Wednesday, April 20, 2011

C10 Swirl

I am over half way stitching my current swirl temari. It is a different pattern from those I have done before. The first half stitching was very tedious, and I was having trouble sticking with it, but now that the pattern is starting to reveal itself, it is getting much more exciting.

The swirl is based on a c10, without any extra guidelines. Mark your c10 with the thread you will be using to stitch. Then stitch a swirl design in each of the 10 small triangles that make up the pentagons; half of them clock-wise, and half counter clock-wise.





I was afraid of getting confused, so I did all the clock-wise stitching first. When I did that, the only thing to look at is how uneven your stitching is. It was very hard to keep going on it. Now that I am stitching the counter clock-wise triangles the design is starting to appear, and I can tell it is going to work out.


Now I can't wait to see the whole thing! The only thing is, there are 60 of each kind of triangle! Again, I am worrying about running out of thread, but I do have a second spool of a very close color, so I should be fine.


Monday, April 18, 2011

We had a nice weekend. DH was recuperating from a cold, but was willing to go for a drive (even with the price of gas). We went to the show of the Country Cut-Ups Quilt Club in Indiana. They had a very nice display, and several vendors. I was not in the market for any fabric, but there were some nice embroidery patterns. One of the vendors carried Valdani pearl cotton, and I got all excited, but she only had sizes 16 and 12... not big enough for temari. When I mentioned I was interested in sizes 5 and 8 she made a note of it. I may be in trouble, because she plans on opening a store front in the town I work in. It would be wonderful to have a source so close!

Another vendor had "paper" or flannel dolls. It was a make it/take it opportunity, so I took a couple of minutes the opportunity to sit and chat and play for a couple of minutes. I hope C will enjoy playing with them as much as I did. This cutie is all set for Easter Sunday.

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There is some stitching going on, but not a lot. This is a swirl with a different pattern, and I am about half way done. I am not at all sure this is going to turn out, but I won't know unless I try it, right? I think part of my problem with stitching this one and my flower sampler is the dark green base. The weather has been so gray that I think I need a little more color.

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We woke up to sleet and snow this morning! Of course DH and I got married on April 24 many, many years ago, and there were snow flurries on that day as well. At least the forsythias are blooming and the daffodils are out, otherwise it would be hard to tell that it is spring.