good tidings

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
— John Muir (1838–1914)

A second version of this design, right on the heels of no. 68 — a wrapped band variation, with the threads crossing the obi and gathered/bundled as the obi is stitched.

Thread wrap in silvery-brown (driftwood); S4 division (no guidelines); embroidery in browns, greens, and gold. The quote above by John Muir is in the bell box along with 9 brass rings. Circumference: 10.25 inches / 26 cm; diameter: 3.26 inches / 8.3 cm. Completed 29 November 2011 (no. 070).


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Every single soul is a poem.

Every single soul is a poem.
— Michael Franti (1966–)

This is the first time I've tried this design — a wrapped band variation, with the threads crossing the obi and gathered/bundled as the obi is stitched. I was inspired by photos in a book by Mary Wood. I also wanted to do another two-color thread wrap, here in medium and ice blue.

Dual thread wrap in medium blue and ice blue; S4 division (no guidelines); embroidery in blues, grays, and lavenders. The quote above by Michael Franti is in the bell box along with 17 brass rings. Circumference: 10.25 inches / 26 cm; diameter: 3.26 inches / 8.3 cm. Completed 28 November 2011 (no. 068).

With it in the last picture is my second try at this pattern, no. 70.

just by being, I'm here

Just by being,
I'm here—
in the snow-fall.
— Kobayashi Issa (1763–1827)

This is a variation on the rose garden pattern (see no. 042). Layered bands of color, each offset from the one underneath, form a blossom effect. No. 42 uses squares on an S8 division, so every other layer aligns. With this temari, I used an S12 division, and each new square rotates one division, so there are three rather than two forming the overall shape. It has a spiral / twisted effect. The center was again free-form herringbone embroidery to connote snowfall.

Medium gray thread wrap; S12 division with dark steel gray perle; embroidery in four shades of gray (dark steel to light pearl), two shades of gray-green, and two shades of gray-brown. The haiku by Issa is in the bell box along with 17 brass rings. Circumference: 10.5 inches / 26.5 cm; diameter: 3.34 inches / 8.4 cm. Completed 27 November 2011 (no. 064).


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Life is about creating yourself.

Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
— George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)

This was an experiment: the traditional kiku (chrysanthemum) design, however "reversed." Normally the kiku herringbone petal tips are at the poles (top and bottom); this time I stitched it backwards so that those tips are in the center, and the regular herringbone tips are at the poles. I like how it looks around the center — sort of like vines, or ivy, tendrils reaching towards each other. For some reason it was awkward stitching this way, if only that I'm not used to it; next time around I hope that the rows lie more smoothly and closer together at the tips.

Thread wrap in charcoal gray; S16 division with silver metallic; embroidery in medium silver gray, two shades of silver blue, and two shades of dusky lavender. The quote above by George Bernard Shaw is in the bell box along with 7 brass rings. Circumference: 10.625 inches / 27 cm; diameter: 3.38 inches / 8.6 cm. Completed 24 November 2011 (no. 065).


Sold to benefit Kiva.org.

your corner of the Forest

You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.
— Winnie-the-Pooh, A. A. Milne (1882–1956)

An all-over spiral. I've learned a new way that does not require a C10 division first; rather an S4 division plus some measuring to find the shapes to fill in with the spiral pattern. Medium brown thread wrap with embroidery in light golden brown/tan. The quote by A. A. Milne is in the bell box along with 7 brass rings. Circumference: 9.625 inches / 24.5 cm; diameter: 3 inches / 7.8 cm. Completed 24 November 2011 (no. 063).

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the music of what happens

And that moment when the bird sings very close
To the music of what happens.
— Seamus Heaney (1939–)

This is the second time I've worked a C8 with kiku stars in each "square." The first was no. 29. The four interwoven kiku-stars around the center alternate color emphasis and row-count; the ones at top and bottom are in lighter/darker shades for contrast. These colors on the black background bring to mind wild songbirds, and I chose them to highlight the stanza from Heaney's poem.

Black thread wrap; C8 division with black perle; embroidery in brown (coffee with cream), dark wine red, very dark wine red, and cream. The quote by Seamus Heaney is in the bell box along with 8 brass rings. Circumference: 11 inches / 28 cm; diameter: 3.5 inches / 8.9 cm. Completed 23 November 2011 (no. 066).


Sold to benefit Kiva.org.

new temari mailing list & slideshow

Would you like to receive a notification when a new temari is added for sale in the Etsy shop? You can sign up here and each time I add a temari to the shop, you'll get the heads-up.

When you sign up, you'll need to confirm your subsciption by replying to an e-mail that Mad Mimi will send you. It will probably land in your spam box, so be sure to look there.

You will only receive an e-mail when a new listing is posted. You can unsubscribe at at any time, and your e-mail address will be kept confidential and will never be sold or shared.

★


Now you can view a slideshow of my temari . . . which I will try to update as I finish each one!

in the eye of the dragonfly (2)

the distant mountains
are reflected in the eye
of the dragonfly
— Kobayashi Issa (1763–1827)

No. 60 was so enjoyable to make and it sold immediately, I just had to make it again. The change this time was to do the thread wrap in two colors. So instead of finishing the wrap with one strand all over, I finished with two — one blue and one green. What's interesting is that the two colors together "blend" and look like their own color, sort of shifting in and out, until you look at it up close and see what's going on.

Dark blue and dark green dual thread wrap; embroidery in dark silvery-blue, emerald green, medium silver, and metallic silver perle. The haiku by Issa is in the bell box along with 9 brass rings. Circumference: 10.25 inches / 26 cm; diameter: 3.26 inches / 8.27 cm. Completed 17 November 2011 (no. 062).

Sold to benefit Kiva.org.

happiness is like a butterfly

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond your grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
— Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864)

Two four-petal kiku stars. Asymmetrical, and at each pole, one of the stars has two points that cross over the obi. I haven't done this before, and like the effect very much. I didn't follow a pattern or photo; I just figured out the best measurements for the outer points for the pattern I wanted.

Lilac thread wrap; S8 division with metallic purple; embroidery in coffee brown, coffee with cream, cream, and purple, with metallic purple around the obi. The quote by Hawthorne is in the bell box along with 9 brass rings. Circumference: 10.5 inches / 27 cm; diameter: 3.34 inches / 8.59 cm. Completed 15 November 2011 (no. 061).

Sold to benefit Kiva.org.

 

in the eye of the dragonfly

the distant mountains
are reflected in the eye
of the dragonfly
— Kobayashi Issa (1763–1827)

Like no. 40 and no. 45; I definitely feel more comfortable with this pattern and the execution. This time I did the obi first, then wrapped the bands over it, which worked well and I think is my preference of all three variations.

Dark blue thread wrap; embroidery in lilac, emerald green, medium silver blue, and silver perle. The haiku by Issa is in the bell box along with 11 brass rings. Circumference: 10.25 inches / 26 cm; diameter: 3.26 inches / 8.27 cm. Completed 15 November 2011 (no. 060).

Sold to benefit Kiva.org.

say cheese - temari on parade

it's what you see

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
— Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

Thread wrap in dark charcoal gray; S6 division with no marking lines; embroidery in rust orange, brick red, black, and dark gray. After the bands were wrapped I added black division lines in the alternate spaces, just for visual effect. The quote above by Henry David Thoreau is in the bell box along with 7 brass rings. Circumference: 10.25 inches / 26.2 cm; diameter: 3.26 inches / 8.3 cm. Completed 12 November 2011 (no. 059).

Sold to benefit Kiva.org.

what lies within us

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

Another amime-giku — or net weave — like no. 55. This variation has a division of 20; I wanted the division lines to be "invisible," so I used a triple-strand of the same thread as the wrap so it will blend in. This time I added a wide traditional obi rather than a "net" obi.

Thread wrap in purple; S20 division with the same purple thread; amime-giku in a dusky silvery lavender and a wide obi in that same color plus violet. The quote above by Ralph Waldo Emerson is in the bell box along with 7 brass rings. Circumference: 10.125 inches / 25.7 cm; diameter: 3.22 inches / 8.2 cm. Completed 11 November 2011 (no. 058).

Sold to benefit Kiva.org.

everything you can imagine is real

Everything you can imagine is real.
— Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)

The traditional kiku (chrysanthemum) design, in non-traditional colors (an homage to Picasso). For the first time I tried adding a gap, some space, between rows in the petals — after 5 rows, I started the sixth about 7mm from the tip of the petal. This gives it a nice lacy, three-dimensional effect.

Thread wrap in ivory; S16 division with pearlescent metallic; embroidery in four shades of blue. The quote above by Pablo Picasso is in the bell box along with 9 brass rings. Circumference: 10.625 inches / 27 cm; diameter: 3.38 inches / 8.6 cm. Completed 12 November 2011 (no. 057).

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every minute of every hour (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)

... let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. ... And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost.
— Francie Nolan in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (1896–1972)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn opens on a summer Saturday in August 1912. Francie Nolan visits the library as she does every day in the summer, and studies the coveted little golden brown bowl on the librarian's desk — "a season indicator." The sprigs of foliage in the bowl change with the seasons, and on this day:

She moved her eyes slowly up the jug past the thin green stems and little round leaves and saw ... nasturtiums! Red, yellow, gold and ivory white. A head pain caught her between the eyes at the taking in of such a wonderful sight. It was something to be remembered all her life. "When I get big," she thought, "I will have such a brown bowl and in hot August there will be nasturtiums in it."

The colors and the layered five-petaled flowers on this temari were inspired by this scene.

Brown thread wrap; S10 division lines in metallic gold; embroidery in brown, light green, orange-yellow, yellow, ivory, and dark red. The quote by Betty Smith is in the bell box along with 5 brass rings. Circumference: 10.375 inches / 26.5 cm; diameter: 3.3 inches / 8.43 cm. Completed 11 November 2011 (no. 056).

Sold to benefit Kiva.org.