Thanksgiving, and the Bookworm Award

I don't have any pictures today, my daylight light-bulb burned out last night. It had been flickering, and I ordered a new one yesterday, during the day, just in case. I didn't expect it to give out quite so quickly, though.

I will be gone until next week, celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family. At this time of year I think of everything I'm thankful for: friends and family, DH, cotton and silk threads, linen fabric, patterns that make my heart sing, and over-arching everything the goodness of God. My house, my bed, my pet, my car, my job... The list is endless.

Marjorie tagged me for the Bookworm award:

Open the book closest to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment, and turn to page 56. Write out the fifth sentence, as well as two to five sentences following that. And pass the award on to five blogging friends.

Well, since I'm at work, the book closest to me is the New Testament in the Girawa language of Papua New Guinea. Page 56 reads: Kiro totok amam kon onok kesek, Anut nukas atai koi roasiret wasarewaraun ses opok, kon sarau eitek akas Sata nukan roasiret ak Anut nukan roasiret pak erek turur rain pakan wasare imwareanik, ep nawau orip orip jere raiau opok pote ep unik uru kurewarna, ak akan aiakpanak kartitirianik wai rawaiei. (A lot of the a's have umlauts on them, but not all.) I can tell it is Matthew 13:49-50: "This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." No, I'm not reading it, I'm cataloging it for our display.

If I were in my car, I would be listening to "The Phoenix Unchained" by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory, in the fantasy genre. In my chair at home is "Japanese Temari, a colorful spin on an Ancient Craft" by Barbara Suess. On my bedside table is "The Angel Seeker" by Sharon Shinn, also in the fantasy genre.

Okay, that's probably too much information. I'm discovering that I really like audio books, I can "read" and do something else, drive (to and from work) and do hand-work. One thing I can't do while I'm listening, though is be with DH. I can't hear when he makes a comment, or asks a question, and we both feel too much alone.

Drawing

Today is the day for the big drawing! Let's see, I promised 2 winners, and I have... 3 entries (one friend entered by e-mail, since she couldn't figure out how to comment). So I declare Everyone is a Winner! Paula, Averyclaire, and Nora, please send me your addresses, and I will get your gift to you before a year is up. Three guesses on what you are going to get! LOL

Here's the Temari I finished on Sunday. I really like it! It is a s10 division, with interlaced stars on this side, and a kiku design on the other side. The base is cone thread, the marking was done with DMC spool metallic, and the design is done with DMC perle #5. I just made up the interlacing of these stars as I went along, and it is really cool!



This is the other side. I think it would have been too plain, except that the white outline on the edge really makes it pop.




I seem to be sticking to mostly mono-chromatic or analogous color schemes, but I do that in my needlework too. I guess it's a case of "stick with what you know."

Nice Weekend!

Here's the temari I was talking about last time. It is a c8 division. The base is wrapped with cone thread, and the division is made with gold DMC metallic on a spool. The yellow and light orange are DMC perle #8, and the darker rust is perle #12 (which I bought thinking it was #8). I am pleased with how this turned out.



On one of my on-line groups the discussion has been about what causes projects to languish, and what to do about it. The gist of the advice was to just power through problems without expecting perfection, and if you need it to be better, do it again. I finally got up the courage, following this discussion, to finish the project shown below. I was hung up on the bias tape on the pinafore "wings." My previous efforts at making doll clothes (when I was in my teens) had their downfall in attaching the bias tape, and I think the memory of those previous efforts was paralyzing me.



I finally sat down at the machine, and in less than 1/2 an hour was done with the pinafore, and in another 1/2 hour was done with the nightie shown below. (I had a specific request for an additional pair of jammies, since C's dolly didn't like to wear the same thing to bed every night.)



I can't wait for her to see these!

I have another tamari done, that I will talk about tomorrow.

Latest Temari

I finished my c10 Temari last night, and I think it turned out beautiful. There are 12 roses on it, and each is surrounded by a pentagram in the same color. The green base is cone thread, the marking is a very fine silk thread (that I don't remember the name of), and the roses are 3 shades of Trebizond silk. It was engrossing to stitch, but I still found myself wanting to hurry up and get it done.



Tonight I think I will work on a c8 with just an obi wrapping at each division mark. The one I've been looking at doesn't weave the wraps. I wonder how hard it would be to do that.

Still plugging away.

I did my first C10 division on this ball on Tuesday night, and I was so excited I just admired it for the rest of the evening. Last night I started stitching on it and discovered that 1) it's not as even as I thought at first and 2) you have to make sure your little pentagons line up with your big pentagons or it will look funny. I didn't discover this last fact until all the little ones were stitched, and I was starting on the next step. Luckily, only 3 of the 12 were wrong, otherwise I'm not sure I would have changed them. I'm all set now to continue stitching.



At the girl's club last night I was very encouraged by their enthusiasm. One of the girls "got" crochet and finished the body of her pot-holder, and every one else decided "well, if Alex can do it, so can I" so every one was working hard. My co-counselor is also enjoying the project, so things are going well. I won't have them in a class again until the new year.



I have been watching the corn grow all summer out my window at work. Finally this week they are harvesting it. I could see the golden kernels pouring out of the machine into the trucks to be transported. It's a big field, and a lot of corn grew there! Farming just amazes me!

Pay It Forward

I won a "pay it forward" challenge on Ange's blog. I'm excited!

Now I want to pay it forward as well. I will pick 2 people who comment on this post and I will send them something hand stitched within the next year. I don't mind mailing to anywhere in the world so join in! Anyone can win! You can even participate if you don't have a blog, just keep it going.

Here's the small print: how it works: If you would like to receive something handmade by me within the next 365 days, please comment on this post to say that you are interested & tell me a little something about yourself. I will then draw two names from a hat. If you are one of the chosen two, please post the same offer on your blog in return- hence the name Pay It Forward!

I will do the drawing a week from today, Tuesday, November 25. See you then!

Nice Weekend

I had a nice weekend. We were expecting kids over on Saturday, and a restful day on Sunday, but the kids didn't arrive until Sunday, so Saturday was the restful day. I got this ball stitched. It has a base of cone thread. The marking stitches are DMC multi-colored metallic thread (3 strands together on a spool), and the stitching is done with floche, a cotton fiber that is very smooth. I really like how it turned out.



I think I'm enjoying these so much because I like the way the threads interact to make different shapes. I loved geometry in high school, because it was fun to figure out theorems, etc. This is the same process. You have to figure out how to stitch the pattern even though the end process doesn't look exactly the way you might think.



I'm counselor for a girl's club, and I'm trying to teach 6 girls how to crochet this year. I'm finding it quite frustrating because we don't have enough time in the classroom to really work with each girl until she catches on. These are the projects I've made this year to get them enthused.



The hot pad is made with 3 strands of cotton thread, I made this one last night in about 1 hour. The elephant is cute! One of my girls is dying to learn to make amiguri animals like this. I don't know if I can keep their interest long enough for them to learn. We'll have another go at it this week.



My mom and dad spend their summers in Michigan and their winters in Arizona. There seem to be some amazing estate sales in Arizona, and one of my mom's hobbies is shopping them, for me. (The only thing that would be more fun is if I were there shopping with her!) This is the latest piece she picked up, isn't it gorgeous? She said it is a long piece of linen, something like you would use for the top of a piano. I can't wait to see it in person. Thank you mom, it is beautiful!