The Things you can accomplish on a Day Off

I had a day off from work on Friday, and was able to accomplish a lot of things. I prepared mari for the next class I am teaching, plus several more for me. There are 10 made with 1 cup of rice bran, 2 smaller ones, and 3 larger ones. It took about 1 1/2 skeins of yarn.



And I started my toothbrush rag rug. Look how far I got over the weekend!



When I was pulling out the material strips to work on this they made quite a big bundle. C commented "Grandma, I don't think you will be able to get done with that before you die." I told her that was fine, that if I did die before I was done, she should finish it. That worried her a little, because "I don't know how to do it." But I taught her, and now she knows how to put the needle in, and take it out (the 2 steps to the stitches). I did tell her that her thumb was too little to make the stitches the right size (gauge) but that it would be big enough by the time it was her turn. She stopped by my chair several times this weekend to take a couple of stitches. The toothbrush needle is just the right size for her dexterity level.

I realized that my last post, about the "It's My Birthday" temari was on the second anniversary of my first blog post, so I decided to celebrate by giving it away. If you would like it, please comment on this post, and on Friday I will pick a winner.

I was very hesitant to start a blog, because I never thought I would have enough interesting material to talk about. But I used Blog2print to look at my blog so far, and it was very interesting. In fact, it was so interesting I bought the .pdf file and I hope to print it out and bind it for myself. Of course, it is all my favorite things, and all about me. How could it not be interesting? LOL If you are interested, here's a coupon to get 15% off your own printout: B2PCC719.

The "It's My Birthday" Challenge

The challenge was to pick a temari from Debi's site of a temari that was stitched close to your birthday, and recreate it. I picked this one, labeled 080204 (I think).

I really like the way it turned out, but it would have been better if I had used floss or floche. There are so many intersections that there is quite a build-up of thread on the surface of the ball, and things were not staying as even as they might have. I also ran out of the variegated DMC floss I was using, and went I went to get more of 1345, I could not find it. Either it has been discontinued, or JoAnn's is no longer carrying it. (Every time I have used a skein with less than 30 m on it, I have run out, even though I always have a lot left when I use a regular skein. I cannot figure that out.)

Can anyone see where I changed colors? I thought the color I found was quite a good match.



The sides of the ball are not as beautiful, but I am still willing to call this one a success.

It's a Daisy

In case you were wondering. C found the bag of felt, threads, and the samples I had made for the workshop last week, and was immediately intrigued. I was in the middle of something when she asked me to help her (playing a computer game... ) so I told her we would work on it later. She said, "That's okay, grandma, call me when you are ready." (!)

So first we had to pick out the shape, and she was sure she wanted a flower. A daisy seemed the easiest. She picked out the dark red and the orange, with a yellow center and white sewing. There was some concern when we couldn't find yellow thread at first, but I knew there was some in the drawer.



I cut out the paper pattern and the felt, and then started stitching around the petals with the white thread. She stitched one of the petals herself! and then delegated the rest of the stitching to me. She had fun with the stuffing as well. There was some concern about the white lines separating the petals, so I had to add those at the end.



When we were done, she was a little sad that this was a pillow she could hold in her hand. She wanted a pillow big enough to rest on... I guess that is next on the list to do.

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.)



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.



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.

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.)



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.



The simple band covers a multitude of sins!

Thank you Joan!

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.



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.



This side shows three kikus in spring colors.



This third side shows tulips!



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

New Camera!

I got a new camera last night, a Canon, and I tried it out this morning. Here's a row of my thimbles. I think this is going to work! I replaced a couple of the worst pictures in my earlier posts.



I took another picture of my small purse from Contemporary Embroidery, and I decided to post it here, because the picture is good enough so you can see the stitches. There are little tiny spider web flowers (see how to make the stitch here) and french knots, all on a yummy silk background.



DH was talking on the phone with a friend the other day, and made a comment that warms me all over. He said "It's because I married right. You know the old saying 'Happy wife, happy life.'" I'm not exactly sure what they were talking about, but I am happy, and the foundation for that is him and our relationship.

To DH: I'm glad to have had a part in making your life happy!