Advent, Day 3

These are my latest Temari, and I think they look Christmasy, like poinsettias. The red/white one was a gift for my last year's secret stitcher, and the pink one (I think) is going to my mom. She informs me she has an empty bowl on her coffee table, just waiting for something to fill it.

The white one is a s8 division with a Kiku pattern, wrapped obi, and french knots in the center. All the thread is DMC, perle #5 and spool metallic. The pink one is a c8 division, with a tri-wing motif in a pale green silk, with kiku flowers in each of the 6 frames. They are stitched in 3 different shades of pink, and outlined in pale green. The different pinks don't show up.



I have to get pictures of the rest of my Advent pages that are done. I am officially 1/2 way.

Advent, day 2

Here's day 2:



I love the way the angels are holding up the rainbow! My theme every Christmas is angels, taken from Luke 2: "Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God." The only drawback is our living room is small, and if I put up all my angels, there is no room for us.

Plus this year we have a 6-month old puppy, and I can envision angels strewn all over the floor, after being chewed up. Not a pretty picture! We probably won't decorate a lot this year.

It's December!

It's not that I like winter so much, but I love Christmas, and I have a lot of things to share.

I'm about 1/2 way done with the Advent Calendar from Mary Beale. There are 24 panels that can be used in a myriad of ways, this is the first. They can be stitched as ornaments, all together 4x6 on one piece of fabric, or 5x5 with an extra space for personalization. I've read that one person is putting them together as the pages of a book, or you can make a calendar with each panel being a pocket to hold a button with the date, or a special treat. I'm stitching them on separate pieces of fabric, to keep my options open. I've been working on it for 1 1/2 years already, and it won't be done this year.



It is stitched on an off-white linen fabric (32 count) with NPI silk floss. I considered stitching it in DMC, but I didn't trust my color skills enough to go with my own conversion; about 6 weeks after I started Mary came out with her own conversion. It's all right though, I love stitching with the silk.

The Thanksgiving holiday was very nice. We watched P & C for one evening without their parents, and they were there the next day as well; I am way out of shape for watching little ones. Staying at home with them is hard work! They did enjoy the playdough for a nice long time on Saturday afternoon.

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.