Getting back in to stitching.....

Taking inspiration from the last temari I made, I have finished off this new ball this morning. In the last design, the corners of each square were interlocked (?) and I had wondered what it would look like if I did each square one round at a time, so that the corners formed diamond shapes. I also wanted to use the black/white/colour concept again, but with more focus on the black and white and using the colour for accent rather than to dominate. I also decided that 'something' needed to happen in the centre of the squares.

I had originally thought of using sakasa uwagake kagari, and then thought about an 8 point kiku, but thought it may look a bit odd as what I already had on the ball seemed to scream 'lines' and 'angles'. So I hunted through my pictures of temari, and came across a picture with two interlocked squares. I used this for inspiration for the square design I used on each face.

It was a lovely ball to stitch, and worked out really nicely considering it came from a combination of stitches I have learned and was not any particular pattern. Now to decide what's next.......!

Happy days.......

I have recently been on a short holiday to the countryside of Northern New South Wales. It is (to me at least) one of the most beautiful areas of Australia, and luckily only a few hours drive from my house.

Just before I left, I ordered some threads from Rebecca, and along with my order came a beautiful lilac temari and a Temari Addict coffee mug. It was a lovely surprise and I'm excited to see this type of pattern 'in person'. It's a variation of a swirl pattern, and if you click the image you can see the detail in the stitching. Thanks Rebecca!

My holiday lasted only 4 nights but was amazing. I could have quite happily spent another month there, but 'normal' life must keep going. Here is a picture of the cabin where I stayed. It is pretty much just a bed with a roof, and a little porch with a couple of chairs. I spent most of my time sat on the porch stitching temari and reading.

I ended up reading two novels and stitching 4 temari. I had the balls already made, so all I needed to do was stitch. I didn't take any patterns, books or instructions with me. My theory was that I needed to spend time being unstructured, and this applied to temari as well. So......using nothing but my head, I stitched a C8, JD, Kiku and another JD:

My aim was not to be too structured, not to be overly concerned with precision. The balls were ones from when I first started making temari and not very round, the marking wasn't very precise, and hence the stitching was not as exact as it could have been. BUT.......I stitched for the pure joy of it and had the best time. I didn't debate the colours, I just picked them. I tried not to thing tooooo much about the what/where/how's, and just take an idea and put it on the ball. And I think, overall, the results aren't too bad. I particularly like the pale purple one with the pink/green/yellow stitching. I'm going to re-do it with a slight variation on the obi part, and a bit more precision!

When I got home, I found out that the ball I sent to my Grandma had been shown around, and could I please make one as a 21st gift for another family member. Serendipitously, the colours requested were the colours I was already using on a ball, the pattern worked nicely, and so I think this one will fly south as a gift. It is done in Kyo rayons, which adds that extra element of special to the ball - perfect for a special gift. This is it here:

To top it off, I received my New Years GITS from Sue S in the mail. Looking at the brown cardboard box has nearly driven me to insanity, and it's only been 24 hours. Anyone who knows me can tell you that insatiable curiosity is a major part of my personality, for better and for worse. And when you link that with impatience, well....you get the idea! The fact that I not only have a temari that I cannot see, have no idea what colour it is, what pattern it is, and that it has been made just for me, as well as giving me a specific date that I have to WAIT for..... it's driving me nuts!! I have hidden it in my temari room, behind the books, so that I cant see it. Hopefully that will make it easier!!

I hope everyone has a happy holiday time filled with good cheer and happiness.

Seven heads are better than one.........

To celebrate International Temari Appreciation Day, several members from the Temari Challenge Yahoo group got together (figuratively speaking) and created an original temari design. Each of us took a turn in adding an element to the ball until it was finished.

My contribution was to select the division type and marking thread, something I was quite happy about doing. So I chose a C8 , thinking to challenge myself. And then I must admit I went from very keen to a little apprehensive when I realised I may have got my ambitions mixed up with my capabilities! However, there is always a very generous sharing of knowledge in the temari community so, I figured that there would be someone who could assist if I got stuck, and sure enough, when the first stitching element (Sakasa Uwagake Kagari) was added it wasn't one I had ever done before, and Rebecca kindly offered to help. Luckily I was able to understand the instructions over on the TemariKai website, and went on to follow the other pattern elements without too much drama. That's not to say my Sakasa Uwagake Kagari stitching is wonderful, I actually have no two that look the same on the ball. It was stitched on three threads, and I have several variations in tension and length of the 'legs'. It shows me in no uncertain terms that while I now understand the concept, I have a long way to practice in the execution!!! (I plan to complete this design again in a different colour scheme so that gives me plenty of opportunity to practice!!)

The challenge was great. I learnt so much from working through a design this way. It's amazing how much you learn to 'see' and actually recognise once you are actually stitching it. And together, we created an original design. This was also something that had me stumped. I'd sit there and think "of course it's possible to design an original, if you're an experienced stitcher. I need a lot more learning to even begin to know where to start designing." Now I'm thinking, "of course I can design an original temari pattern now and it will be pretty cool, and when I am more experienced I will have oodles more ideas to play with".

So thanks to (in order of design), Rod B, me, Laura B, Rebecca AK, Kat, Barb S and Debi A. The image above is my interpretation of our combined design.

It's Temari Time!!

OK...so now I'm up to date...let's get onto temari!

Temari making took over my spare time in April this year. It's (as many would tell you) something that very quickly turns into an addiction. A big thanks to Temari Addict Australia for helping me develop my orbsession (get it?!) so quickly.

I dont have the longest attention span when it comes to focusing on one particular hobby, so imagine my surprise to find that I not only made one temari, but then made several more, and as yet, haven't found the fascination to be dwindling at all.

I have a few Japanese books, and a few of the English ones as well. I'm fascinated by the patterns and the shapes, the layers and colour combinations possible. I'm learning different techniques. And I'm having a ball (oops...there's another one!).

So a little while ago, the idea for an International Temari Appreciation Day (ITAD) was born (thanks Rebecca), and it's October 22nd - yep - that's tomorrow! There is a Flickr page for ITAD, and a fantastic competition aimed at spreading the temari word. Go have a look at some of the great pic's that are there already. Thanks also go to Rebecca for setting up a International Temari Day blog page.

To celebrate ITAD, I have put a small display at my workplace, and also done up some leaflets for my local craft shop. I'm also working on a ball with a group from the Temari Challenge group on Yahoo, an original creation with inputs from seven of us. It's interesting to see what each person adds to the design, and I'm itching to see how it turns out.

I also decided to add this blog to my signature on the Yahoo groups so that someone other than me knows it exists! Anyhow, here are some photo's of some of the temari I have made.

My favourite temari is the black base with the purple, yellow and green kiku pattern. I have my threads seperated into four colour groups - blues, greens, earths and pink/purples. I challenged myself to choose one colour from three of the four boxes, and this was the combination that resulted. I am repeatedly amazed that a change in colour combination can alter the apperance of a relatively simple design so drastically.