. Some of the corners are a little squeezed together.



This is close to the arrangement of hexagrams and pentagrams on a soccer ball. I have always looked at soccer balls with interest, but was never able to understand the geometry of it, but I feel like I have a much better understanding now. I could stitch an actual soccer ball now if I wanted to, but do I want to, that is the question. If P were still playing soccer, I would probably have much more of an incentive.