Cutest Grandkids in the World!

What's a grandma to do when these two cuties ask for a picture? Take it, of course and show it off to the world.

I can't believe how big these guys are getting. I can hardly pick P up at all, and I have to be careful with C, to not hurt my back. They both still like to sit in my chair with me when I'm doing something interesting, so I do get my cuddles.

C has decided that all her Webkinz need to be dressed.

I am very pleased and proud to be able to tell you that I passed my Japanese Temari Association level 1 and level 2 certification.

This is a scan of the translation of the Level 1 application. It feels quite strange to see the Japanese characters, but cool at the same time. After you are accepted at level 2, it takes a couple of years of practice to get ready for level 3. For these two levels, you only had to send pictures to Japan, for the next 2 levels you have to send the actual temari. After I had turned in my applications, I was ready to not look at a temari for a while, but I'm enjoying working on them again, and can face the prospect of 3 to 5 years of practice with interest. I think I'm addicted.

Some shopping and some stitching

Earlier I saw a couple of stitched fabric purses on Contemporary Embroidery's Etsy shop, and one of them made my heart go pitty-pat, so I went for it. Isn't this beautiful?



The fabric is silk (!) and the flowers are made up of French knots. It is very beautiful, but I'm not sure I am going to use it because I'm afraid of spoiling it. If I put coins in it, the inside will get very dirty, and I don't want that to happen, but I would love to have it with me all the time. We shall see what happens.

After I finished my last temari I picked up the thimble I had been stitching on, and finished that too. The base is from Chloe Patricia, and it will be a pin-cushion, when I find the small pre-finished cushion that came with the kit. I like the colors and the way it turned out.



I need to get back into making these, it is so satisfying to finish something so beautiful in just a little bit of time.

I Finished!

I took the last stitches in this one on Friday evening, and scared my family by breaking into a happy dance. They looked at me like I was nuts, but I couldn't help it, it turned out so beautiful. I couldn't see how beautiful it was going to be until I took the last stitch, and then I amazed myself. The picture, of course (even if it were a good one) doesn't show the beauty.



I enjoyed this one so much, that I'm planning another 482 facet temari, that reminds me of Queen Anne's Lace. I've been looking at that pattern (in Temari for 4 Seasons) since I got the book (which was my first Japanese book) and now I've advanced enough in making temaris that I know I can do it.

On Saturday I walked in the Hunger Walk, benefiting the Greater Chicago Food Depository, and our church pantry. We had 44 people in our walking group! You can see what a lovely day we had, just a little too warm, but since thunderstorms had passed in the night, we were grateful for the weather we got. (I'm the one with the floppy hat.)



Here's most of our group at the finish line. I've dithered the picture a little bit on purpose.



I was amazed that I was even able run errands with DH during the afternoon (after spending some time on the sofa, recuperating) and I'm only having intermittent soreness, nothing incapacitating. I did a 5K walk when I was in my teens for a Girl Guide (Girl Scout) badge, and it took us only about 5 to 10 minutes longer this time. I was quite pleased. Our pantry will get a nice benefit as well.

482 facets!

There are at least 482 facets in this temari, I think. The 6-part triangles are divided into 12 sections, and the 4-part diamonds are divided into 8 sections, and there are some additional lines. (I attempted to figure it out using the information on Debi's TemariMath site, but I'm not quite sure what all the terms refer to. Tonight I'm going to try to count the facets in one of the triangles, and I will multiply by 20.



However many there are, I'm plugging away at stitching pentagons and hexagons around each of them. It's very relaxing. I'm working with one strand of black, and it amazes me what a big difference such a small amount of thread makes.

We had a beautiful day last Sunday. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write about it, my work responsibilities have changed, and I don't have as much time at work. I may have to blog from home instead of on my breaks here at work.

We went to a late lunch with DD1 in Evanston, where she works. We had a very nice time, in a very nice restaurant. We haven't been seeing much of her lately, because she works on our days off, and we work on her days off, so it was wonderful to be able to share a meal together. The worst part of the whole day was the traffic going north in Chicago. Who would have imagined a traffic jam on the expressway on a Sunday afternoon?!

After lunch we proceeded north to Ravinia, and went to a concert. The opening act was Procol Harum, a '60s group that had one or two hits back then. The music was enjoyable, but nothing to get excited about. The venue, though, was wonderful.

The Pavilion at Ravinia is an open-air auditorium, but it is completely covered. The weather that evening was wonderful, not too hot, or too cold, with a nice breeze. You can get an inkling from this picture.



The main event of the concert, and the one we were excited about was Jethro Tull. (This is a picture of one of the screens.)



The lead singer, and flautist, is Ian Anderson, and I think the description "demented elf" describes his presence and antics on stage. It was a lot of fun. The music was familiar and we really enjoyed ourselves. Once we got out of the parking lot, the drive home was a breeze, so that was very enjoyable. It was fun enough that we will be looking for more opportunities to go.

Still plugging away

This is the picture I was going to post yesterday, but the computer didn't recognize my memory card, and I didn't have time to fuss with it. Today I had a little time, and I got the picture to download (whew!) so here it is. I really like the way it is turning out, but I was worried about the centers in the pink stars. According to the pattern picture (which I should have checked before) the centers of those stars are blue thread... I should have done the marking with the blue floss! Oops!



It's kind of necessary for the pattern, so I am adding (enhancing?) marking threads in blue floss. You can see here, in this poor picture, that the centers look quite a bit better with the blue added. However, in consequence, I haven't advanced on the pattern.



I am really enjoying stitching on this one, but it's one of the first times I've used floss on a temari, and I haven't been too careful with making sure the threads are parallel. I'm calling this a practice temari, and I'm considering stitching the pattern again in different colors... I'm wondering how my favorite blue and green on white would look.

I found out that a cousin died in his sleep this week, younger than I am. He left a wife and two young (7 & 8) daughters. I so wish I could go to the funeral, and share with the family.

HEG

We had guild last night, the last meeting until next September. It's amazing what good friends you get to be with people you see once a month for 9 months out of the year. The September meeting is always so much fun, because we get to catch up, and see what everyone has been doing over the summer. (Plus, it's a party at a nice restaurant.)

We showed off the bears we made:



(Can you tell we are having too much fun?)



Here are all the bears, except that in this picture they look like they are being held up, or doing their exercises. We are hoping kids in the hospital will get some comfort from them. They looked adorable packed into the basket.

Multi-pole

This is a picture of the newest temari I am working on. I am not quite done with the first step of 3. There needs to be a layer of pink linking up with the small pink pentagons. I'm not sure I will be able match the picture exactly, but I wanted to thank Rebecca for getting me this far. She was able to read the Japanese colors and the order they were stitched in for the this layer. According to the picture, the next layer is all blue, and the final layer is black.



As I was beginning to stitch this (the only stitching was the gold marking threads and the little pink pentagons) P came up and asked what it was going to look like. I showed him the picture in the book, and he studied for a minute, then he said, "That will work. The background is black, like in the picture, but you will have to sew on it a lot, more than that one (pointing to one of my snowflake temari in the bowl by my chair)." I was impressed and pleased for a couple of reasons. First, he pays attention! Second, he could make the leap from an unfinished temari to imagine the completed one. I'm going to ask if he wants to stitch on one himself. I'll let you know what he says.

We've named the kittens. I know, that is a dangerous step. Tom; Alli/Alley (we are not sure if (s)he is a boy or a girl yet; and Kit. The fourth one has a name at home, but I am not going to share it, as I feel it will hurt her chances to get adopted. I will try to get individual pictures to share. All four love to cuddle, and are learning to walk, jump, and run. They should be weaned within 2 weeks.

Judy, I have bowls of temari displayed in my living room, I have a couple of apothecary jars with temari in them, and I am looking for the hanging vegetable/fruit baskets that used to be popular to hang in the archway between my living room and dining room. There seem to be temari everywhere!