Friday, July 16, 2010

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.)

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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.

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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.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

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.)

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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.

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The simple band covers a multitude of sins!

Thank you Joan!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

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.

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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.

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This side shows three kikus in spring colors.

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This third side shows tulips!

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