Teaching Kids

On Wednesday evening I had a chance to teach some kids to stitch a simple project. I decided felt "pillows" would be simple, and possible. I had the kids draw the shape they wanted on a piece of paper the size of the finished project. Most of the kids used all the paper, a couple were quite a bit smaller. (We had 7 kids and 3 teachers.) I gave suggestions as to shapes, and showed a heart. We ended up with 4 hearts, a butterfly, a shark, and a cross. (Of course I did not have my camera with me, and by the time I got my hands on it, the kids were gone.)



We cut out the paper pattern, and used it to cut out the felt. We learned how to pull thread from a skein (craft thread) and make a knot. The most difficult part was threading the needle. I don't think I've ever threaded as many needles in one night before.

The stitching was challenging as well, but everyone got it. It was a good choice for thread on this count, because I only had 2 or 3 tangles/knots to undo. Then we stuffed our pillows and finished the stitching. (That was fun.)

I was worried that there would not be enough to do. The green/orange heart only took me 5 minutes, so I prepared a little example of other stitches they could learn.



I didn't need to worry. We did (mostly) finish. One or two kids took baggies home with the supplies. But we were the last group to finish and go out for snacks. I do think everyone had fun, though.

Weaving SAL

This week I finished a temari SAL (Stitch-Along) lead by Joan on the Talk Temari Yahoo group. Her instructions were wonderful, and I was very pleased with the outcome. There are four different weaving patterns, and her suggestion was to do each one twice. I'm not big on doing things twice, so I decided to use two colors; I only had to do each type of weave once in each color. (It makes me feel better, at least.)



Side one above, and side two below. The weaving was a lot of fun and hopefully something I will do again. Three of the weaving patterns give you hexagon spaces, while the fourth is the weave used on cane chair seats, and gives you an octagon space.



The simple band covers a multitude of sins!

Thank you Joan!

Spring Flower GITS

This GITS exchange has taken the longest of any I've been in so far, but I received my new temari in the mail yesterday, and it is beautiful.

This is the ball I sent to Jean in Canada. I had this with me on vacation in April, so you can see that it has been a while. It took me some time after vacation to get organized and send this out. It represents spring narcissus against the backdrop of the winter soil. Daffodils are always a sure sign to me that spring has arrived.



Here are three pictures of the ball I received yesterday from Jean. It is beautiful, and is the first one I've ever received with a tassel. That adds such a sense of elegance!

This side shows forsythia and apple blossoms.



This side shows three kikus in spring colors.



This third side shows tulips!



Thank you so much for such a lovely spring-time temari Jean!