G.I.T.S.

This is the 100th post I have written, but not my 100th post, I have a note saved to work on later. I will do a give-away on my next post, so stay tuned!

My swap partner received her Temari yesterday, and likes it. Here's the one I sent her. (Remember, G.I.T.S. stands for Great International Temari Swap.)




It is a c10 division; the weaving on it reminds me of woven cane seats. There are a couple of mistakes in the weaving, which I very carefully did not photograph, and even more carefully tried to mend with some judicious stitching. The extra thread hanging is a tag I included with the occasion and the date for my swap partner. The swap was to commemorate the Lunar New Year, so the colors were chosen as auspicious colors for that celebration. It is the year of the Ox, but I couldn't think of a way to incorporate that into a Temari.

Wintery Temari

I like this temari, because it is tricky without being impossible. It is a c8 division with extra marking lines. There are 8 12 point stars, each with a lavender layer and a grey layer. The grey is outlined with white to make the design pop a little bit. The lavender has 3 shades, but I would have liked the outside to be a little darker. There are 6 4 point stars; all the points overlap.



I will try to post a tutorial on how to wrap the base, and how to begin marking in order to stitch, along with some resources on finding patterns and further instructions on-line.

What a difference!

I finished this Temari on Sunday, and I love the way it turned out, and the colors. It is very similar to one of the first Temari I made (here), but the experience of making it, and the outcome, were both very different this time. I guess practice does help!



This is a c8 division, marked with DMC spool metallic. I followed a picture from "My Temari," one of the Japanese books. I never felt lost or puzzled while I was stitching, the way I did the first time, and I think all the weaving is correct. It makes me happy just to look at it, and to hold it in my hand.

Lunar New Year G.I.T.S.

G.I.T.S. stands for Great International Temari Swap, and I signed up to participate in the Lunar New Year swap on Talk Temari Yahoo group. They encourage beginners to participate, so I was excited to try.

My partner is Coreen from Missouri, and this is the ball I received from her yesterday. I am sorry for the quality of the picture, but I didn't want to wait until I had a better picture to post. The colors celebrate the Lunar New Year, and the pattern is called "merry-go-round." It also has a jingle bell in it; it is so nice to hold! It has a little tag with Coreen's name, city and state, the date and the name of the pattern.



Coreen, I thank you so much for this Temari, and I hope you enjoy the one you will be receiving this week. I will post a picture of that one as soon as I hear you received it.

Snowflake ball

I think I'm addicted to several finishes a week.



My friend from Moonsilk Stitches found a couple of Temari books in her stash, and dropped them off. I immediately decided to make this snowflake from Diana Vandervoort's Temari Treasures, since I had fallen in love with the one my sister made with this pattern.

I found the different approaches to teaching in the various books very interesting. Diana holds your hand and tells you exactly what to do every step of the way, depending mostly on words. Barb Suess gives beautiful examples, with very careful instructions about techniques, leaving colors up to you, with beautiful pictures to inspire you. Mary Woods takes a step back from that and describes the techniques without giving any specifics, but has many examples of each to show the possibilities of color combinations; her Temari are not as beautiful, but mine look a lot more like hers. Some of the combinations are very successful, but others... not so much.

Fortunately, most of the Japanese books depend on (lovely) pictures and diagrams. Some of the Temari are only described in words. I'm hoping I get good enough at this to figure those out from the pictures too.

This temari was wrapped with cone thread. It is a c10 division, marked with perle #5, and then stitched with the perle and petite treasure braid metallic. I think I had 4 inches of metallic left. I found it very interesting that you removed some of the marking lines.