Adorable kitty!

Dorothy made this card and sent it to me recently. It really makes me smile! She says her kitty's name is Katrina and she came from the Humane Society in Savannah. Of course, she loves to play with threads when Dorothy makes temari.

Kitty playing with temari!

More about Carolina, a temari stitcher who spends time in two very different parts of the world!

The other day I shared Carolina's blog post about her trip to Guatemala. Those smiling faces reminded me of posts that I wrote when I began this blog - all about kindred sisters. I wanted to know more about Carolina and she has responded with some interesting tidbits. 

Thanks for being a part of our temari world, Carolina! 

***
Kindred (adjective): having the same belief, attitude, or feeling.
Sister (noun): a female friend regarded as a sister.
***

Where do you live? Tell us about your town.
I spend 5 winter months in Monteverde in Costa Rica, a very small town in the mountains of Costa Rica where the bird watching and weather are great. There isn’t much in the way of temari embroidery threads but I can get coffee husks which I use for the core of my balls here. I also can buy yarn and thread. So I bring a lot of embroidery thread with me. The rest of the year I am in Madison, Wisconsin. I definitely have ball containment issues in both homes. I’m occasionally able to part with temari as gifts but they do tend to pile up. 

What language do you speak? 
Not that it helps with making temari but besides English I speak Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Indonesian. 

When did you begin making temari? 
3 years ago. 

How often do you stitch temari - every day? Once a week? Occasionally? 
Several times a week usually. 

How do you come up with your patterns? Follow directions in books? Web? Make your own?
I follow instructions in your books Barb and use a lot of patterns from the web. I love the stitch alongs on Temari Challenge and TemariKai. I have done a few patterns from Japanese books I own, but some I can’t figure out (yet). Sometimes I can figure out a pattern by looking at a photo. I spend (too much) time looking at photos of temari on the web. I always choose my own colors but have only made a few of my own patterns. 

What is your favorite thread? 
Cotton perle 5.

Do you teach temari? Tell us about your classes. 
I’ve shown a few people the basics but not in a formal class. That may come. 

Do you display temari in stores or craft or art shows? 
I’ve had one display at my local public library in Madison. 

What are your goals for future temari making? 
Continue exploring more patterns and all the wonderful colors. I hope to start creating more of my own patterns or variations. I never really now where temari is going to lead me. 

best wishes, 
Carolina

Carolina's Guatemalan Connection

Have a look at Carolina's blog about her trip to Guatemala. It's a very special connection between fiber artists!

Sharing embroidery in Guatemala

Yesterday, Today & Temari (Jinny Beyer)

Jinny's gift to her staff. Read all about it!

Jinny Beyer and Barb Suess stitching temari.

Beautiful and meaningful temari by Cindy Coleman

Cindy Coleman lives up the road from me in Hickory, North Carolina. Well, it is a bit of a drive up towards the mountains on I40 towards Asheville.  She has been making temari for a few years now and sharing it with her community. I'm happy that she shares it with me via email. Cindy expresses the challenges of designing temari. Oh, but the results are fantastic and well worth the effort!

From Cindy:

"I am attaching three photos of a temari display I made for the permanent Holocaust collection at Catawba Valley Community College where I teach.  The project took me longer than expected because I had to rework my design several times on a smaller thread ball.  So many prototypes had to be dismantled. I transferred the final design to a 4-inch temari; the final result you see is a 5-inch ball.  It is asymmetrical which provided a bit of problem solving.  So that folks could see both top (Star of David) and bottom (kiku flame), I mounted the temari on to a 3-inch clear-glass candlestick which was glued to a 12”x12” piece of glass.  The temari sits freely on the candlestick.  At the base is rusty ring of barbed wire and a fabric Star of David on which was written 'Jude.' (The fabric star is impaled on one of the barbs.)  My husband found the glass cover online.  All in all, I  think it turned out well. The curator of the collection is Jewish by heritage, so I gave the 4-inch temari to him.

While working on the project, I discovered the meaning of the word holocaust is 'sacrifice by fire.'  The stitched Star of David was an over-under form which the curator told me is the preferred way.  This I didn’t know either."

Holocaust temari by Cindy Coleman

Detail of Holocaust temari by Cindy Coleman showing the mirror beneath.

The Holocaust display from April 8, 2013.

This is a recent display at Cindy's library. 

If you have a temari exhibition, please let me know. I'd love to share it for you.

Rali's Temari Exhibition

Excellent craftsmanship and a beautiful display. Congratulation, Rali!

Have a look at her photos and be inspired.

Rali preparing for her temari exhibition

Rali's JTA certificate and temari on display

Roll Tide football "temari"

Leola from Foley, Alabama, sent me these pictures of a temari-style football.

All I can say is ROLL TIDE! Great job!

The Temari Twins

Karen and Jen have a new website!

Karen and Jen, The Temari Twins

I met the "temari twins" when they drove down from Maryland to stitch with me at the John Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. We had a whole week of stitching together. I was so impressed! They came with a mission - to learn as much about temari as they could with patterns and wish-lists in hand.

Temari by Karen and Jen
http://www.temaritwins.com/

Their joy and enthusiasm for the craft was certainly contagious and I'm so happy to learn they are teaching workshops and still exploring new patterns. To find out more, visit their website The Temari Twins.

We will be teaching together at Jinny Beyer Studio in Great Falls, Virginia, on Saturday, February 15. Contact Karen and Jen about travelling to you.

Best of luck, Karen and Jen!

Rosemary Bell, Shihan, Japan Temari Association

Congratulations to Rosemary Bell who just passed level 3 certification with the Japan Temari Association. 

Rosemary is from Texas and is one of the most talented temari stitchers I know. When she first started stitching temari, she sent me a few of her creations because she had never seen any at all and wondered if she was stitching them correctly. I have an evaluation sheet of standard skills just for that purpose but had to call Rosemary and tell her that I had never seen such beautifully stitched temari, with pearl 8, no less! I could see nothing to improve and was inspired to improve the accuracy of my own stitching.

I know Rosemary will continue to be a wonderful teacher for those lucky students around Mineola, Texas!

Temari Addict Australia - a kindred sister down under

 
Today, Rebecca uploaded her 400th post to Temari Addict Australia!!

Congratulations, Rebecca. To you and to your group of temari stitching friends and students in Australia. You've made me smile from your very first post.  I love your passion for life - it shows in the stories you've shared with us about your family and friends (including the chickens!). 

Kyoto Kimono Kindred Sister

Headed into Miyama

  You know you're with the expert when you go to Kyoto with Kyoto Kimono!  Nancy spent some time living in Kyoto and took us to many of her favorite places on our trip last fall -  temple markets, workshops with textile artists, meals at wonderful restaurants, and a hotel and ryokan chosen for location and great price.

TAST (Temari Variation) with Sharon B. 2012

Sharon B. will be running Take a Stitch Tuesday in 2012!

See the logo on the sidebar to the right? That's the page I've created where I'll share what I stitch. I hope I'm not the only one stitching on temari. If you are also in the challenge, let me know and I'll put your link on the page. I'd love help and inspiration for the extra challenge of stitching all those wonderful embroidery stitches on temari!

BTW, I'm tagging this post "Kindred Sister." Anyone who stitches as much as I do and shares it on the web is absolutely my sister :)   You're an angel, Sharon.

Here is the link directly to Sharon's site

Meeting kindred sisters in Kanazawa - was it a dream?

Photo in the stairway to Mariya 

We climbed the small staircase to visit a one-room shop on the second level above the busy street in Kanazawa. I knew our guide was leading us to a specialty shop called Mariya, where we would find temari and supplies to make them. The displays on the way up were promising!

Temari in Indonesia

Thanks to Rebecca's blog at Temari Addict Australia, we know we have more kindred sisters in the South Seas!
http://temari-addict-australia.blogspot.com/2011/07/temari-making-in-indonesia-makes-news.html

My head is still in the mountains

"The Folk School’s motto, 'I sing behind the plow,' reflects our desire to find happiness, expression, and art in our daily lives."

I spent this last weekend teaching temari at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina. From where I live in Raleigh, it's best to drive up to Asheville and then head southwest through the Blue Ridge mountains to the folk school campus.  "Blue" is so right! These old mountains are thickly covered with trees that look all shades of blue from a distance. It's a beautiful place. Beautiful setting. Beautiful spirit.

Folk School with mountains in the distance

Rosemary has "a penchant for puzzles"

Isn't this temari lovely?! Rosemary, a member of our TemariChallenge Yahoo group, shared a photo of the temari that she completed for our flower challenge.

Rosemary stitched this C10 division with silk ribbon. She said, "I have just uploaded 2 photos to the flower sampler folder. One is a closeup of the roses. I chose roses for October because that is the month of the Rose Festival in East Texas--probably not a month for roses in other parts of the country, but here they are splendid then. The other photo shows the camellia for January (at the top), pansy for March, and Iris for April.

The 36 cm mari was wrapped in RAINBOWS SUPERIOR #849 (sand castle) thread and marked with eighth inch bamboo caning strips. All flowers are done in silk ribbon embroidery, but what I'm most proud of, is the marking with bamboo.

As I mentioned before, the challenge was both frustrating and exciting. I just loved doing it. I did a lot of sailing down the RIO ADIR! (that's my acronym for Rip It Out And Do It Right.) but overall I'm very pleased."

Rosemary's temari is truly a work of art. Attaching strips of real bamboo to the the ball as borders and stitching with silk ribbon are both very unique and creative accomplishments.

This Texas gal has been stitching temari for only a few years. Last year, she passed both Level 1 and Level 2 certification for the Japanese Temari Association.  For Level 2, she demonstrated her ability to stitch temari and to write patterns using correct terminology by submitting patterns for six different temari.  With this original design for the flower temari challenge, she is well on the way toward Level 3 which requires eight original patterns. Way to go, Rosemary!

Rosemary photographed by the Mineola Monitor

Thanks for being a part of TemariChallenge, Rosemary. You are an inspiration to us all and I'm happy to have found you as a kindred sister.
.....

Kindred (adjective): having the same belief, attitude, or feeling.

Sister (noun): a female friend regarded as a sister.

.....

Kaga Temari Experience (a kindred sister)

Well, I didn't intend to write about other blogs or websites when I started this blog, but I just have to share another interesting webpage that just popped up on my Google alert for temari.

Kaga Temari Experience (click here)
The author visited Kaga Temari Master Takako Koide in the shop where she teaches in Japan.  

Kaga Temari Master Takako Koide

There's a little bit about temari history and how they make them. I always love studying the pictures to see if I can puzzle out the pattern.  
Another kindred sister!

.....

Kindred (adjective): having the same belief, attitude, or feeling.

Sister (noun): a female friend regarded as a sister.

.....

Inspired to Blog by Boggon (a kindred sister)

Craft Month: Why Should Crafters and Artists Blog by Sharon Boggon
or
How blogs and social media can help crafters

Sharon b is an inspiration to many of us who use the internet as a learning, teaching, and sharing tool.  Every day (almost!) she writes about a project or event of interest to anyone who likes to make things by hand - including embroidery, crazy quilting, and even computer art.  On a regular basis, I am inspired by her blog and her online directory of stitches as sources to improve my own work with Japanese temari.  Now, she has helped me understand why I started a blog and how it can also help improve my work. Thanks to my kindred sister, Sharon!
.....

Kindred (adjective): having the same belief, attitude, or feeling.

Sister (noun): a female friend regarded as a sister.

.....

Be sure to follow her blog Pin Tangle

Follow Sharon at Pin Tangle

It's a small world (how far is it from China to Raleigh?)

New video from Komusume-Rita.  Looks like she was on TV.



I "met" Rita on Facebook in a very roundabout way - an Around-the-World amazing way, through our computers.  I have a Google alert set for "temari" so every now and again, I get an email with links to websites and blogs that include the word.  Most of them are about the Japanese cartoon character Temari, not the thread-wrapped and embroidered handballs that I love so much.  A few months ago, an alert came in to a blog written by an American (I think) living or travelling  in China.  She posted photos and wrote about Rita, who was showing her temari at a craft show.  Not selling them; she was just there to display them.  The blog author had a link to Rita's Facebook page so I raced over there to see her lovely creations.  Of course, it was just a click or two away and I didn't have to go all the way to China.  Too bad, really - I might be up for that!

Lo and behold - look what I found among her temari photos:

Kiku and Fans by Komusume-Rita

Rita travels to Japan where she studies temari.  She had purchased the latest book from the Japan Temari Association that includes one of my patterns.  I love her choice of colors and her display is simply elegant.

Kiku and Fans by Barbara Suess
JTA Level 3 Design

Kiku and Fans by Barbara Suess
JTA Level 3 Design

Here's the cover of the book

Color Coordinated Temari: Seasonal Events
(Irodori no Temari - Saijiki)
by Toshiko Ozaki

Rita has other videos on YouTube.  Search her name KomusumeRita and you'll find some interesting clips of her macramé, beading, and other crafts - so cute!

Thanks for sharing your love of temari on the internet, Rita!  Xie xie!  I can't wait to see more from my kindred sister in China.

'Thank you' in Chinese is 谢谢 or xie xie in pinyin (pronounced 'sheh sheh').

.....

Kindred (adjective): having the same belief, attitude, or feeling.

Sister (noun): a female friend regarded as a sister.

.....

Sanuki Temari (a kindred sister a world away)

Some members of Sanuki Kagari Temari Hozonkai
Eiko Araki is sitting on the right.

Eureka! I've stumbled upon a couple of new blog posts about temari from Japan. The blog author (David) visited  Eiko Araki and her group of temari makers.

In the first post, David relates the history of Sanuki temari shared by Araki-san.

"How to make Sanuki temari" is the subject of his second post. 

He filmed a video of the ladies working

 Thanks, David!