Thread That Binds

2012-02-08T19:33:00.000-07:00

Today in Tokoyo the festival of Hari-Kuyo or the laying to rest of broken needles giving thanks for their service was held.

As I put my needles to rest, so will I put my sorrows to rest, and say a prayer to become more skillful in my needlework.

A Belated Happy New Year!!

2012-01-27T19:48:00.000-07:00

A Belated Happy Lunar New Year to all!!

This temari is a kiku I did to occupy myself while sitting around a hotel room while my husband was in a class for his job.

These next pictures are the north and south pictures of a temari done for the TalkTemari Lunar Great International Temari Swap. My dragon has gone to a good home very close to where I grew up as a girl, so I'm sure he'll be quite happy there!

Happy Year of the Dragon

2012-01-10T22:35:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I haven't posted in 6 weeks. End of the year holiday doldrums. Too much snow and ice, so much more than we've had for 20 years. Two feet in two days and unlike usual, it remains on the ground.. This is not what people think of when they think of New Mexico. There's still 4 inches of ice on some of our streets. Five miles out of town and it all disappears. Wacky for certain. Put the kibosh on our original family Christmas plans, so it was a quiet Christmas. New Year's we babysat our 3 year old granddaugher and 4 year old grandson, daughter of a daughter, son of a son. The two are tightly bound and tightly wound, but we had fun!

For two weeks I hardly stitched, I had done so much stitching in the run up to Christmas. I participated in a New Year's temari swap, and forgot to get a picture of the temari I sent off. I did a fun fireworks themed ball. I received a beautiful blue and white temari from Elsie B. I've attempted to post a picture, but blogger doesn't seem to want to allow me to post pictures today, so another time.

I'm participating in another swap for the Chinese New Year. I love the Chinese New Year swap, the temari for the zodiac signs are fun to design.

So a belated Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Chinese New Year, and a Blessed Ramadan.

Remarks Upon a Passing

2011-11-28T15:07:00.000-07:00

Thelma Louise Jaramillo passed away yesterday. She was Gramma T to my daughter's three children, mother-in-law to my daughter for one year to the day. Always with a big smile and a laugh, I was happy to have known her. Happy for the wonderful son-in-law she gave me, and for the love she taught him and his siblings that has spilled over into my family.

She was love. She is loved.

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you. Philippians 1:3

Tis beginning to be the season

2011-11-13T16:56:00.002-07:00

I've been stitching up a storm lately, getting ready to participate in a Holiday Bazaar. I have to thank Barb Suess for sharing the video that she and Glenna and Kathy made using the expedited manner of marking a C10 shown to them by Ozaki Sensei during their recent trip to Japan. It is so simple and quick, with that method, and Debi Abolt's Temari Calculator. All these temari are between 18 and 20cm in circumference.

I'm posting pictures of each individual temari on my Flickr and Webshots pages.

Best,

Laura B

GITS her done!!

2011-11-13T16:02:00.000-07:00

The Yahoo group TalkTemari had a GITS (Great International Temari Swap) in September. Sometimes a GITS will be a theme corresponding to a holiday. This was maker's choice. I've been practicing different skills in studying for my next level of examination for certification with the Nihon Temari no Kai (Japan Temari Association). I've decided that I will learn the forms of asanoha; the hemp (asa) motif.

The motif is not considered seasonal, is often used on kimono, and is used by itself, and as a background with other design elements. It is particularly associated with babies, for protection and so that they will grow strong like the hemp. So...since ya gotta walk before you can run, I chose a very simple one motif pattern on a C8 with hexagons. I was pleased with the finished temari, it has a simple handsomeness to it.

For those of you who may be concerned: Yes hemp is the same plant from which Cannibis is derived. Yes, Cannibis is (gasp), pause for effect, Marijuana. You would have to smoke a field full of the hemp used for fibers to get high. You would die of smoke inhalation before you got a buzz. Hemp is a strong natural fiber. We should use it instead of chemically engineered "fibers". We're killing ourselves with chemicals. And regarding marijuana, don't get me started on the BS US war on drugs. OK. Enough soap box.

Back to stitching!

Best to all,
Laura B

New work

2011-11-05T15:07:00.000-06:00

I've managed to get a good bit of stitching done, finished two temari. I am only posting a picture of one, the second is going to a new temari friend in Florida in a swap.

I've seen such wonderful temari in books lately, all using doubled threads. I've not done much doubled work, you REALLY have to pay attention to each stitch to get the threads laying smooth so it can be very tedious at times. So I gave it a try with a simple design of my own. Hope you like!

Now it's time to lay down the needle and pick up some kitchen utensils. The family comes to Nana's for manicotti and turkey at Thanksgiving, and as I'm only good for bits at a time, I'd better get myself in gear or I'll have to cheat and not make the pasta myself, which would hurt the Lee of NM patriach's feelings. So time to stop with the threadballs and move on to the meatballs!!

Best to all,
Laura B

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T10:09:00.001-06:00

I was working on a new design. When I got the band around the obi area done last night I showed it to my mother, my "design consultant". (I am calling it the band around the obi area because the design element is to wide to be considered an obi by temari purists.) She said she liked the shape of the stars, and since they were done in golden/orange on a black background it looked like Halloween. I was going to stitch woven triangles, but with the Halloween comment, and the fact that today is Halloween, it just had to happen.

So, Happy Halloween to all who celebrate.

Stay safe, brush your teeth!!

A Day at the Fair

2011-09-17T12:18:00.000-06:00

I've not been to the fair in a lot of years. I used to enter my crewel needlework and crochet. This year I decided to enter again. So of course you have to have a day at the fair and check the results.

My DH and I met my sister-in-law and grand-niece, my daughter, son-in-law and my youngest grand-daughter. What fun wandering around seeing the sights. We stayed later than we thought we would and saw the Yangdong Chinese Acrobats, Mariachi Tradicional and Native Wisdom (a pow wow dance group). We shared strawberry-rhubarb pie and Navajo tacos, yum!

I entered a bracelet and a temari. Here's the results:

Needless to say, I had a good day at the fair!!

2011-09-13T11:29:00.000-06:00

“Most people can look back over the years and identify a time and place at which their lives changed significantly. Whether by accident or design, these are the moments when, because of a readiness within us and a collaboration with events occurring around us, we are forced to seriously reappraise ourselves and the conditions under which we live and to make certain choices that will affect the rest of our lives.” – Frederick F. Flack

My life is changing significantly. The changes are major, causing much steal-your-breath anxiety. This too shall pass....

Here is a favorite temari I've made before. I gave away the last one. Maybe I'll keep this, an old friend is a good thing to have.

I am lucky enough to have very supportive family and friends who love me. They ease the sometimes painful process of change and when I come to the end of my rope they tie a knot that allows me to hang on a bit more.

Thank you.

Cranes and Turtles

2011-08-29T23:57:00.000-06:00

I have finished my 56cm temari and I am very happy with the results. This is from the book Irodori no Temari - Saijiki by Toshiko Ozaki. Since I made this with the threads I have in my stash I had to make a few adjustments, but I think overall it is true to the look of the temari in the book. If I had to choose just one book in my library to keep, I think this would be it.

Author author!

2011-08-16T13:00:00.000-06:00

Barb Suess has let the cat out of the bag. She has a new temari book coming out in a few months. I am really looking forward to this, as I'm a big fan of her book Japanese Temari, A Colorful Spin on an Ancient Craft. I was honored to be allowed to volunteer to test a pattern in preparation for the book being published.

Speaking of being "published", you can now find the instructions for my Year of the Rabbit temari on TemariKai.com, here's the link: TemariKai patterns page 10 . What fun, my first TemariKai pattern.

Since the temari I'm currently working is very large, I've nothing new in pictures to share as I don't want to take a picture of a partially done work and take away the fun of unveiling the largest temari I've made when I get it finished, so I'll re-post the picture of Year of the Rabbit.

Best to all!

Islands of Hito Hude Gake

2011-07-23T12:20:00.000-06:00

TalkTemari recently hosted a stitchalong with Joan Z., a very talented temarier. This is the result, done in 3 shades of 3 colors on a 42 center multipole. There are 6 sections of hito hude gake stitching, each embellished with 7 small kiku.

More waiting

2011-06-29T11:31:00.000-06:00

When I have to go to an appointment where I know I'll have to wait I take my temari along with me. It's nice not to have all that time wasted. It's also such a neat way to meet people as lots of people will come over and ask what I'm doing. This was a particular subject of "Excuse me but can I ask what you're doing" The temari on the left is one I just finished putting the marking thread on. It's the largest I've ever made at 56cm. I put the temari on the right in for comparison, it's 27.5cm which is near the size I usually work on.

This is a C10 with extra guidelines to make 12 large 20 section centers and 60 pentagons circling the large centers. The markings transform the C10 pentagons into quite circular sections for the kiku to come. It's pretty cool to make something this large. I was pleased at how simply I got the mari to be rounded and really gratified when I measured and it's really right on mathmatically as well. Wish other things weren't getting in the way of stitching.

What to do while you wait

2011-06-29T11:15:00.000-06:00

Here's a pair of temari I did while having the flu, waiting for it to pass and unable to get out of the bed:

There are five different colors of #5 thread in a shade worked from dark to light. The shading looks much more pronounced when you see these up close and personal. Both are C6.

2011-06-15T12:04:00.001-06:00

Not sure if anyone else is having this problem, but the blogs aren't letting me sign in tocomment, it keeps me as anonymous and runs me around.

Rebecca asked how much thread the Tancho used, so since I can't comment, I'll post:

If I did the figuring correctly, the mari was around 28cm. I used about 11.5 meters of gold, 20 meters black, 23.5 red, and 44 white. With the exception of the gold, the thread is leftover cones of a Nomis knitting machine yarn called Beacon Hill, it's a hard twist acrylic and nylon blend that has a nice sheen to it. Having a cone of each I could wallow in temari as it goes a long way!!

Best to all.

Tancho

2011-06-13T18:37:00.000-06:00

S4 wrapped bands. Very traditional crane temari. I love black/white/red together.

Tancho, or red-crowned cranes are the second rarest crane in the world, and it is known as a symbol of good fortune, longevity, and fidelity in Japan.

See and learn more if you'd like:

The Coolest Stuff On The Planet: The Dancing Cranes of Hokkaido Nice video of cranes with information about them.

Crane dance Beautiful video of the cranes ritual dance set to Japanese music.

Best to all.

Sooty skies and UFO's continue

2011-06-12T12:18:00.000-06:00

The skies continue to be filled with smoke and ash from the fire in Arizona. It's only 5% contained and is moving into New Mexico now. The afternoon sun gets a strange red glow to it. This photo was taken at about 4:30pm Friday.

I wanted to try a simple temari, quick to do. This is a c10 to 20 triangles from page 5 of Shugyoku no Azuma Temari:

Here's two fun temari I've been wanting to finish: Temari geisha page 6 of Irodori no Temari - Saijiki:

Temari aquarium, my compilation of a temari seen in several books:

I love this temari, it reminds me of time spent in a beach in Mexico called Xpu-Ha. When my father was alive he and my mother lived there and we would visit for a few weeks each year. The snorkeling was fun. It was a beautiful place.

Sooty skies and UFO's

2011-06-08T19:49:00.000-06:00

Where I live in New Mexico we are in the smoke plume of a massive fire in Arizona. The smoke is blocking out my view of a mesa right behind my house, the soot falls like snow. The evening sun turns red and the sky is eerie. The fire is bigger every day and is moving into New Mexico. I am lucky not to live in the path of the fire, but the path of the smoke is bad for me since I have lung disease. Ah well, turn up the oxygen, stay inside, breath through a wet rag if I have to go outside at all. All this also has my fibromyalgia flaring up badly.

All this health stuff does have an up side to it though. I've managed to finish a few UFO's and a few new things since I can't do much else.

Here's a neat temari for all of you mathemetician type artists out there. I got a few rows in and decided that I wanted to leave the Escher look instead of adding more rows to make the flower look. Math words are so cool. This is a tessellated dodecahedron.

It's my take on the temari on page 5 of Thimbles and Flower Temari ( 加賀の指ぬきと花てまり帖 ). It's a C10 modified by only marking the triangles, then subdividing each into four triangles making 20 triangles per pentagon.

Here's a traditional temari, it's a plum blossom. some call this Plum by a stellar stitch, Points of stars make the indentation to form the petals of the plum.

This was my oldest unfinished object, it sat around with a few stitches in it for a year.

Here's a few new eggs I did.

Here's hoping the fire is out before the whole of the southwestern US burns.

Best to all.

Traditions!

2011-05-01T19:29:00.000-06:00

Four months after they moved I was able to travel to see my older daughter, son-in-law, and grand daughters over Easter weekend. I feel very lucky to be close with my daughters and it was so good to spend time with her.

I have spent most of my life as a serial hobbyist, and love to learn new things. I recently decided that I would write psanky for easter this year. After I did my first egg I thought it would be a good idea to take the equipment with me to my daughter's and share with her. She and I spent hours just talking and writing eggs. Hers are the two on the left, beautifully done.

I did one with a rabbit motif that looks like a piece of pottery by an Acoma potter that I collect. It strikes me when looking at a lot of the pictures of traditional psyanky I've seen on the web, there are so many similarities with the decorations on the Native American pottery from the pueblos close to where I live. The decorations are traditions that go back centuries on both sides of the sea.

The girls and I have a tradition to make candy or decorate cookies and dye eggs together around Easter, we now carry that on with their children. This year I had our day separately with each since the miles kept us from getting us all together this year. Little sister told big sister it was strange to be carrying on without her and her girls. It was, but it was still wonderful fun, and I got to have the fun twice.

It's good to have tradition.

More Prayers for Japan

2011-04-12T14:23:00.000-06:00

Prayer in a Kiku

2011-04-08T16:58:00.000-06:00

Burgundy and white are the traditional
colors of the month of April.

Members ofTalk Temari (one of the Yahoo Groups I belong to) are stitching temari which will be sent to Japan to be used by Nihon Temari no Kai (Japan Temari Association) to help those in need. Temari is an ancient art form, legend says that women would offer up a meditation, a thought or a prayer with each stitch. We are each stitching according to the legend, with Japan in our thoughts as we stitch. Each of us will stitch temari with a kiku, or chrysanthemum, a flower represented frequently in temari. The Kiku is found in the royal crest of the Emperor of Japan. It's a symbol of long life and prosperity, strength, courage and dignity and encourages those who struggle.

Beaded braids, purses and pods

2011-03-16T18:31:00.000-06:00

I was lucky enough last weekend to spend a night in Santa Fe and attend two classes at the Interweave Beadfest. It was nice to get away, even if it was just 24 hours!

Friday evening I took a class in beginning Kumihimo - japanese braiding, with the addition of using beads in the braids, we learned by making a bracelet. The particular braid we learned was very simple, and the work moves very quickly. The class was taught by a really nice woman, Jill Wiseman of Tapestry Beads, she's also quite a talented bead artist. Over the course of the next few days, here's what I've made:

Really fun and fast!!

On Saturday, I took a class in felting. The instructor was Gail Crosman Moore, who does fabulous work with felt and lampwork glass beads.We did both wet felting and needle felting. Sure gives your hands a workout, and gets them very clean since you use soap in the wet felting. I made a little cinch pouch purse and did manage to finish a "podlet". It is really amazing to see wooly fibers turn into felt material. It's more amazing that I did it!! It was a really fun day. I came home and made a set of beads, not finished adding the seed beads to them yet, and I felted an egg for easter. Here's some of my results:

All in all, quite a neat experience.

Now I guess it's back to reality.............

Spring is in the air...

2011-03-06T23:50:00.000-07:00

Spring is in the air....so are lots of allergens. I'm having sneezing storms! New Mexico is famous for our wind in the spring, hurricaine level "gusts" that push a car around on the road. I think we have allergens imported from other states coming in on the wind, not much in the way of anything blooming here yet! I whined all winter, wanting spring to get here because the cold is unbearable. Now I whine because I can't stop sneezing, my fibromyalgia is worse this time of year as well it seems. Proof of the adage be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

This is my latest finished temari. I used a 100% nylon crochet/knitting thread. It has a very stiff feel to it, is pretty shiny and the colors are very bright. I made it up as I went along, deciding to do wrapped/crossed bands with an obi to stabilize and then wove a few spindles on the north and south poles.

I had a fun day yesterday, my good friend Mrs. G and I drove to Albuquerque, had a nice lunch and shopped till we dropped. We were lucky enough to find a good sale at the Hobby Lobby, so both of us got a jump start on Easter baskets for the grandbabies.

It was nice to have a diversion. Life has not been fun lately dealing with personal difficulties and the loss of a loved one to a nursing home looming on the horizon. My mother's husband, a dear, dear man, has Alzheimer's and a host of physical problems which has made it impossible for him to continue living at home. My husband's mother has Alzheimer's, and it's getting quite advanced. Until now we've been lucky that her physical health allows her to stay at home. Alzheimer's is a mean and nasty disease. Your loved one leaves you behind before leaving. The grief comes even before death. Grief for loss of not only the future, but also loss of the past and the present.

End of life issues can be so painful to deal with, even when you try to be prepared and have discussed philosophy, wants and wishes and needs with someone. Even when decisions are in someone's best interest, you can still end up feeling conflicted because you wish for things that will never be.

As for me, I believe death is just a consequence of life, and as Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote "Human life consists in mutual service. No grief, pain, misfortune, or "broken heart," is excuse for cutting off one's life while any power of service remains. But when all usefulness is over, when one is assured of an unavoidable and imminent death, it is the simplest of human rights to choose a quick and easy death in place of a slow and horrible one. "

35 years as a Registered Nurse taught me that at some point in time we seem to have forgotten that death is a natural thing and sometimes a very good thing and that in the realm of healthcare, just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Life holds no guarantee except death. It's better to be as prepared as you can be. Take the time to talk to your loved ones and your medical providers about how you want to live. And how you don't want to live.

Temari Bead

2011-02-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post today. Barb Suess posted on Temari Challenge about seeing a Temari Bead necklace, being a beader I had to go look at http://www.dianefitzgerald.com/ . She's quite a bead artist. Here's my bead, about the size of my quarter sized mini temari:

It takes a goodly amount of time to make, but it is neat.

Hey, by the way it's a birthday of sorts. 100 years ago today Puccini's opera 'Madame Butterfly' which tells the story of an American sailor, B.F. Pinkerton, who marries and abandons a young Japanese geisha, Cio-Cio-San, or Madame Butterfly had its world premiere at La Scala in Milan, Italy. Such beauty out of sadness.

In My Right Mind

2011-02-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

The brain is a fascinating thing. My right brain is where art lives. My left brain stores my memories, how to do things. My left brain takes what it knows, adds what's in my right brain and makes it work. Sometimes I have a block on that transition from thought to process.

A light bulb went on this weekend and I was able to do a temari type I have long admired. Once I had the aha! moment I wondered why I had not tried one before, it turned out that it was actually a fairly simple process.

Here's a picture of my aha! moment:

This temari is like brocade fabric, the looks change in changing light. It was done on a 28cm base, which is just a tad too small, or I should have used a #3 thread instead of a #5, because it needed a few more rows in both the colors, but all in all I'm thrilled with the result.

I'm still working on the 32 center flowers for the challenge that I posted on previously. I started the brocade because I drove a friend to the big city to a doctor's appointment. When I go somewhere I know I'll have to wait a while I usually take a temari to stitch. I decided the flower mari was too much to take, (big mari, lots of threads), so I took a smaller one from my stash of already wrapped. The creation of this was just happenstance of situation meeting with the connecting of both sides of my brain.

Does that mean I'm in my right mind? Methinks the jury is still out on that one.

Hari-Kuyo

2011-02-08T12:45:00.000-07:00

Today is the annual observance of Hari-Kuyo, the Festival of Broken Needles. The festival is a ritual of thanks and respect for the tools of the needlework trades. It originated about four hundred years ago, in Japan's Edo period. Seamstresses and tailors gather together all of the needles they've used, broken and worn out during the previous year. They are then taken to a Shinto shrine or a Buddhist temple, where they are placed on an altar.

The altar is three tiers, the top tier offerings of cake and fruit, the middle tier is tofu, the bottom tier for placement of sissors and thimbles. The broken and used needles are placed into the tofu, to be put to rest, a soft resting place after the hard work the needles have given in during their useful lifetime.

Credit: Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Women will take time to give honor to their sewing tools and to wish to give more honor by becoming more careful and skilled in their sewing in the year to come. A priest recites prayers for the needles with thanks and blessings on them which is passed to the users to impart the power and energy of the needles to increase their sewing skills in the coming year.

It is said that as women sew they think about their problems, their heartaches, hardships and their secret sorrows, all those sorrows go into the needles. Putting the needles to rest is to lay those sorrows to rest as well.

Today for the Hari-Kuyo festival I play the part of the tofu. I have managed to not pay attention and put a needle through my right hand between my middle and ring finger. I hit a small artery and made a mess and a bruise on both the front and back of my hand. Lol, luckily I was being watched over, I couldn't believe not one bit of the blood got on the mari I was working.

This day marks the end of the Japanese New Year's festivities, the work of the new year to now begin in earnest, but for today, there is a break from all household chores including needlework.

Best to all
Laura B

Cheese with my whine

2011-02-06T20:10:00.000-07:00

It's been so cold here in New Mexico, we reached -21 with a wind chill of -40 a few nights ago. I guess I ought not complain, we didn't lose our gas or electric like a lot of the state. Ought not....but I will. I'd like some cheese with my whine please.

I've a lot on my plate these days, and haven't been very ambitious, but did manage to get a temari done that I wanted to try. It's a 192 center.

I'm working on a 32 center for a challenge at TemariChallenge. It's a flower challenge, so I'm doing my take of our local wildflowers on a temari ball. So far, so good. It's my largest temari yet at 42 cms. I've only done one other really large temari, but the base was a big music box base bought from tentemari.com. This one I made myself with rice hulls, yarn and thread. It's a very different feeling working on such a large temari. Here's a preview:

The yellow flower is a sandwort, the blue is wild onion and the red is desert christmas cactus. My plan is to do 16 sets of flowers on opposite sides.

Stay warm!
Laura B

Japanese New Year, Year of the Rabbit

2011-01-23T20:39:00.000-07:00

Here's the temari I sent my swap partner for the Year of the Rabbit. It was fun to create.

I hope it gives her as much pleasure to have as I had making it!

Wishing for spring

2011-01-18T20:46:00.000-07:00

I'm so over cold weather. So in wishing for spring, here's a picture of the sunflowers and butterflies I made to make a mobile out of.

It's taking me longer to fix the hanging parts than it did to do the Temari. It will look like spring has sprung when it's finished. I belong to the Cibola Arts Council, our gallery is called Route 66, one of many I'm sure, on old Route 66. We're having our 2nd annual kinetic installation. It's always loads of fun. Besides the temari, I'm also doing a spider web.

The weekend was very fruitfly oops I mean fruitful. I had done the web and the spiders a week or so ago and was agonizing over how to make some sort of bug to be caught in the web. I was also mulling over what to do for a temari for a GITS (Great International Temari Swap) for Shogatsu, Japanese New Year.

The muse of all things thread was good to me, as I think I came up with a smashing felted fly and a beautiful temari to gift to my GITS partner. I can't post the picture of the temari yet, as it is supposed be a surprise for the reciever. I was happy to be able to incorporate several traditional Japanese motifs.

I finally got smart with this GITS temari and also wrote an instruction sheet while I still have it to hold and look at to reconstruct what I did, which is so much easier than from a picture. I wish I had done that with some of my other original designs that I've given away. Ah well, sometimes I think it's better to do one of something, that way I don't get bored.

Speaking of not being bored, I had a good weekend also having visits from grandchildren and I must have lost my mind.....I babysat 5 of them for the day on Saturday. I have a small house so I was like the old woman in the shoe with a 2 year old, a 3 year old, a 4 year old, a 6 year old and a 7 year old. The only time I managed to keep them all reined in was when we all went outside and "swam" in the hot tub. The only problem with that is later I have an ice skating rink around it from all the water the kids splash out! I sometimes wonder how I survived childrearing, when DH and I married we had 2 - 5 year olds a 7 year old and 2 - 9 year olds. Babysitting reminds me of why you have children when you are young!!!

The reason for the babysitting of so many is that my eldest daughter is relocating to the southern part of the state to finish up another degree. She's decided to teach and has been accepted into a special program at the Teacher's College at New Mexico State University. They've emptied out their (very large) house and moved into student housing. The rooms are so small the mice are stoop-shouldered. They're a bit older than most of the kids at college, but are enjoying themselves, as are the grandkids.

So Nana kept the kids out of the paint while the sisters and husbands worked at finishing clean up of the house so it can get sold. This move was easier for me, the last time she and her husband moved it was to Seattle, a very long ways from New Mexico. She was the first of my children to leave home, and I stood in the middle of the street crying and waving goodbye. This time, at least she's only a 5 hour drive, and it's nice and warm there in the winter. HMMMMMM, maybe I should go visit and stay till spring? Just joking honey!!

First Temari of the New Year

2011-01-10T20:05:00.003-07:00

I've finally done it! I've finished a multipole Temari I started months ago. Many have done something quite similar and it is seen in a few of the Japanese books. In white it looks like Queen Anne's lace. Mine rather look like tiny spider mums. It's the only unfinished temari that was a holdover from last year.

I love black with red white and grey.

This is my latest creation.

This is the last of the Christmas Temari. I used bunka to do the flowers. I love the way the texture of the thread gives a bit of oomph to the petals. The gold and silver threads were an absolute pain to work with and I don't think I'll use them for stitching again but I managed to tame them enough to make a nice bowl.

This is a temari similar to one I saw in a write-up on the cover of one of the newest books out there. It is very nice in the simplicity of it.

I've signed up for another swap, this one will be for the Japanese New Year celebration. I want to do something with traditional colors and motifs so I've spent time looking at celebrations decorations and temari on the internet. My creativity is a bit wacky, I have to look and study and think on things, then it will finally hit me what I want to do. The frustrating thing is that I have to wait for it to hit, so until then, I'm off to wrap mari so I'll be ready to stitch when the spirit moves.

Best to all!

2011-01-05T01:07:00.000-07:00

I think this says it all!

My 4 year old grand daughter announces her auntie!

Alaina

The new family.

Four of my eight grandchildren.

The wedding temari I stitched for Alaina.

The faces of Love.

My youngest daughter met a wonderful man last year and married the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Something old, something new

2010-11-26T20:14:00.000-07:00

I hope all my American friends are enjoying their Thanksgiving weekend. It's hectic at my house.

My youngest daughter is getting married tomorrow. My DH and I are looking forward to the wedding, she deserves all the happiness she has.

I've not done much in the way of stitching recently, but I finally got it together enough to do a set of Temari for Alaina. Her wedding color is purple.

The holders are filled with Hersey's dark kisses which were the perfect color.

The happiness is a bit tempered by the fact that the groom's mother has been hospitalized and won't be able to be there. The situation sounds ominous. She's a really really nice woman. She's raised a wonderful son. Healing thoughts and prayers for her are welcomed.

Off to rest now. Big doings tomorrow!

Best to all,

Laura B

Catching up

2010-11-02T22:54:00.001-06:00

A late Happy Halloween to you all.

On the right, my younger daughter and her younger daughter. Que cute!!

Below, my granddaughters belonging to my older daughter who did the makeup and fixed up this very cool picture.

What beautiful babies!

I've not posted in months. I've been somewhat busy, but I've also been having a hard time recently. My mother's husband, who is a dear, dear man had a massive pulmonary embolism and was airlifted to the hospital in Albuquerque. He's doing better now, must be charmed because the embolism was a saddle embolism which has a high mortality rate.

Many of you who know me personally know that I have fibromyalgia and lung disease. A side effect, if you can call it that, is that I am depressed. I'm not sure which is worse, the illnesses or the depression. Both immobilize me. It's very hard to fight it, even with therapy and medication. I'm so tired from the disease processes, and from fighting to stay upright. I want some cheese with my whine please.

I also struggle with being the parent of an addict. My son struggles with his addiction daily, and recently had a major relapse. The pain of watching him destroy himself puts a hole in my chest you could drive a Mack truck through. Before I was forced into retirement by illness I worked with my husband, a contract public defender. We see the damage drugs do, and the damage the so-called war on drugs does. I really believe that it's time to rethink public policy, spend money for treatment for drug addicts and people with mental illness (which are the majority of people you see in prison). Go after the real problem, follow the money, not the addict. Put the money laundering upstanding tie wearing pillar of the community bankers in prison for the same amounts of time we send people up for possession. And put them doing time in our wonderful state prisons. We're turning our young people into a generation of felons unable to get a job if they do straighten out their life. What is it that we don't get about the need for treatment, we just keep throwing money at prisons. Powers that be want them locked up with the key thrown out after 3 strikes. What is it we don't get about addiction/relapse statistics. With the relapse rate we throw these people away.

I recently heard a comment made by Kathie Lee Gifford about Charlie Sheen. "Somebody's got to love him enough to save his life." To quote a famous singer married to a famous addict "WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?" If love was enought to save an addict, I doubt many if any of them would have any problem. I'm boycotting Kathie Lee now until she apologizes to Martin Sheen, who loved his son enough to turn him in to the authorities. I know the pain of that. Bravo Martin Sheen. Gifford needs to get her head out of her como se llama.

Enough ranting. I try to use my blog for happy stuff.

I've only done a few temari since my last post. I'm glad I have that to do when I can't do anything but feel too sick to move. Here's the latest (I was on a pink and green kick):

This is my International Temari Appreciation Day Temari which was October 22. It was created in a round robin with a collaborative group from the Yahoo Temari Challenge site.

Best to all,

Laura B

Couth and Culture continued

2010-08-30T00:59:00.000-06:00

I've finished my first temari totally stitched in silk floss. I've given it to my daughter Alaina who told me it must be for her. This is my girl who at age 4 upon being proudly shown her room in our first home of our own promptly began to cry because the room wasn't purple. So of course, this temari had to end up with her.

This is my interpretation of a temari I saw in "Fun with Temari" by Toshiko Ozaki.

My DH and I went for an overnight to Santa Fe Saturday, and went to the opera on closing night. The weather threatened but the rain came and went quickly, unlike our regular opera weekend with friends where it rained the whole time. The weather all weekend was beautiful. On Saturday evening we ate tapas at a wonderful Spanish restaurant just off the Plaza, the El Meson. They were so yummy we just shared several different seafoods, meats and veggies and made a dinner out of it. Then off to the opera, Tales of Hoffman, what a fun time that was.

After a night's tossing and turning and sitting up to stitch on my latest temari project (I play princess and the pea in any bed but my own) we went to eat breakfast and went back to the Plaza. We had seen an advertisement at our hotel for a showing of “Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera by Eminent Photographers” at the Webster Gallery. We are big fans of both Kahlo and Rivera having been lucky enough to have seen their art up close and personal. Just out luck, it wasn't open. So we settled for a trip to the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum of Contemporary Native Arts just off the Plaza. Wow. We've never been disappointed there and today was no exception. The exhibit was mostly Alaska Natives, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

We wandered the Plaza so I could window-shop. I love looking at arts/crafts, such inspiration. As I walked by a place called the Wind River Trading Co. I saw the most wonderful Fimo sculptures. Incredible work by a guy named Jon Stuart Anderson. I've played at millifiore with clay so I know how incredibly intricate this work is. As luck would have it, they had started their Labor Day sale early, so I was able to get a gift for someone put away for Christmas.

Yet another weekend full of couth and culture!

Best,

Laura B

Six out of Seven

2010-08-23T15:25:00.000-06:00

Life is such a rollercoaster. On the down side I've been sick again with a sinus infection/pneumonia. A side effect of oxygen cannulas I suppose. I played sleeping beauty and slept for 3 days straight at one point, until I decided I'd better get up before I got a blood clot from not moving around.

The up side is I got a few temari done when I wasn't seeing doc or being sleepy, sneezy, dopey or grumpy. I certainly am not happy when I'm down and I'm not bashful about saying it. I must be getting better, I'm getting my sense of humor back?

My first temari for today's posting was just practice and to see how a new yarn would do.I chose an easy to do pattern, I wanted instant gratification!! The final round is in a 12 strand RG Crystal Braid. It stitches nicely, but I'm not sure that I will use it again. If sparkle is what I'm looking for the holographic thread gives just as much sparkle at a much lower cost although there is something to be said for the substantial feel to the braid for filling as opposed to sparkle.

In June there was a stitch-a-long led by Joan Z. on the TalkTemari Yahoo group for weaving. I finally managed to catch up and did a stitch-a-long-lost. Luckily for me Joan's instructions and pictures were excellent and I was able to learn something new. I only had to rip out one section. Twice.

Once a year my DH and our longtime compadres the "G's" drive to Santa Fe for a weekend of opera, art and museums. We come home just oozing culture and couth.

(I now pause for those who know us to get their breath back from "lmao"!!)

The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe currently has an exhibit titled "Huichol Art and Culture: Balancing the World" I love Huichol (pronounced wee-chole) yarn paintings and beadwork. Both are so intricate and delicate. There is a wonderful museum - Museo de Arte Popular Mexicano - in Cancun that we would visit annually on our one night there before catching the flight home after a visit to my folks. (They were Mexican beach bums for many years) I never got tired of that museum, the pottery, beadwork, gourds, musical instruments...all just fabulous. Folk art and craft from all over Mexico. I have a small collection of Huichol beaded eggs that I collected over the years, one on each visit.

In Santa Fe, the museum gift shop had wonderful small beaded eggs and globes by the Huichol for sale and lucky for me, the price was right! I had to have a globe since it looked so much like a teeny temari! I decided to make a temari to go with it. I really like the results. The Huichol motif is the cactus flower.

Well, back to bed. I got up, showered and dressed, stayed up for 5 hours now. That's the most I've been out of bed for weeks. My nose is running and because the sinus infection isn't gone yet, my face hurts. Yes little sister I know, it hurts you too. (Siblings can be very cruel, lol) TTFN

Best,
Laura B

Practicing Multipoles and the Tanabata GITS

2010-07-30T15:02:00.000-06:00

I decided I'd practice marking multipole Temari and did this 42 pole in a Hito Hude Gake (HHG) or "one stroke" stitching. I started with a very dark rose color and stitched rounds and round every pole to the opposite side of the ball, then switched to a dusty rose and stitched all the way back.

While stitching this, I signed up to do a a temari for a Great International Temari Swap (GITS) for the Japanese Festival called Tanabata.

The Tanabata festival is held on July 7 and in some places on August 7. It is thought to be Chinese in origin and is based on a tale of two star-crossed lovers, one a cow herder prince named Hikoboshi (the star Altair) and the other a weaver princess named Orihime (the star Vega). Once they got together, they forgot to do their jobs which angered the her father, the King Tentei. He had them kept separated on opposite sides of the Amanogawa River (the Milky Way). They were allowed to meet only once a year on July 7th. The first time they tried to meet they could not as there was no bridge. Orihime cried so much the magpies came and promised to make a bridge with their wings that she could cross. The fable says that if it rains on Tanabata, the magpies cannot come and the two lovers must wait until another year to meet. In Japan, people celebrate by writing wishes, sometimes in the form of poetry, on tanzaku which are small pieces of paper, and hanging them on bamboo, sometimes with other decorations. The bamboo and decorations are often set afloat on a river or burned after the festival, around midnight or on the next day. The festival is a symbol of the start of summer.

While I was stitching the HHG, I could see in my mind's eye what I wanted to do for a design for my Tanabata temari. I decided to do a 42 multipole and stitch just one ring of stars around the center to provide a division of two large areas. The band of stars would symbolize the Milky Way. Then I just added some magpies and bamboo with tanzaku, and it was done.

This year my birds are much more traditional in appearance than last year's magpie, which was very cartoonish (but really cute I think!).

Now I'm working on a 122 center.

I think I'll do the Tanabata theme on this and keep one for myself.

Best wishes and a good summer to all in this hemisphere!

Laura B

Busy Holidays

2010-07-05T14:01:00.001-06:00

I'm not too hot on the "big" holidays, there is usually too much hub-bub going on that you spend a lot of time being exhausted, and as I am there to begin with since I've got fibromyalgia, my preference is for more relaxed simple holidays.

4th of July qualifies. I have had such a nice weekend, starting with a birthday party Saturday for a grand-daughter where I got to meet my younger daughter Alaina's fiancee's family for the first time. His mom is a peach, sisters and brother are so nice, I can see where he gets his nice from. I also met his son, soon to be my grandson, Isaiah. It will get interesting calling out names in that household, both her son and his son are named Isaiah, although there's about 10 years age difference. Alaina says maybe Thing One and Thing Two.

The party was loads of fun. In my family, once you marry and have children, even if you divorce, you play nice. That's just the rule. You do right by the children as much as possible, which means a family party includes in-laws and out-laws all putting aside differences and having a good time. My grand-daughter made out like a fat rat. The girl had three grandmothers, a soon to be grandmother, and four grandfathers from four different families bring gifts.

Sunday morning everyone met up at my husband's office on the town's main road to sit in the median and watch the parade. Isaiah 2 rode a horse in the parade. My grandchildren collected more candy than on halloween. Throwing candies by the paraders is a big thing here. This year they even threw frozen ice treats which was nice for the kids, it was hot.

After the parade, everyone went their own way to rest. We went out for breakfast with good friends, of course after the parade, the place was packed so it was really brunch. I had a yummy breakfast burrito at the Kiva Cafe in Milan, NM. Then I had a lovely siesta.

Sunday evening, Isaiah 2 had his last rodeo of the season. Everyone had fun and the two youngest of the grandbabies got their first cowboy hats!

My younger grandson Avery, left.

Youngest granddaughter Kiara, right.

Although he didn't place Sunday, we're proud of Thing 2!!

The only sad part about my weekend is that I never did get a burnt hot dog!!! Still, Happy Independence Day!

Best,

Laura B

Humbled and Happy

2010-07-03T16:14:00.000-06:00

I received an e-mail today notifying me that I, and a group of internet compadres, have passed our judging by the Japan Temari Association. I had applied for both first and second level certifications.

I am now certified as an Advanced/Koutouka Temari maker. I am humbled and happy, and would like to thank author and Temari Master/Instructor Barb Suess for her instructions, patience and support, Professor Ai Mazuto for her translations to the Japanese language and and my study group for input, assistance, and the rah-rah I needed to travel the path for the study of this ancient craft.

These are my submissions for Level 1/Honka:

These are my submissions for Level 2/Koutouka:

How neat to see my work published in Kanji/Hiragana/Katakana characters of the Japanese Language!

Best to all!

Laura B

Amazing Earth

2010-06-07T18:48:00.001-06:00

My DH and I decided to do a cruise-about this past weekend. We figured we'd go see some fairly close sites we haven't seen yet like Canyon de Chelly so we jumped in the car and headed northwest after I found us a motel room.....in Kayenta Arizona. Since we were doing this on the fly, everywhere we called closer to the Canyon was booked. Close is a relative term when you live in New Mexico. Kayenta is about 170 miles from our home so we had a nice drive Friday evening, and arrived just in time for the 10 o'clock news. It's an easy drive, the view is spectacular in many places. We enjoyed ourselves listening to some new music we've acquired. If you like Irish music and Mexican music, you'll love The Chieftans album San Patricio. Learn a little American/Irish/Mexican history with beautiful music. Listen to snippets We also listened to the soundtrack to Frida, and an album called "Music, Mexico & Kahlo"

Kayenta is 60 miles northwest of Canyon de Chelly and 30 miles south of Monument Valley on the Navajo reservation. On Saturday we backtracked to the Canyon and drove and walked each each overlook. The canyon is spectacularly dizzying. Each overlook has a sign which cautions you to keep your children and pets under control. You are standing at the edge of 600-700 foot sheer cliffs. We wandered both the north and south rims of the canyon on Saturday and headed back to Kayenta. At a fork in the road we decided to take a quick side trip to the 4 corners since we were only a few miles away. Too bad we didn't know the monument is closed for remodeling! Ah well, such is life. We got back to Kayenta again, just in time for the 10 o'clock news.

The views were beautiful, but there isn't much close-up access to the ruins themselves. If you're wanting to see ruins up close and personal, I'd suggest a trip to Chaco Canyon, and/or the Gila Wilderness, both in New Mexico.

Here's a picture of the thimble ring I made Saturday evening. It is much taller than usual.

For our Sunday drive home we took off north and drove through Monument Valley. It is breathtaking, and majestic. The awsomeness of the geologic forces that shape the world is evident in abundance. We stopped off in Mexican Hat and had lunch on the bank of the San Juan river. I love the names of the places we went through. Mexican Hat and Mexican Water, Rough Rock, Church Rock, Round Rock, Red Rock, Rock Point, Many Farms.

It was nice to get-away. Pictures of Monument Valley and Canyon de Chelly are here at my Flickr site if you'd like to see them.

Now I am back to real life. My younger brother is in the hospital, all good energies, thoughts and prayers are accepted on his behalf, he's had to have too much to do with hospitals and docs in the last 2 years. My poor mom has her hands full worrying about him and her husband who is getting his knee replaced tomorrow, here's hoping that goes well.

I haven't posted pictures of the thimbles I made from my new silk thread, here they are:

I finally finished a large Temari I've been working on. I'm very happy with this, it took a year for me to get back to it, I'm not sure just why. Pull the tassle for the music box! It plays Mari to Tonosama (まりと殿様). It is a children's song by Shimpei Nakayama based on a fairy tale. In the city of Wakayama a child is happily bouncing a ball which accidentally lands inside of a lordship's covered litter during a procession. The ball turns into a tangerine and thereafter, Wakayama becomes noted as the tangerine capital.

Best to all,

Laura B.

UFO's

2010-05-21T23:48:00.000-06:00

I am so proud of myself. This week I actually got 2 unfinished objects done!!

I'm very happy with this temari. I had wanted to do something very similar to the one on page 9 of Creative Temari (ISBN #4-8377-0696-7). Being my usual brain dead self I managed to get the extra guidelines misplaced. Only it took me a bit to figure that out.

I started with the tri-wing, and then did the medium rose centers all the way around. Then I kept trying to figure out how to put two layered triangle motifs around the centers. Stitch, rip, stitch. Well duh, turn up my oxygen. Note to self: you can't put layered triangles on a division of 8 and expect to get something that actually looks like a triangle. Refer to any basic geometry book for what an equilateral triangle looks like, now try to match the points on a background divided into 8. Danger Will Robinson, this does not compute.

So I fooled around and couldn't figure out anything I wanted to do with this. Then I shoved it into a UFO box with the thread I had picked out. I finally decided that I had three UFO temari sitting around and I was going to force myself to finish since they've been sitting there for months.

I got this idea from the silk roses I had put on the last temari I finished. parts of the roses are a messy sort of bullion stitch around a center of french knots, to look like petals. I decided to use the bullion stitch to pop the center, and just do an 8 pointed kiku stitched all 8 points in a round, which makes it appear like it is woven. I think I'll write this one up before I forget what I did, so that I've got it available for a few years from now when I may want to submit for the next JTA level.

I'm pretty proud of it, a mess turned out rather nice! This one also has a music button hidden in it that plays the theme from Love Story.The other UFO sat around while I tried to figure out how to make the leaves I needed to do. I won't show you now, it's my spring GITS and I've got to wait until it meets it's intended.

One more UFO temari to work on. Come to think of it, it also has triangles. HMMMM I'm seeing a bit of a pattern here......

Best to all,
Laura B

Cottonwood Snow

2010-05-16T15:29:00.003-06:00

The cottonwoods are snowing today. Wonderful allergy weather!!!

We had a nice party for my daughter and sister-in-law's graduation. Lots of sitting around yick-yakking, eating, and grand-baby watching. The weather co-operated and the winds didn't kick up. We're famous for our winds...(not our mud, lol, gotta watch My Cousin Vinny again).

Here are pictures of the graduation temari.

This one was for daughter Anissa, New Mexico State University colors, although the red is not maroon enough.

This picture is terrible, it's too dark. The iris is an irridescent pearly looking ribbon, the stem and leaves are silk.

This one is S-i-L Connie's white and purple for New Mexico Highlands.

The roses are white silk ribbon, the stems and leaves are light green cotton #8.

This is the original temari I made for Connie, but after I made it, I didn't think it "looked" like her.

When I showed her both and asked which she liked better, she of course picked out the roses, which I was sure she'd like better.

She got both, she's a really wonderful sister-in-law, after all, she takes good care of (translation; puts up with) my brother!!!

Here's my latest attempts at yubinuki. I'm getting better, practice practice practice.

A belated Happy Mother's Day to all Moms. To my mom: Yo-Yo Ma hope you are enjoying your drive-about. LYTM

Best,

Laura B

How time flies when you're having fun.

2010-05-01T18:40:00.001-06:00

OK, so time flew.

I can't believe it's been a month since my last post. I'm getting old so fast my head is spinning!! Hmmmm, if I could teach it to spin threads and yarns. Better yet -

’Round about, round about,
Lo and behold!
Reel away, reel away,
Straw into gold!’

Much has happened since I last posted.

I thought spring had finally arrived....wrong.....there was snow on the ground this morning, and it is snowing as I type although it's not sticking. It will freeze tonight. Good thing we didn't plant the flowers and tomatoes we bought last weekend. The apple tree already bloomed and the bees are busy.

I managed to get myself together and get everything ready for my JTA submission. What a feeling a accomplishment that was. I will be forever grateful to Master/Shihan Barb Seuss , Professor/Kyoujyou Ai Mizuta, all the other individuals in my JTA certification study group, and everyone at Talk Temari and Temari Challenge for help and encouragement. Domo arrigato gozaimas!

I had a wonderful visit from Jane (World Embroideries) and her husband on their way through New Mexico to her folks in Arizona in mid-April. It was so cool to "talk temari" with someone. She brought the Temari she is submitting to the Japan Temari Association for her certification. They are absolutely beautiful. It is so amazing, the pictures she posted don't do them justice. They are really nice people. He was just a doll to let us sit and talk temari without even hinting at being bored!

I've made a few temari and yubinuki when I wasn't way down from the fibro, shingles and upper respiratory stuff. (Can I have a little cheese with my whine please???)

This black, silver and cherry red was a gift for my niece Jessi, who graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of New Mexico with a double major in linguistics and Spanish. She didn't bother to tell anyone she'd graduated in December, she didn't think it was a big deal. The family made a big deal for her when it was found out.

I made two others that I can't put up pictures of yet because they are gifts. My sister-in-law Connie is graduating from New Mexico Highlands Magna Cum Laude with a double major in business administration and accounting. She did this degree while raising a family, working full-time in accounting and being the best thing that ever walked into my brother's life. She is too cool and we're really proud and love her mucho!

Unbeknownst to my husband and I, daughter Anissa is getting AA in education. She didn't bother to tell anyone since she's busy getting into the New Mexico State University teacher's college to finish her BA in education. She wasn't going to bother with graduation until her profs told her she had to, she was receiving an award. I guess her second degree didn't seem like a big deal to her. She's another one of those out of the super-woman mold like Connie, family, job, school.

My family is just full of very smart strong women.

I made a temari/yubinuki set and a yubinuki bracelet. I think they came out rather nice if I do say so myself.
The thread is a metallic silk, and it is surprisingly easy to work with.

Back to stitching, I've got another bracelet wrapped and marked and I can hear it calling my name.

Best to all,
Laura B

Spring has sprung....

2010-03-27T13:24:00.002-06:00

...a leak. Each day starts out with beautiful sunshine, then WHAM! the wind blows a gust of 60mph, the sky is black and it's snowing and sleeting. Sideways. For two minutes. I stay inside. One more reason to stitch!

My GITS partner received her egg so I can post the picture now. The flowers and leaves are done in silk ribbon. I was surprised at how easy the stitching was with the ribbon.

My daughter Anissa asked for an egg, wanting me to do it in very un-Easter colors of light brown and reddish-brown, and see if I could make it look like a henna tatoo design. This is what I came up with. The marking thread is much nicer in person, it is holographic thread that is not overpowering, but has a neat sparkle to it when light hits it.

Anissa is creative in her own right. She does henna tatooing. I sure like the idea of the henna, you can change them for other designs, you're not stuck for life. A great thing for a parent to encourage someone to do if they think they want a permanent tatoo! Anissa's also beautiful and smart, raising two girls with her husband Dutch, partner in a business with her sister Alaina. She's back in college to get another degree, she wants to be an elementary school science teacher. I am very proud to be her mother.

I re-did the spider flower ball with a few adjustments. I think I'll be able to write this up for the JTA submissions without a major malfunction. I like having more colors, I think it adds a bit more interest.

It definitely has a spring feeling.

I'm starting a new project, a bracelet sized thimble ring. I got a plastic bangle that's just perfect for the form. Now I've got to up-size markings and figure spaces. It'll be a few days preparation before I can start stitching.

I won't get much stitching done this weekend. We're off to Albuquerque with our good friends the G's to go the the opera "Carmen" at the KiMo Theatre tomorrow. If you are ever in Albuquerque go to the KiMo. It was built in 1927 in "pueblo-deco" style, and it is just a beautiful building. Here's a picture of the inside of the theatre http://www.cabq.gov/kimo/about-the-theater/souvenirs/KimoPostcard4.html . The picture is ok, but to see it in person, it's fabulous.

So I'm gonna, as my father used to say, go get me some couth tomorrow. Between the opera and the surroundings, I'm just gonna come home oozing couth!!

Best to all,
Laura B

Spring should come soon!

2010-03-21T15:40:00.000-06:00

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. ~Charles Dickens

This is the weather in New Mexico.

I'm still busy stitching, and have continued with my spring theme. I finished another egg, but this one is for an Easter GITS, so I won't post a picture until I know my GITS partner has it.

Work on my JTA submissions is coming along. I was thinking about using this original temari that I called Pink Spider Flower, but it's not too easy to plot out on a diagram and when trying to describe what I stitched the verbiage confused me even as I looked at the stitching!!

I call this temari Bent Rainbow.

I had to look up the order to make sure I got the spectrum correct. I couldn't remember Roy G. Biv. My lovely return to college and study science daughter Alaina gave me the whole scoop about visible spectrums when she saw this. I'm really proud of Alaina, she's back in school to get another degree, this time in nursing. (I was a nurse, grandma was a nurse, grandpa was a nurse, sister-in-law, cousin, guess it's in her genes!) This on top of being a partner in a business with her sister Anissa, raising 3 small children and checking on me every day. She's beautiful, Suzie Homemaker, earth mother, supermom.

I'll save bragging on big sister Anissa for another day, she's exceptional and beautiful as well.

I hear the echoes of my father's voice laughing while alluding to having provided the genetic material for all of that brains and beauty.

The idea for Bent rainbow is from a temari I saw on a site that every temarrier knows about - http://www.flickr.com/photos/nanaakua/sets/72157617114284128/?page=6 the label is Jun2009_279.

I am very proud that I took a mari in the "underwear" stash, wrapped it, marked it as a C8, then was able to figure out where to put the extra guideline and beginning stitch so that it worked with the thread I used and the number of rows in my rainbow. IT FIT first time. I didn't even have to rip it out once!! That deserves a yahoooooo. I surprised myself.

This temari was very easy to write up for instructions. I was pleased to get one more done and posted to my certification study group for their review and input. It was really satisfying, especially after struggling with the spider flower and deciding not to use it after all that work!!!

Ah well, back to stitching and waiting for spring to be sprung!

In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours. ~Mark Twain

Mark Twain must have known New Mexico, this is the land of "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute, it'll change."

Best to all,
Laura B

Got threads!

2010-03-13T21:45:00.003-07:00

Got a box in today's mail with new threads I've ordered for my Temari making. Nice spring colors. I was happy to find them online to order, since living in rural New Mexico doesn't lend itself to shopping. I'd gotten a few dozen bases to the "underwear" stage a few weeks ago, now I can be a wrap artist. (a little humor there....very little!!)

I made a few items useful for doing thimbles. The form is marked for circumference down the length and is marked for 8 and 16 spaces radially. I made the cone then I tightly coiled paper and put it inside to make the form nice and stiff, then covered it in clear packing tape. I also made 9cm wide disks with a circumference of 18mm, which is the size I use for my own finger. It works quite well to get the stitching started on the form, then I transfer to the disk to stitch. Having the disk just inside the edge of the ring makes it easy to hold, and helps to hold shape while I'm stitching. I think for the next cones for other number markings, I'll just fill the cone with plaster of paris, that'll be easier than trying to get the inside roll nice and tightly wrapped and sized. That was a suggestion from my mother and one of those "duh" moments when she asked why I hadn't just used the plaster to begin with. Thanks Ma. (She's always been good at giving people "duh" moments, she's really a smart cookie.)

My thimble making is progressing, each time getting easier with nicer stitching, but it sure is better for stitch placement to use my lighted magnifying ring to stitch with since I'm getting closer to the age of dirt with each passing day!

Here are my latest:

This was done with a plastic center instead of using cardstock as a gift for my mother so it wouldn't get mucked up if it got damp since she plans to wear it, not just set it on a shelf. Of course there's no such thing as template plastic to be found here, so what I used was the plastic sheet that held reusable easter window stickers. I'll just have to put the stickers on a piece of wax paper when I take them down. The plastic was thin, but two rounds came out quite well, and without any big bump to deal with.

All in all, a good few days work.

Best to all,

Laura B

Stitching, Coughing till I get a stitch.

2010-03-10T21:19:00.011-07:00

This has been a busy stitching week. It's been easy to be busy stitching, I've been down with a respiratory infection again. Not a good thing, since I'm what the old guard calls a "respiratory cripple", and am on oxygen 24/7. I hate feeling short of breath, glad I'm not usually. Short of money, I'm used to....short in stature, can't hide it, short on brains, oh well I'll blame the age or lack of oxygen, but short of breath....rather not be.

I think babysitting my beautiful 1 year old granddaughter Kiki is what did it. Here's my Typhoid Mary>
She tested positive for RSV, so I'm hoping I'll get over this soon. She's better now, thank God.

In any case, it gives me a great excuse to do nothing but stitch. OK, so those of you who know me ask "what's the excuse for the rest of the time?" - who knows, when I get over this I might have to have a stubbed toe!!

I made more eggs, since I'm going to do a swap. I want to have lots to choose from. I did 1/2 dozen so far. Here's my favorite and it was the easiest but the most easter eggy looking to me.

Wonder if eggy is the correct spelling? Wonder if it's a real word!

I spent a few hours deciphering, reading in my books, and reading Chloe Patricia's blog at Ma Mercerie. Thanks so much to her for that blog, It helped so much for me to read her instructions. Here's a picture of my first Yubinuki, or ring thimble. I thought I'd measured correctly to fit right over the middle knuckle of my middle finger, but it's too large and fits at the base of the finger.

It looks really nice in this picture with my tiny pot byAcoma potter Carolyn Concho. It's not good enough to be in a picture by itself.

It is 10mm wide by 25mm diameter. For Americans that's about 3/8 inch wide by almost an inch. (Can't understand why we don't switch. I used metrics in my 35yr nursing career every day, but we don't teach it in our schools.)

It is however, an acceptable first. Threads were a problem I was using some I'd not used before. The dark and light threads, although the same type by the same maker, turned out to be a problem paired together. The lighter thread was thinner, and the darker kept shredding apart and wouldn't behave proper while the light worked nicely. It made some mathematical problems to ease the fit, which is evident at the edges.

I'll just have to keep practicing till I get it right!!

Best to all,
Laura B

Easter soon!

2010-03-03T13:34:00.002-07:00

It is a fact that as you age, it seems the years go by faster. I can't believe it's almost time for Easter. Time to plan for an egg painting party!

I've finished my first egg-shaped Temari - it was quite a challenge to get the thread onto the egg evenly and not have it coming off, but I did it. Now I have the gumption to sign up for the Egg GITS (Great International Temari Swap) going on with my fellow Temariers (?) at the TalkTemari Group at Yahoo. The GITS are really fun to participate in.

I spent the weekend wrapping mari as I'd run out of the last batch. I didn't wrap the final thread wrap like I did last time, sometimes I wanted a particular color or size, and what I had wrapped wasn't what I wanted, so I left the large ones in their "undies" as others have called it.

I also prepared some mini-mari and begun to mark them. I'm not sure if I'm doing another mobile, or use them as beads in a jewelry design.

I've got to wait until the muse bangs me on the head!

I'm off to wrap an egg for the GITS, and get it stitched. After that I've got to buckle down and get to studying and stitching. I've a bit more work to do get everything ready to make application for the first two levels of Japan Temari Association certification come April.

Work on your pattern

2010-03-02T19:49:00.003-07:00

Take your needle, my child, and work at your pattern; it will come out a rose by and by. Life is like that-one stitch at a time taken patiently and the pattern will come out all right like the embroidery.

--Oliver Wendell Holmes.

For my first post, I must tell you I have much to be thankful for. I have been a needleworker ever since I can remember. I have my mother to thank for that, she is an excellent needleworker and artist. I was given gifts that included everything a little girl needed to become arts & crafty - spirographs, metal loom and weaving loops, string art kits, wooden knitting bobbins, a mother who sewed, knit and crocheted and gave me the odds and ends to do with what I wanted, and trips to museums with my father where I saw art and crafts.

My home is now filled with art and craft collected and self-made. I have supplies enough to be a small store!

My health isn't wonderful. I was forced into retirement from actively working as an RN/Legal Assistant. I'm tethered to an oxygen machine but I still have to ability to see, and hold a needle whether that be crochet needle, sewing needle or embroidery needle. Between the crafts I love and a big extended family that loves me, I have everything I could ever want or need.

I am blessed, the pattern is coming out all right.

Best to all.
Laura B