Reading instead of Stitching

I do not have any stitching to show you this week! Instead of stitching this past weekend, I have been reading! A new book called Kings of the North by Elizabeth Moon came out last week, and I got it very reasonably for my Nook. I could not put it down! I finished on Saturday evening and I enjoyed it so much that I picked up an e-book copy of the previous book in the series Oath of Fealty and read it on Sunday and Monday. Now, since I finally remembered what happened first, I am re-reading (already) Kings of the North.

I really did not have any hesitation buying these books for my Nook, because I read Deeds of Paksennarion (by Elizabeth Moon) almost every year, and these new books cover the continuing adventures of a lot of the people that show up in Deeds. Now, I suppose, I have to wait another year for the story to be completed... will Dorrin put on the crown? Will Kieri have kids, and go south for war? Will Stammel get his eyesight back? Can't wait!

I have a mari wrapped and marked, and the Holland Springtime Sampler is waiting patiently as well. Maybe, since it is starting to feel like spring, I should pick that up again!

Another Swirl Temari

Here is another try at a swirl temari. I love this color combination! I think I am improving, but there is still some work needed on the first round on each shape.



This couple of inches of thread is all that was left from a full skein of pearl #5 after I finished stitching! I was nervous about running out the whole time I was stitching, and wouldn't you know it, I picked a color that I only had one skein of! I did discover a partial skein last night when I was getting very nervous. It was the same color (DMC 806) but a different dye lot. I think I could have gotten away with using it, but I was glad I did not have to.



Next time I stitch a swirl, remind me to have at least 1 1/2 skeins that match before I start!

I really want to stitch this swirl from Nana Akoa. It is on a c10, and each diamond is divided into 4 triangles. Half are stitched clockwise, half counter-clockwise. This example was stitched with a fine pearl, but she has another example using a couple of strands of floss. I think I would want to try this on a large mari.

My next project is Poinsettias on my Flower Sampler. I think I have the pattern worked out in my head, now it just has to come out through my fingers.

Speaking of which... I watched this video about Japanese embroidery: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t97lJO8LtjQ Around minute 6 of the video, the sensei says "Hands are the exit of the spirit." Do you agree with that? I don't know if I do or not... but it is very thought provoking.

March Challenge

In one of my temari groups we had a March Challenge, lead by Joan Z. You can see some of her lovely work here. This is the temari we planned on making, with Joan's help. She found the original pattern in one of the Japanese books and "reverse engineered" the pattern.

Pole view

Equator view

You can barely see the mari, it is almost completely covered. There are just a few places, between spindles, where you can see her mari is black.

It took me a while to get going on this, and then when I did, my supplies were in one place, and the pattern was in another. I thought I had read the instructions carefully, so I decided to go ahead and give it a try. This is what I came up with:

Pole view

Equator view

Even though I sort of followed the instructions, mine looks way different! The main problem is that I didn't start the kiku close enough to the center. That opened up the center, and it limited my space for the interlocked kiku/spindle combination, so the cream spindles turned out a little spindly. So then, of course, the blue spindles couldn't be bigger, because then they would take over the whole pattern, and the balance would be lost.

I actually like the way mine turned out. The pumpkin colored mari was my inspiration for the colors I used, and I would have been sad if the whole thing was covered up. The obi stitching was a variegated pearl cotton. I thought of using the DMC color variations, in the orange and yellow tones for the obi, but the orange/rust clashed with the mari too much. (So much for planning ahead!)

Of course, with all the open space at the pole, the embellishment worked out differently too. (Plus I still didn't have the pattern at hand to look at.) I sort of like the negative space flower that developed.

DH immediately said "Merry-go-round (in a good way)" when I showed it to him, and I agree. The obi stitching reminds me of the platform, the light blue spindles of the animals/poles, and the white and blue triangles remind me of the canopy.

Of course Joan didn't stop here. She adapted the pattern from a s16 to a c8 and c10!

Aren't these amazing! I love the alternating red and yellow petals on the C10! And these were not even all the variations she came up with. Thank you so much, Joan, for leading this challenge, and for permission to share your pictures.

Workshop

I have belonged to one of my guilds for more than 20 years, so all the people in it are either old friends, or soon to become old friends. I had the privilege of leading a workshop this past weekend with several people from that guild, and we had a wonderful time! We had a wonderful room to stitch in, with comfortable chairs, ample table room, bright natural light, and a coffee maker. There were 6 people in the class, which is a wonderful size for personalized attention. We started by marking a mari with a s4 marking with obi, and stitching bands around those markings. I stitched this temari demonstrating that part of the lesson. One of the members had a box of #8 pearl cotton, and another box of #5 pearl cotton (in balls!). She kindly allowed me to use her #8 to stitch this, it was a little mari, and the #8 was just the right size. Next we wound our own mari. I think it always helps to stitch a temari before you make a mari. It always surprises me how infrequently the mari pops out of my hands any more. When I started, it would pop out every 5 minutes or so, and I would have to levitate out of my recliner to get it back. After two and a half years of making mari I think I drop each one once or so when I am winding. Your hands just get used to the motion and to hanging on. Everyone was tired of wrapping thread by the time they got done, but all the mari turned out very nice. We had some thread from a late member's stash, and so we were able to come up with some very interesting colors. Part of the way through the wrapping we stopped for lunch. One of the members made sloppy Joes, so we enjoyed our food and each other's company. Someone had to leave for a while to go to a shower, and left the shower as soon as the games started. One of our group asked her "What did they say when you left that party to come to do this?" She hadn't really made an announcement as to why she was leaving, but I said "This IS a party!" and everyone else agreed. With our newly wrapped mari, we stitched a kiku, or chrysanthemum pattern on a S8 marking. Everyone was very engaged in the work, and some of the kikus were coming along very nicely, but I did not get a picture. I cannot wait for our guild meeting so I can see what everyone did. I did see one person's work on the next morning. She had gone home, finished her bands, and re-marked her mari for the kiku. Her bands were beautiful, and she had a good start on the kiku... with beautiful colors. I cannot wait to see all of them finished. I went home and sat down to finish my kiku as well, and promptly fell asleep! Teaching is a lot of fun, but it is hard work as well.

Birthday Present

I knew I was going to make this pattern again, it turns out so lovely. We were invited to a surprise birthday party for a friend, and since she likes purple, I thought I would make this for her. She liked it!



I haven't been writing much the last couple of weeks, because not much is happening. Weatherwise we are struggling to get past winter. The past couple of days, and the next week are all forecast to be well below normal for this time of year. I went to the funeral of the wife of a close friend. I am preparing to teach a all day workshop on temari tomorrow. I hope that each person who attends will finish 2 temari, and will have a good start on the third one. DD2 and C spent a couple of days with us last week, and C started a little cross stitch kit. She is not stitching on her own, but will concentrate for 5 or 10 stitches before going on to the next thing. I picked up a little woven pouch so we can keep her project safe and together.

Last weekend we looked at model trains.

DH is interested in doing some modeling, and at this point is doing research and talking to people to try to decide the size and subject he would be interested in working with.

I am continuing to think about and plan my flower sampler temari. I have February, April, June, August and September done, with Violets, Cherry blossoms, Rose, Water Lily and a Sunflower. I am thinking of Carnation for January, if I can find a nice pattern. The pattern I thought I found, now that I look at it more closely, looks more like a passion flower. For March, I was thinking a daffodil. April? May is Lily of the Valley. July is morning glory. October? November is Chrysanthemum, and December is Poinsettia.

I hope all your projects are turning out wonderful, and are giving you a lot of satisfaction!

September, Sunflower

After the last one, I was worried that this whole project was going to be one struggle after another, but the September Sunflower blossomed in just a couple of hours. Even if I do decide to take it out and do it over (the center weaving is not as regular as it could be) I am very pleased with the design and the way it turned out.



Five down, seven to go!

That was easy... NOT!

I can't really believe how hard I worked on April's cherry blossom flowers. I did the division first, and tried out 2 or three different ways of stitching the flower, and took them all out, and then I took the division out, because it was too wonky.

I had a picture in my head of what I wanted this to look like, but I could not remember how to do it. I wanted it to match this temari that I stitched a year and 1/2 ago. I couldn't even remember what book the pattern was in. So I pulled out all my temari books, and finally found it in Kii Temari. After I found the pattern, it only took minutes to do the stitching.



Another one of the things that made it difficult was the dark green background. It didn't really look like cherry blossoms until I stitched the embellishments. But after all that redoing and fussing, I like how it turned out.

I am discovering that I have so much invested in this ball already, that each new section I add has to meet a higher standard. Usually if I do not like how a ball turns out I just go on to the next one... but each one of these has to be right! I am afraid the pressure is just going to get higher and higher the more of this one I stitch.