This lesson's topic was interlocking shapes and getting consistent shapes too. The first patter to be completed was Puzzle Pieces on page 151 of Temari Techniques; it is a C10 with interlocked pentagons and diamonds. Then we were to do another few temari from a suggested list. I went rouge and decided to make a series of temari based upon the first one using other divisions. I then did a C6 with squares and triangles, a C8 with squares and diamonds, and a 20 face mari made from a S12 that had pentagons, hexagons, and diamonds. All 4 mari used similar colors and they all varied in size.

Then I did a fun bonus round, and interlocking all over design. For this last one I did not use Perle Cotton but threads from the Japanese assortment I bought earlier in the year.  ​I included many process shots so you can see how the final design is the result of layering the stitching

I noticed that I have now been home, due to the pandemic, for 120 days. I have left the house a few times for minor trips to do the grocery shopping, lab work required by the doctor, and one trip to work to pickup some notes I left behind under the assumption it would only be a week - HA!

I did an assessment of what has been accomplished - not cleaning the house or taking walks; but lots of lines of code for the day job, books and temari.

You can go read about the temari in other blog posts so I thought I would like the books I have read, so far. I have averaged about one per week and I leave it to you to go look them up. Many are series and they can be out of order

• The Collapsing Empire
• The Consuming Fire
• The Last Emperox
• The Sparrow
• The Children of God
• The Magicians
• The Magician King
• The Magician's Land
• Fractured Stars
• Junk Yard
• Spiked
• Splintered
• Spliced
• Goldilocks
• This is How You Loose the Time War
• The Engines of God
• DeepSix
• Chindi (started today)

Lesson 8 is continuous path stitching which is a follow on to the Flax Leaf from lesson 7. Lesson 9 is for stitching a thimble ring pattern (a.k.a yubinuki) for the obi.  And I finished lesson 8 and then just went into lesson 9 as that was what I have been waiting to do for a year when I first learned this was a required technique - because I also stitch actual yubinuki thimble rings!!  

So first up are pictures of the temari the continuous stitching which I will admit I rushed through and my teach pointed out that my stitching accuracy was not as good soooooo, it would be best if I did one of the two temari over. Which I did this past week.

For lesson 9, yubinuki obi, there was only 1 temari to stitch but I decided to do an extra temari as a bonus round. The stitching of the edge of yubinuki is different for a temari obi than it is for an actual yubinuki. Because of this, I started a practice temari to work on the edge stitch. I was almost done when I then set it aside as my stitches were finally consistent in tension, spacing and level at the top and bottom. I then started the temari again but I worked slowly and carefully and it came it really well. Then I did a bonus temari with a similar pattern but different colors.

I have sent everything off for review and I will start Lesson 10 sometime this week

This week I started to work on the last pattern write up that is required as part of the certification. A few weeks ago I was looking for something to stitch and write up and it had to be a C10 design. I looked through my books for inspiration and I came across a pattern with a stitch I had not seen before. It is a actually called a reverse kiku (herringbone) on a triangle shape. I have since fallen in love with this stitch. For a C10, I stitched it on the 6-part triangles and which framed the pentagon. I used 5 different shades of green and worked to have each of the 5 greens only once around the pentagon. I then chose 6 shades of blue and stitched a kiku in the pentagon and, again, worked the blues so the adjacent pentagons all were different shades.

I am now planning another temari with nothing but reverse kikus! 

Lesson 7 is about a stitching pattern called Flax Leaf. It is used to fill the shapes created from the division marking lines.  It can be done with simple markings (first pictures) or complex (second picture is a C8). A pine needle design is stitched and then the ends of the pine needles are stitched to the outer shape. 

As I have said in other posts, this level of certification requires me to write up 6 patterns.

And I have completed my fifth pattern; a C8 based upon a pattern done by a FB friend in the temari group I belong to. She did this for a family member and after she posted the pictures, someone else in the group asked about the pattern and there wasn't one so I wrote it up. The diagram took 3 tries in Adobe Illustrator so it looked correct and conveyed the correct information. Then the write up took 4 versions to edit it down to one page per the JTA requirements. 

This pattern is called Stained Glass Roses.

This lesson covered (literally) all over designs. These two temari are the same patter but when stitched with different colors, they look very different. They are both marked as a C10 and then continuous starss are stitched around/over the pentagons.

I joined the New Braunfels Art League several months ago as a general member and not as a displaying member. A displaying member is juried into the gallery which means your work is always on display but you must also volunteer for 8 hours each month. Now; if those hours were in the gallery it would be an issue for me, right now because I still have a day job. I have yet to find out if I could do those hours in some other way like working on the website or social media? Being a general member means I can put my work in Gallery Shows (for sale) and I only have to volunteer a few hours, during the show which would be easier for me.

Well, last month, the art League posted that they were having a small show in June to raise funds since the gallery had been closed due to the pandemic PLUS general member did not have to work the show!  I downloaded the show info and found that I can submit 3 pieces of work; time to plan the Temari I would need to stitch!

The first one I selected is one of my favorites the Rainbow Ribbons on a C8; then the Wishing Papers on a S6 and lastly the Fall Leaves on a C8. I had three weeks to get them ready which meant doing one per week; and I had to take my time so I could avoid mistakes or redo one if it did not turn out well.

I finished early this week which gave me a few days of breathing room.   

I will take them to the gallery next week and each Temari will be sold with a base for it to sit on, along with a info sheet on what is a Temari as I figure that most people around these parts won't know what they are. The info sheet will also cover how care for it and that it is NOT a toy.  

This lesson was about symmetry when wrapping and stitching and keeping it all in order. If you notice in the pictures below the temari are all either C8's or C10's and all have some type of OVER/UNDER layering going on.  The hard part is keeping all the over/under order correct and that 2 over's or 2 under's don't end up next to each other. 

The first band is easy as there are no other wrapped band thus nothing to worry about. The second band will cross the first band twice. You cant just arbitrarily go over or under because when you wrap the other bands, you can get the ordering all out of wack. What I do is take a few pins - white and black and where it will "cross" a band I will put a white pin for go over and a black for go under; then when I am done I really only have to pay attention to the pins that are at an actual wound band and afterwards, I remove all the pins and move to the next band, determine what pin to place and then winding it making sure the over's and under's are correct.   

Trust me, you make the same mistake 3 times, you learn!

Next up is another bonus temari and a pattern. 

For Level 2 certification, not only do you have to submit 10 temari but you have to submit 6 patterns - 3 each on C8 and C10 divided mari.  As I have said in other posts, the patterns do not have to be original.

When writing up a pattern it must include a picture of the temari and a line drawing and written directions. The directions do not have to be highly detailed as if it was for a beginner. But you have to give the mari size, the type of marking, number of threads for stitching, with generic color names, and enough information to stitch it such as where to place pins and what type of stitches or wraps.

Since the course work is 12 lessons and I have to have 6 patterns, I decided that after every even numbered lesson I would do a pattern.  This week, I finished my second pattern which was based upon a picture I saw stitched by another temari friend. 

Here are pictures and the line drawings of the two completed so far. The first pattern is Rainbow Ribbons on a C8 and the second is Diamonds and Triangles on a C10.

Update: Between writing this post last weel and then actually posting it, today I wrote a third pattern. It is also a wrapped bands pattern, but on a C8. This one has a bit more info to assist in getting the over/under order correct.