Snowflake ball

I think I'm addicted to several finishes a week.



My friend from Moonsilk Stitches found a couple of Temari books in her stash, and dropped them off. I immediately decided to make this snowflake from Diana Vandervoort's Temari Treasures, since I had fallen in love with the one my sister made with this pattern.

I found the different approaches to teaching in the various books very interesting. Diana holds your hand and tells you exactly what to do every step of the way, depending mostly on words. Barb Suess gives beautiful examples, with very careful instructions about techniques, leaving colors up to you, with beautiful pictures to inspire you. Mary Woods takes a step back from that and describes the techniques without giving any specifics, but has many examples of each to show the possibilities of color combinations; her Temari are not as beautiful, but mine look a lot more like hers. Some of the combinations are very successful, but others... not so much.

Fortunately, most of the Japanese books depend on (lovely) pictures and diagrams. Some of the Temari are only described in words. I'm hoping I get good enough at this to figure those out from the pictures too.

This temari was wrapped with cone thread. It is a c10 division, marked with perle #5, and then stitched with the perle and petite treasure braid metallic. I think I had 4 inches of metallic left. I found it very interesting that you removed some of the marking lines.

Huipul from Central America

I was reading Allie's blog earlier this week. She's on vacation in Mexico, and met a friend who is collecting Oaxacan embroidery, with beautiful pictures. It sure would be wonderful to be in a warm, sunny place right now! but Allie's pictures reminded me of the Huipul from Central America my mom gave me from her collection this summer.



It is a tunic, with embroidery around the yoke (this section) and around the bottom of the hem. Isn't the embroidery beautiful? It is done by machine. I just wish I was the right size to be able to wear it!

Sunrise

The sky was so beautiful this morning, that I pulled off to the side to get a picture.



I'm so glad the darkest part of winter is over. A couple of weeks ago I watched the sunrise on my way to work in the morning, and the sunset on my way home. Fortunately at work there is plenty of daylight, but it is still depressing to spend all the daylight hours at work. Now, just 3 weeks later, it is beginning to stay light until after 5 PM!

Garden Temari

I finished this last night, in fact, I stayed up past my bed-time to put in the last stitches. This is a pattern found in "Temari for 4 seasons" on page 14. The mari and the marking are in the same color, the mari with cone thread, and the marking with DMC perle #5. I really like the effect of "hiding" the markings, and I am going to be doing this more often. The green stitching is with Caron Wildflowers, which is an overdyed thread about the weight of a perle #8, and the white is regular DMC perle #8.

The division is c10. There are 12 stars made up of 5 triangles each, but the triangles also form larger hexagons, and the way they are linked together makes them look a little like chains. It is very interesting to study the ball and see how everything fits together.



I don't like the color combination as much as I thought I would. I think a light green in the same family would have given the definition I was looking for without as much contrast. The white takes away from the idea of leaves, which is sort of what I was going for.

We are "enjoying" another snowy day here, south of Lake Michigan. When I opened the outside door this morning, it had to sweep snow out of the way to open; this is above a 3 inch step. The roads were treacherous, but the woods were beautiful; I guess you pay for your pleasures.

WIP #2

This is a personalized sampler from Nouveau Encore designs. I really like the pattern, but it is a WIP (almost an UFO [unfinished object]) for a couple of reasons. I'm getting nervous about running out of the variegated thread (to do list: buy more thread) and I was getting insecure about the overall color choices. However, now that I look at it (for the first time in months!) I think the color is fine. I was questioning the light green, wondering if the value was too bright for this piece, but looking at it here it doesn't seem to pop out too much at all.



It is personalized with names and initials of many people who are important to me plus my own.



The motifs also have been chosen according to my interests and background. The cross, anchor and heart stand for "faith, hope, and love." The windmill is my Dutch heritage, the bee is French. Acorns stand for children. The empty square is a Bible page where I will fill in my favorite verse (at least the reference). This is just a third of the pattern, and the rest is just as full of meaning as this part.

This section includes 3 important dates. (Can you find them?)



Both my guilds are interested in learning how to make Temari! My Indiana guild is talking about a weekend workshop but I would be more comfortable with a regular meeting project to get people started. We could always have a second, more advanced class with those who are (still) interested after that. I am not planning on doing the NANI SAL this year, even though I really like Drawn Thread patterns. As I continue to post WIPs, you will probably see why.

I signed up today to take two on-line classes in Temari. The first one starts at the beginning of February.

Crayon Temari

This is my latest temari, made while I was hibernating from our snowy (yesterday), frigid (today) weather.



The base is cone thread, marked with black perle, and stitched with 6 colors of DMC perle. It was fun and quick to make, but now I wish I had made my bands thicker. It looks a little sparse. It is my crayon temari because I used the primary and secondary colors (the main ones that come in the box of 8 crayons).

It is a c10. I tried to use the v-ruler (or angle ruler). I had the length measurement right, but I wasn't too accurate on the angle. The ruler I am using is printed on paper. I think I have to laminate one to keep the angle more rigid. The v-ruler "should be" a simple way to mark a c10 mari, but I need to keep practicing.

I know I was complaining earlier in the week about not having any time to stitch. The weather has helped with that situation. I stayed home 2 nights in a row because of the snow and cold.

Temari ball

I gathered all my notes and pictures into one place to make a Temari notebook. While I was at it, I numbered all my balls just out of curiosity. This one is number 27!

There are three different types of intersections on this ball: places where 4 bands meet, where 3 bands meet, and where 2 bands meet. The instructions showed how to work the interweaving at the bands where 4 and 3 bands meet, but did not show anything where the 2 bands meet. I thought if I consistently worked the 2-band meeting the same way it would turn out. Nope! it turns out you have to be careful your ball is turned the same way each time you work a 2-band. So I did the same thing the pattern writer did, I covered those intersections with the embroidered daisies (they are just straight stitches with a french knot in the middle). I wonder if she had the same problem? The difficulty is that I don't know how many "over" and "under" intersections I are going to have until after most of the weaving is done, and by then I have messed up.



In the pattern the mari was black, and the marking stitches were not showing, but I didn't have a perle cotton that matched my mari perfectly. I tried to make it inconspicuous. I do like how this one turned out.