Blush much?!

This newsletter article was pointed out to me by another Mum from my Son's school today. I am glad that the kids like the temari and that the school can find use for them. It was too sad to have so many colourful temari packed in boxes when they could brighten up our community.

Still blushing but I'm glad to have the ability to make something to give.

I am working on more that I will no doubt donate in the future.

Unexpected surprise

Yesterday when I returned from doing volunteer Math Goals testing for my son's 4th grade class my husband handed me a package that had arrived while I was out. See 'when you do good you get good'! My Mum is right on that one.

Kristy's gift temari to me

The package was from Kristy in Qld. The moment I touched the package (before I even shook it or squeezed it) I knew what was inside. There were three spools of surface wrap thread that I had admired on the beautiful ball she'd sent to me at Christmas. What a darling you are Kristy! Thank you so much for thinking of me and taking the time to post me some of this gorgeous thread. I love it!

My hands were already aching because I had re-made three temari in the last 36 hours (two C10s and a S12 and I still have a couple to go), and although I should have had a rest tonight I found a yarn wrapped temari and I couldn't resist covering it in this beautiful coloured thread. The of course I wanted to stitch it, something simple, but I wasn't sure what.

I reviewed all my old temari in boxes recently before donating a bunch of them to my son's school, and one part of a pattern stuck in my mind. The green layer from the Mema is a Star ball that I purchased form Barb Suess a couple of years ago. So I decided to try to work out the green layer from the ball (which is always displayed in my lounge room). When I was done with that part of the pattern I added some 6 point star bursts (Matsuba) to fill in the open areas. When I finished my temari I sat back and thought gee that is pretty neat, and an original design too. Well yes and no, it is original in the sense that I altered a design and added my own embellishments but actually I realised that there was a ball pattern out there that is strikingly similar. I got Barb's blog update about her Echo Star class beginning tomorrow and took a visit over to her Esty site. I discovered that Barb beat me to it and she sells the pattern on Esty but when I compare the images side by side they are actually different. Just goes to show you can't claim something as an original design too easily in temari making.

Sharing temari with our community

I have finally hit maximum density with my temari storage space. Like most temari makers I have so many temari balls around my home, they fill vases and bowls, sit on stands and are tucked away into boxes and drawers.

To free up some space I have donated a box of temari to my son's school. You might think that is a strange thing to do but at my son's school the children learn Japanese as their second language. As far as I know the other schools near by learn Italian and Indonesian. So we are really lucky that our school has Japanese because it fits our family dynamic to a tee.

The Japanese classroom has moved into a different building this year and when I visited the room yesterday it looked very big and a little empty. I offered the temari to help decorate the room and to be used (or given away) by the teacher however she sees fit.

I added simple hangers to all of them and added a tassel to all the smaller balls to make them seem a little more special. Here is a picture of most of the temari, they wouldn't all fit on the tray, ready to be packed up into a box.

When I stitch temari I am very still and focused, I can feel everything around me slow down and stitching seems almost like meditation. I guess that a little piece of my soul passes into every temari I make. The temari I chose to donate have been made over a wide span of time. Some designs were made when close to when I started making temari, like the Dogwood designs, others were experiments along the way and a few have been made just recently been stitched, like the black and white one. If I had to guess I'd say it probably took me about 3 or 4 months in total to make all of these balls - and I enjoyed every minute of that time.

I was a little surprised how hard it was to put them into the box. Boxing up 26 at once seemed like a big part of myself to give away (like when you make a gift temari but keep it for yourself and need to make another to gift away), but I hope these will brighten the Japanese room and bring happiness to the everyone who visits. I know that they will be appreciated and I am so happy that I can share them.

Also as an added bonus I have some more space to make new temari and my DH can't complain that there is no room for them... for a while at least. A win/win situation I am sure you would agree.

Happy temari making!

Wonderful Surprise

This week I received a package from Kristy S in Queensland. It was a most lovely and unexpected gift.

I wasn't expecting any parcels so I was surprised to see the postman holding a package at my door. I turned the parcel over in my hands, saw the 'from' address and I instantly had a jolt of excitement run through me. I guess without being conscious of it, my mind had worked out by the size, dimension and weight of the box what was inside. I'm glad I was alone because I tore the paper off like a woman possessed.

My very first temari gift. I have made many temari to give for gifts but I've never participated in a GITS (Great International Temari Swap) through TalkTemari so I have never received one from another temari maker. Kristy took some beautiful pictures which are posted at her website. Please click here to have a look... you will link to Kristy's blog. The base thread is a gorgeous shade of deep blue (Kristy knows blue is my favourite colour) and the purple toned threads used for stitching the design are just divine.

Thank you Kristy you made my week!

Christmas temari finished

I've been stitching merrily away this week and I've finished my temari for the neighbours. It has been a fun project and I finished it just in time for December 1st.

I don't know what the rest of the world does but I know many Aussies use a simulated (fake) tree for Christmas. When I was a kid we used to have a real pine tree that my father would go cut down from the forest about a week before Christmas. Most years we were lucky to get it to survive the 7 days in the heat despite watering it every day.  In our home we now use a fake tree... I like to think the real tree can stay in the forest to keep the air we breathe cleaner for everyone. This also means we can do a December 1st tree decorating get together. For many years my family have gathered on Dec1 for dinner and tree decorating and tonight will be no different.  It is usually just a simple meal and then we spend the majority of the evening decorating and finalising plans for our Christmas day celebrations. We will also make the gingerbread house tonight... this is a new tradition we began last year so the grand kids can have some fun... we make two, last year one got nibbled on the night and the other lasted to Christmas day.

But before I send my son  and maybe my niece down the street to hang our gifts on all the neighbours doors... here they are all stacked up on the plate.

And hanging individually on my mini tree. Cute huh? But not quite special enough so I decided to string them together with a tassel. I also added 3 rondell (I think that's what they're called) swarovski crystals to add a bit of bling.

And how the neighbours will receive them all strung together. I will use a paper clip bent open to place them on everyone's screen door with a little note.

Sorry this last pic is a bit fuzzy but I've got to run and get other things organised for tonight... or dinner might be even more simple than usual.

Ooops, I missed a week.

Sorry there have been no posts since last week. I got a bit distracted by physio and some strange 'fever and chills combination' that lasted several days and made it impossible to make temari (or do anything else for that matter). All better again now... yay for good health!

Shaking off last week... and so here we are with a new week and a new project. On Sunday I helped my Mum make some cushion covers for her friend's daughter. Mum was having trouble getting the bits all folded in the right places and thankfully I could remember how to make the covers from my high school sewing classes.

My temari project for this week involves making some little temari ball sets for the neighbours to hang on their Christmas trees. I am making 3 temari for every neighbour... lucky I live in a short street... there are only 8 houses. I've got 5 stitched so far and the other 16 are wrapped and ready to go.

These temari are a lot smaller than the ones I usually make. These bases are made with foam cores, I only used thread wrap for the small size and for the other two sizes I used some very thin machine knitting yarn under the thread layer.
The circumferences are 8.5cm, 11cm and 14.5cm. Obviously I can't use perle 5 for these so I am using Gutterman Rayon Sulky #30 for small, Gutterman Top Stitch for medium and Thread Art Cotton Perle #8, for the marking thread I'm using Rainbow Gallery Treasure Braid Petite for the smaller sizes and Nordic Gold for the large size. Luckily I did some experiments with several threads when I began making yubinuki so I have a few sizes of thin thread.

I am making 3 different designs, S8 on the small temari have a Maki Kagari design with a simple herringbone on the obi, S10 for the medium using a Hoshi Kagari (Star) in different colours on each pole with a stepped herringbone obi and S12 Uwagake Chidori Kagari on the large balls with a double herringbone on the obi. I cant decide if I want to place these on individual hangers or make a larger ornament  by stringing them together with a bit of tassel on the bottom. I guess I need to percolate on the idea a bit  more.

I'm taking a break from my recent yubinuki bead project and when these temari are done I've got some fabric notebooks to make for my Mum and Miho.

Hope you can settle down and enjoy some stitching through the week.

So excited I knocked over the bins!

Our mailman rides a motorbike. It is one of those smaller cc Honda varieties that have a certain 'sound'. I know I have written posts before about waiting to pounce on the poor guy when he is making deliveries.

Today I heard him coming down the street and it took me a second or two to calculate the postal times from Japan and then it occurred to me that today would be the day I would receive the thimble I won in the May Show Your Thimbles draw. 

Aha! I jumped up from my desk barrelled through the kitchen knocking over all the recently emptied bins and out through the garage to the mailbox. Somehow in my mania I had managed to pick up the mailbox key (although I don't remember doing it) and almost scalp my self on the 1/2 up garage door. I was out at the mailbox so quick I nearly knocked the mailman of his bike (or at least he nearly leapt off it in fright). In a frenzy I tore open the parcel and after a quick happy dance said 'Hey look! This is what you just delivered me, isn't it gorgeous?' All he could manage was 'Yeah... it's.. er... great.'

Here is a quick pic of the thimble with a bunch of my handmade pins in it. I love it! love it!! love it!!!

I raced down to the post office and have popped a set of these pins in the mail to Chloe Patricia as a thank you gift... lots of pinks and purples maybe something for a Pink Saturday project?!

Well that will be the end of our mail deliveries for a week or so until he calms down a bit. And I also got some bills in the mail :(
LOL

Thimble #7

Well today is May 1st and now that my Mum has her gift it is time to share it with you too.  It was made with a kit purchased from Ma Mercerie.  Last year I made my Mum a temari set in Black, White and Pink so this follows the same colour theme.

I am quite pleased with it although in such a large close up it looks kinda jagged on the edge.  Still there is definite improvement since the 1st thimble I made almost 12 months ago. 

I have committed myself (no not to the nut house - surprisingly) to sharing a picture of my 1st thimble when I get to number 15.  Only six more to go and I am actually getting excited about it.  I first tried thimble making about 3 months before the Thimble group started on Yahoo.  It was so awful that I never let anyone see it.  But I have kept my little shameful thimble to serve as a reminder of how persistence and practice in the face of utter failure makes us better at whatever we are trying to achieve.  I also have my first sad attempt at temari making too... but that is a whole other story... perhaps I might share that one day too.

What's new pussy cat?

This last 7 days have been a whirlwind of anticipation, happiness, worry, sadness, joy, hope and relief.  The net result is we are again glad for the marvels of modern medicine, hopeful that all we endure really is part of the great plan and trusting that we can make great lemonade anytime we are offered lemons.

One of my best friends almost always begins a conversation with me by asking 'What's new pussy cat?' Well what's new is amazing... actually it's whose new... Miho (my SIL) has delivered their new son.  The labour was surprisingly long and Suzanne (our Mum) and I stayed for support.  He weighed in at a sumo sized 4190g (9lb4oz I think) - no wonder the labour was so long.  He is gorgeous, just like his big sister and even bigger cousin.  Miho did an amazing job using just a little laughing gas and nothing else.  We are so very proud of the amazing person she is.

Here in Perth we have newborn screening tests and thankfully when our newest fav little guy was screened he raised a red flag.  So all were packed up and rushed into our local children's hospital for futher tests... Very greatfully he is heading in the right (safe and healthy) direction (30 years ago the outcome would have been gravely different and we are thankful for all the medical wonders we take for granted most of the time).  Whilst his Mum and Dad were busy worrying, not sleeping and pacing the hospital floor yesterday, I was blessed to have my niece for our first overnighter together.  Getting her to sleep was a bit tricky... it took me a while to remember which rocking action is the one that makes toddlers fall asleep in your arms (it is figure 8's in case you are wondering) We made penguin waffles for breakfast and I can't resist sharing this pic of our happy bunch.

 I usually don't put personal pics on this blog but this one really is gorgeous and shows pure joy... over the smallest of things... homemade waffles for breakfast.  They were all just out of bed about 10 mins and my neice is doing her famous "Yatta!!!"  My son is stamping his own 'style' on being in the pic and DH is surprisingly chirpy for 6:30am on a Saturday.

In the few quiet times we had this week between hospitals, school, shopping, cooking for christmas and doctor visits... I managed to bang out another ball with my temari challenge challenge thread - no this is not a misprint ;).  I have done the pattern before but I do love it and this time I just used the mandarin (bamboo) floss, RG nordic gold purple and added some threadart perle 8 cotton. This ball was the smallest I have done so far as a C10 and it must have taken me 4 goes to get the marking close to right.  I didn't count the rows just filled up the 6 part triangle spaces and moved on.  I think by the end I may have gotten the hang of  keeping the floss flat (when that's what my actual intention is).  Anyway have a quick squinting look so you don't see too many of the flaws...  It wasn't quite finished when this pic was taken but you get the idea.

It was also the last week of school for my son (and thousands of other Aussie kids) as the next 7 weeks are summer holiday.  Next February there will be a new teacher and new room/grade etc so when I asked what do you want to give your teacher for Christmas I was surprised when he said "a nice temari please because she wont already have one".  He picked one from all the temari I have made and I was amazed that he picked a previous version of the same design as I had been stitching this week. So here is the temari for his lovely teacher Ms Murray.  I don't usually do the tassles but this one was for a special gift. I added two gold stardust beads and used gold twilleys goldfingering for the hanger and tassle.

We got our forcast for Christmas day tonight and it will be 36 or 37C (close to 100F) I am so glad that 2 of the desserts i am making are icecream based!!  What will the weather be where you are this Christmas?

Well that's the wrap up... At least all that I am sharing today. I have been up for 18 hours (after a 4 hour night sleep), made waffles, choc chip cookies and  pizza on homemade bases for dinner, danced around the whole house with my niece, coloured in lightning mcqueen pics and played wii fit and watched a movie with my son, travelled 2 & 1/2 hours and fought the Christmas rush at the Joondalup mall for a dippin dot fix for the gang... and now I think I need to sleep.... in my bed rather than on my keyboard so until next time....

New Temari Completed

I finally found a cute bowl to display assorted temari. It is on my coffee table and really brightens up the room. I plan to make various themes of temari to swap them through the year.

The red and white Temari are inspired by a photo from Glenna Kipp, a fellow member of temari challenge. My version is a little different to the original but I just couldn't resist stitching this pattern for the Kiku. I love to work out patterns from a photo, it often requires many rip outs but there is real satisfaction in getting to the goal.

The cerise, black and white set of three were made for my Mum's birthday. She also makes temari, and I gave them to her as pictured above. She decided that, although my plan was for her to complete the largest ball, I should complete it. So the picture below shows the set finished. It was an exercise in doubles, each ball has twice the volume and divisions as the smaller size. So the small ball is 3/4C rice hull and six divisions, medium is 1 &1/2C and 12 divisions and large is 3C and 24 divisions. The stitching itself is exactly the same on each ball, but you can see how different each ball turns out.

The "stitching" on the largest ball was given for Mother's Day instead of the usual bunch of flowers. I'm amused by the fact that Kiku is Japanese for Chrysanthemum which just happens to be the type of flower grown and traditionally given in Australia for Mother's Day.

A gift for Amelia

This temari has been made by Rebecca for our friend's new baby. It has a foam core which was split in half and hollowed out then filled with bells, a coin and a note.

The bells are for joy. The money is for prosperity.

The notepaper has Amelia's name written on it and a wish for her good health, happiness and longevity throughout her life.

The temari was wrapped in 3 pinks and then divided into

S16 in silver.

The stitching is done in 3 shades of pinks and purple. The obi is made of 12 wraps in 3 colours then overstitched with the net design.

While I stitched the design I filled my mind with the good wishes written on the note paper. I really think it turned out beautifully.

The pattern is based on two projects from Barb Suess's book.

Pet Portraits- Meet the "Kids"

My husband and I adore our dogs, Itchy and Moose, and anyone who knows us would agree that they are very much our "kids."

When our first anniversary was approaching, I thought a lot on what type of "paper" gift would mean the most to him. And then I discovered Elizabeth Fraser. I knew immediately that commissioning portraits of our pups was the answer.

Itchy

Moose

Above are the portraits and the photos from which they were painted. These portraits were oil on gesso prepared paper, but now she also offers oil on canvas. You can check out other examples of Elizabeth's pet portraits here.

I truly couldn't have been more thrilled with her work. Elizabeth captured the pups perfectly, and the color in the paintings is even more brilliant in person. Most importantly, they will always be meaningful pieces for us as they celebrate our first two "kids."

Now, with a rapidly approaching second anniversary, I've got some serious thinking to do on "cotton."

Home Sweet Home

A custom pen and ink drawing of a couple's home from Etsy shop the ink lab would make another sweet and very personal wedding or first anniversary gift.





Think outside the box for a couple who hasn't yet shared a special home; for them you could commission a drawing of the place of their rehearsal dinner, wedding or reception.

A friend of mine received a drawing of the historic home where they held their wedding as a wedding gift, and it is a piece that holds great sentimental value to her. Art this personal seems bound to become a family heirloom

In addition to the ink lab, you can find other custom home drawings on Etsy here and here. A colorful home portrait can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, and here on Etsy.

Cities of Love

I love these City Love prints from Etsy shop Art Shark Designs. These prints would make a sweet wedding or first anniversary (paper) gift for a couple who has shared a special moment or history in one (or many!) of these cities.

New York

San Francisco

Washington D.C.

London

Venice

Also, according to Art Shark's shop announcements, the designer will debut new cities in coming months including Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia, and a yet-to-be determined city in Ireland, as well as possibly others. I am excited to see what other cities will be added to the shop.

Do you and your significant other have a city that has played an important role in the story of your relationship? Do you have more than one?