Goodness me it's three thirty

It's been a few days since my last post. I have been busy working on a few projects and my real life has been busy. (Happy birthday to my baby brother, you have been an excellent brother for 36 years and I love you to the moon and back.)  

On Saturday night I went to bed at 3:30am... I hadn't planned to go to bed so late but I was really was into stitching my temari project and hadn't noticed how late it was. Therefore not only did I miss Earth Hour but I kept my light burning until the wee small hours.

I have been making a series which I have called 'Revolution of Thought'. There are two S10's, three C10's and a 32Center temari. Now I need to work out how to display them together to show the progression (evolution) of the design. I am thinking suspended between two discs of acrylic sheeting or an acrylic ledge with cut outs to let the temari rest in sequence. More thought required on that.

I was also making soap, and playing around with embedding. Embedding is where you enclose small items (such as soap pieces or rubber ducks etc) inside a larger block of soap. The soaps are nothing amazingly flash and are just for our own use but I like how they turned out. The photo doesn't show the nice purple mica colour of the main part of soap but never mind. It is really nice to use and we all smell delightful!

HHG Challenge Completed

Well I have finally finished the HHG challenge and I must say I really did learn a lot from the experience.  There are loads of lovely work being done but I must say I am rather drawn to the one completed by Jane C of World Embroideries fame.  Click here to see it

It took me three goes to get the crossover stitch right (the stitch taken to move from one shape to the next) but I am glad to say I did it.

Doing the stitch to move between shapes is not particularly difficult but for some reason I just couldn't quite get my head around it.  The pattern builds up row by row with HHG designs so I was already a few rows in before I twigged that something was funny. Note the error inside the circle.

I had another go on a C10 so I wouldn't have to commit myself to so many stitches before I could discover if something was wrong.  Lucky I did because you can see from the image below I had a rip out session and this is the thread I had to cut off the ball.  Also in this pic you can see the correctly stitched crossover on my third attempt.

Now I am confident the I worked out how to get the stitch done, I will have another go at a 32 center ball.

I still like the mistake ball and had I not pointed out the error people (those that don't  make temari) probably wouldn't pick it.  I think it speaks of 'wabi sabi' or imperfect perfection / finding the beauty in imperfect things.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day everyone.

We aren't too big on this holiday in our house but we do exchange a card and small gift.  Our son love it because we always buy him a small box of chocolates too.  This year was somewhat ironic because the cards we exchanged both have cartoon pics of mice on them.... how is this ironic you might ask?  Well at midnight last night I caught out of the glimpse of one eye a very small mouse skittering across the living room floor.  Oooh gross!! I hate mice! hate hate hate them!  Valentines day mice good, but real life scurrying mice are not. Our gorgeous dogs have made a small hole in the screen door that they lie against to catch the cool breeze as it leaves the house and I guess this little mouse must have decided it was a good idea too.  I am an animal lover but this dudes mouse days are numbered.

No new temari today but this is the update on my ball for the HHG Challenge.  Debi has issued the 7th installment of instructions and I now have a number labelled ball.  It took two goes to do it... I was chatting and getting too engrossed in conversation but the second time worked a charm. 

It's been so hot here this summer and from the look of the sky tonight it is going to be a stinking hot day tomorrow. This is the view from my driveway. Sorry its kinda fuzzy but I'm sure you get the idea. We will need plenty of fluids while we paint tomorrow.

All quiet on the temari front... but.....

Not too much temari happening the last few days.  I am working on a Stitching Challenge so I prefer not to start any other temari projects while this one is on the go.  Pic above is the ball ready to be stitched. Of course that doesn't preclude (yes I am using My Word Coach on DS :)...) me from meandering through an array of other crafty persuasions.



This week I have made:

 A new handbag from a Nicole M design.  Nicole is a Melbourne based designer that sell hat and bag patterns (and other stuff too).  I discovered her work when I hit the 'make a month' button on MaMercerie recently.  I really like it but this one was just a practice run because I plan to make it again using some fabric I just love that I ordered from Japan.  I have been holding this fabric for a while (2 years actually) waiting for a worthy project to come along.  I am glad I made this practice bag because now I realise it is just a smidge too small for me and I will need to add about an inch and a half (or now i think about it - in metric about 5 cms to the length) so I can fit in all my junk.  I added the optional flap and gusset.



I also have a hat pattern I really want to try out but I will need to re-read the pattern a few times to get the process cemented into my brain.  I'd like to make my hat like the one modelled on the stand.

6 tote bags (only 5 more to go) for my son's soccer team buddies as part of my Morsbags campaign (yes I am a sociable guerilla bagger).  The team colours are of course black and white and whilst I wanted a stripe fabric I am happy with this look even if it meant I had to buy 2 different fabrics and make the stripe my self.  They look a bit too stylish for 8 yo boys... I can see some mums will probably end up with them.  I have been part of the Morsbags program for a while now but only give the bags to people I know... I am too chicken to stand in the Mall approaching strangers and asking them to take one of my bags. I have a set of 5 bags for myself that I made from a cute floral fabric.  They are really strong, (can carry 3 bottles of wine) machine washable, (in fact that's where they are right now getting their quarterly wash) and identifiable (so I always know I've picked up my own bag full of shopping and more importantly no one else have picked it up).

The final two panels on my IKEA curtain tracks... yes I did begin them 6 months ago but there are 12 panels.

10 Black Skull Soaps for my son's birthday party bags and a bunch of other baby duck and penguin soaps.  I also made the invitations for his party which people had told me they were quite stylish due to the fact they were machine embroidered to card stock... until of course I admitted I was too lazy to go ratting through my scrap booking stuff looking for double sided tape and I had the sewing machine already set up. I shouldn't be so honest... it is damaging my craft cred.

Next week I will be painting...  it wont be anything amazingly artistic (although with a 2yo in the house the floor is sure to end up looking like a Pollock), just the sleep-out at Miho's house... we all love green just not 70's mint green when it is on every single surface in the room.  I am sure that I will be back to temari after the painting is finished.

Thank goodness school is back in session.  I actually have enjoyed having a few guilt-free crafting hours!!!


じゃね　さようなら！

See ya later! (working on my My Japanese Coach on DS too)

TC Thread Challenge Ball Number 2

This is the progress shot of the second ball for the TC 2009 Thread Challenge.  It is a pattern on page 53/55 from 4837704867 (click link to go to my book post, it is #10 on the list) The division is a bit dodgy (see note below about core materials) and the mari is smaller than the recommended size so I skipped one row of colour.  I used Nordic gold in Purple and Pale Gold and the two colours of Very Velvet Petite.  I considered using the Mandarin Floss but thought it would be too blue. I also thought of plying down the Patina to outline the shapes but thought a contrasting colour would be better.

All said I am pleased with this ball even though it has some very obvious flaws.  It is my first dryer lint ball and was a little squashy and slightly off round... I am so used to the firm base provided by using rice hull for the core.  The texture of the needle going into the ball took some getting used to.  I missed the usual noise of the needle occasionally brushing the hull.

Well July is over so my Christmas theme has come to an end. Pink is the 'new' red, green and white. I have been experimenting with some designs I haven't done before the first is Jyouge Douji which you can see in the first two photos. It is a concurrent North/South stitching pattern and in this instance it is representing Sakura or Cherry blossom. I really like the white crystal thread used at the poles.

Next is a rose garden. I have done them before with Squares but this is my first attempt with Pentagons. I really wasn't too fussed with how it was turning out as I stitched. The pattern didn't really emerge until I completed the last round and when I held it back a distance I saw the rose pattern. This one has a Yubinuki style obi - which we wont talk about - other than to say that I now know that Orange can be written in Kanji as well as Katakana and not to try Yubinuki stitching while watching TV as it is a recipe for wonky-donkey edges.

Last, I completed my Mitsubishi temari recently. The one on the left I LOVE! But I can't say the same for the right one. I really love the concept of it but the colours are just not to my taste. This was my last Christmas coloured temari. It was a learning ball so I can live with the execution of it being so-so but I can't get past the colours. I am sure next time I make this one it will be less wabi-sabi and more in colours I love. I also plan the remake the ball on the left. I have a feeling of blues and purples for it. For some reason it reminds me of hydrangea flower and I'd like to try it out in graduation... I might think on it a bit longer.