New Year G.I.T.S.

I participated in the New Year G.I.T.S. (Great International Temari Swap) and was partnered with Ginny. I opened this at about 1 minute past midnight this morning. This is beautiful! It is a c10 marked with a sparkly black thread. Two poles have large blue stars, the rest of the pentagons have smaller blue stars. All the other centers have stars on them as well. I really like it.



This is a copy of the one I sent her. I liked the pattern so much that I sent her, that I wanted a copy of it for myself. It also fits with the other temari I've been making this week. It's a c10 with additional marking lines in darker blue. Then, after the regular stitching the additional lines and the pentagon centers, where all the threads cross, get held down with a silver blending filament.



C tried on the outfit that matches her new doll today. She looks adorable, but didn't want to pose. (Don't ask me why she's holding a tangerine [or why she was kissing it]. I don't have a clue.)

Vacation Doings

It's been cold and snowy here, so my temari have been reflecting that. This one is stitched with a crochet cotton, wrapped in a sparkly filament; the two parts of the thread did not play nicely together for stitching. They probably would have been nice for crochet, but for temari, not so much. This is a c8 with additional markings, and it looks nicer in person than in the picture. It has a real sparkle to it.



This one (again, sorry for the poor picture, my camera hates sparkly thread!) is also a c8 but with 2 sets of additional markings. This one is very fun to hold in your hand and study. It's not a complete success though; I think I will redo it with much brighter (flower) colors. It was fun to stitch.



Yesterday we all went out for lunch to (as P says) a train place. They have a train layout that kids are allowed to operate (kids have to keep punching buttons to keep the trains moving). There's a passenger train, a Christmas train, and a Thomas train, plenty to look at.



The food is interesting, aimed at parents (and grandparents) with plenty of selections on the kid's menu. After eating, the kids went for a ride on the train; P picked the engine. The conductor told him he should ring the bell, and he took his responsibility seriously.



Do you think they liked it?



Check out both of those smiles! P's still ringing the bell! but he did take turns with C. After this we went to Barnes and Noble and spent our Christmas gift cards. It was a very fun day!

The Second Day of Christmas

After further checking, I discovered that I only finished 2 squares for the Advent Calendar this past year:



This is the story of Ruth becoming a believer and follower of God. It's one of my favorites from the Old Testament.

The fact that there are only two completed squares from this past year brings me to my resolve for the new year:

Drum-roll Please!

I will finish more than 2 squares in 2010! I realize that I used some of my cross-stitch time to work on the Quaker turtles (which aren't finished yet). So I will have to concentrate more on these, and maybe stitch on them at home once in a while.

Last Saturday I finished this temari, after a suggestion from Moonsilk Stitches to treat it like a Assisi design, concentrating on the background for the design, more than the stitching. It is not a complete success, but this is a very traditional way of looking at a temari design.



I'm on vacation, which is why my posting has been a little erratic. I'm having fun with my audio books and I've been stitching. I also got a computer game for a Christmas present, and couldn't pull myself away from it all day yesterday. I have a couple more temari to talk about, and a fun outing today.