beginning year two of temari - a single thread in nature (1)

 If one pulls on a single thread in nature, you'll find it attached to everything else.
— John Muir (1838–1914)

I'm entering my second year of temari making—I finished my first three on July 26, 2011, and started this blog the next day. After about a month-long hiatus (read: too busy with the day job to work on temari), I finally have a new one, with a new-to-me stitch: mutsume ami—the basket weave (technically, "hexagonal weaving to create a triaxial design"). I learned this stitch form Barb Suess's new book, Temari Techniques: A Visual Guide to Making Japanese Embroidered Thread Balls.

This one is intended to be the first of a triad, stitched around the same quote. My current plan is to further explore variations of this weave, but I may get distracted and do something else . . .

(update, 7/30: see the second one here)

Thread wrap in dark blue-violet ("pansy"), S4 division. Embroidery in light violet blue, violet, and olive gold. The quote by John Muir is in the bell box, along with 17 brass rings. Circumference: 9.5 inches / 24 cm; diameter: 3 inches / 7.6 cm. Completed 27 July 2012 (no. 132).


Sold to benefit Kiva.org.