Friday, August 14, 2009

Tiger Lily Temari

I was thinking of a day lily, but I got a tiger lily instead. I used a thread I found at Hobby Lobby; nylon with a metallic thread twisted in. It was not as easy to work with as DMC pearl, but I think it turned out okay.

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The inspiration for this temari came from my brother and SIL's garden. They have such beautiful flowers. While I was researching the stitches for this one I saw a beautiful day lily temari stitched on a c8; I think I will have to add that one to my list, and I will try to get the colors closer to the picture in my head.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Moonsilk Stitches give-away

This is the beautiful purse I won on Moonsilk Stitches blog for her birthday give-away. It is gorgeous!

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The inside has a very special lining of this starry fabric, it is silky smooth.

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Everything is prepared for the next time C expresses an interest in stitching. The colors, mari, and everything else needed is all gathered together in a special bag. Thank you Paula for the suggestion!

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My pictures turned out blurry again! I cleaned the lens (duh!) but if the pictures keep coming out like this I may have to look into getting a new camera.

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Winding these mari was about all I could do last night after a doctor's visit. I also found the ones I had prepared when we went on vacation, so I should be set for a while. I have a list of temari I want to stitch:

1. grand daughter C's rainbow (see above)
2. Day lily for R&M, that reminds me of their beautiful garden. The temari I make won't be as beautiful.
3. variation on the all-over pattern (same marking and colors, different stitch order).
4. Star GITS (I have the pattern picked out).
5. begin working on temari for JTA (Japan Temari Association) certification.

This is after the doctor's visit near downtown:

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We're casual! Leaning against the car, enjoying our Italian Ice. It was C's treat; I love how he is looking over his sun-glasses. He thought leaning against the car with DH was pretty cool. (Our daughter J watches him, so we see him quite often.)

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Birthday Present

I made a birthday present for Marj over the weekend, and gave it to her last night, so I can share it here today. It is a kiku (Chrysanthemum) in rust/brown shades, stitched with vineyard silks.

The two sides are different. This side has 4 4-point stars interlaced through each other. It gives a very intricate look and I always love the accent color peeking through the stitching.

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This side has the same accent color peeking through, but it is 2 8-point stars layered over each other, and is not nearly as intricate. The green of the obi is a little bit darker than the center green.

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I love stitching with the vineyard silk, but more from the feel of the fiber than from the look.

Monday, August 10, 2009

c8 to c10 to 32 centers

This pattern is an adaptation of a c8 pattern in one of the Japanese books. It is a SAL (Stitch-Along) in the Temari Challenge yahoo group, and has been very interesting.

The pattern consists of stitching around the main shapes squares, pentagons, or small pentagons, and layering those shapes with the triangles that tie them together. Then in 2 of the temari there is additional stitching between the main shapes. (On the large pentagons I left off that last step.)

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Below you can see the 3 temari in this set so far. I wanted to stitch them in coordinating colors so you can compare the changes in the design without being distracted by different colors. However, this one was stitched in Pearl #8, and I did not have exactly the same shades. The over-all effect is very similar, though. I debated and debated with myself whether to add another row on the pentagons and triangles on this latest one. I couldn't tell, because the guide-lines were still there. I decided not to, and took out the guide-lines, and now I wish I had added another row, but once the guide-lines were gone it was too late.

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Debi talked about the different scale on these temari in her post. This has been a very interesting experiment, and I want to stitch the c6, but I am not going to stitch the 42 centers, unless I can see some one's example and it is very different from the 32 centers. This one took a long time to stitch. The 32 centers turned out very similar to the c10; the only difference was the scale.