Mystery Temari

This temari was presented as a mystery on the Talk Temari group. We got instructions (in words, no pictures or diagrams) and had to follow them to the best of our abilities. This is what turned out. We were to think of crocuses.



I think it turned out very pretty. I went and looked at the photo gallery, no one else has finished this one yet. So I'm going to have to wait.

I had a treat at work yesterday. DD1 stopped by for lunch with her charge C and niece C. It was lovely to see them and hear some giggles.

New Thimble: not beautiful.

Well, I tried making a thimble with the threads I located this week, and this is the result. This weight of thread is too big for a small thimble, plus I was using the wrong needle. I was having a terrible time threading the needle and stitching. In fact, I broke a needle on this thimble.

The white you see along the edge is the pattern paper peeking through; obviously my stitches were not close enough. This thread might work on a larger "thimble," napkin ring size or larger, but not on these little ones. That only leaves me with 4 colors, so now I'm shopping for thread in my head again.

I must say that my base was beautiful! I ended up using a Tide Laundry stick for my mold, and I liked having something longer. It was much easier to hold in my hand. The bias tape I had purchased worked perfectly, and I really like the color.



I got a question from Carol. You can see all my temari together in one place here. I have to find a way of marking my GITS temari, but otherwise I think there are only 3 or 4 missing from these pictures. You can see my progress in making temari from the first ones to the last. Even the ugly ones are there.

The braided kiku division starts from a c8 (complex 8), but then you find the 4 triangles by following the long diagonals on what you could call the polar squares. The triangles are hard to find the first time, but after that you can locate them easily (at least, that's how it worked for me). If you can't find them let me know, and I'll work on a diagram.

Braided Kiku

In our Temari Challenge group, there was a question about braided Kiku stitching, and there was a good demonstration/tutorial shared, along with a challenge: How will yours look? This is how mine looks.

I'm stitching on a 4-face temari, which, if the faces were flat, is a tetrahedron. I like this division because it gives you more room to play than on a simple division, but doesn't take forever, like a multi-pole. I added extra support lines so each kiku has 12 points, and I layered the stitching, starting with the darkest color in the center and lightening up as I go out. You do have to be careful with the spread of your colors if you want a smooth transition. You can see on a corner of the pink flower that the colors don't blend. There's too much contrast, which calls attention to itself.



The four faces are separated by green tri-wings, which are outlined, in turn with a continuous line of darker green.



I'm very pleased by how this one turned out. It's not original, but it is very pretty.

Next is a mystery ball from the Temari Talk group. We got verbal instructions, but no picture or chart. It will be fun to see if my finished product looks anything like anyone else's.

Plus look what I found! (These were on top of my thread stash storage, rather than put away inside.) These are threads I can use for thimbles! They are not all the same weight, so I don't think I can mix the different types, but I can certainly come up with some interesting combinations. I'm so excited! I have to decide on a mold/size... I have a glue stick (6.4 cm) and a couple of chap stick tubes (5.4 and 5.2 cm). I think I'm going to try all three.



Now I can save my birthday wish for something else.

I'm planning a give-away for an up-coming milestone. Stay tuned!

New Thimble

I finished the shadow trapunto on Saturday, and started wondering what to do next. I've been gathering all the thimble supplies in one place (these are so small they fit nicely into a small pouch) so I had this at hand. I had started some time ago. This is the first base I made myself, and it is 95 mm around. The ring turned out big enough to fit the other 2 thimbles I have through the center (snugly). I have to find a new smaller mold to make my bases on. I put a leash on this guy so he wouldn't get lost. Several times when I was stitching I couldn't find it when I got back to my chair, and that was with threads and needles hanging off of it.



The top picture kind of impresses me a little bit, the stitching looks very even from this angle, better than I was expecting.



This is an extreme close-up (which turned out in focus, for a change), and I can see the flaws better than I can in person. The stitching isn't perfectly even at the top and the bottom, and there are small gaps in the last row. I am actually very pleased with how it turned out, and as soon as I finished, I wanted to start another. There are only two things holding me back.

1) I have to find the right mold (see above).
2) DH is right! I want more silk threads to have more colors to play with.

I think I am going to copy C and start asking for them for my birthday now. C asks for something for her birthday several times a week, and doesn't really mind that it is (currently) more than 8 months away. If I start asking now, I might get them next year (in 11 months, LOL). Or, if I start saving now, I could buy them for myself by then. I could even buy them outright next week, but we are saving for vacation. I do have my eye on a set from Chloe Patricia here. Champagne taste, you know.

Shadow-work Trapunto

This is the project that got all my thoughts about quilts going last week. I finished it this weekend. (Pay no attention to the bright green dots, they will eventually go away.)

To make this, you quilt around the outlines, and then fill the outlines with yarn. The colored yarn shows through the thin cotton, making the shadowed colors.



Working on this made me realize why I don't do a lot of quilting any more. It was a small piece, and was going quickly, so I didn't bother to get a thimble out of my work box, and I got a hole in my finger. Always happens!

This will become a pillow. The kit was so complete that it included the backing fabric, the ruffle fabric, the cording and the pillow form. It would be a pity not to finish it after all the help and consideration. Stay tuned!