I Get a Kiku Out of You

So my first class was temari, and here is proof of what I did on the second day. The star shapes are called kikus, or chrysanthemums, in Japanese. With the experience of the day before, it was pretty easy to do. Each of the star faces of this ball will be different.

This is the beginning of the second face. As you can see, it has a different color from the other one. That's not the only difference - you'll have to see it as it progresses.

And here is the book my teacher Barbara Suess wrote about temari. I bought it at the merchandise day and she was kind enough to autograph it. Her instructions are really clear and easily followed - and she has a new group correspondence course for temari from EGA.

Flowing Heart

This was the second of my two day classes at EGA seminar. It's Heart of Gold by Meredith Willett. It's basic English goldwork with some other metallic threads, and I loved the design outside of it being pink from the time I first saw it. Two students in the class were prescient enough to ask for color changes before the seminar; I was not one of them and ended up with the original. I still like it! So I got some of it done and I really like the look so far. I'll be making some changes as I go - like putting a dragonfly in the middle. This too will go into my rotation soon - as soon as I finish a couple of things.

Berries for Me!

This was my Wednesday class at Seminar. It's called Berries for You! and is a design by Barbara Jackson. I got fairly far in class and she kept telling me I was doing well. Since she told some others it might be a good idea to do some frogging, I guess I really was doing well. The design is pretty and we're using Heathway and Gumnuts yarns on it. This should be a fairly quick finish when it gets into my rotation. I'm looking forward to working more on it.

I Finished Something!

So this week at Seminar, I finished something. Sure, it was almost done when I got there, but between the busy-ness and the new projects, it's amazing I did. See Anda? I told you I'd get it done. I certainly prefer the blue on bottom to the gold that was recommended. There were no new stitches in this last band, just a repeat of several from above. I think it looks pretty good and my husband has decided we're keeping it instead of giving it away.

On the Way Home

Still no picture today, but that will change tomorrow evening. I finished with the Seminar this afternoon and drove five hours to get halfway home. My class, Heart of Gold by Meredith Willett, was wonderful. I learned some and got quite a bit of the project done. I'm going home knowing that I'll finish all three projects from this seminar. Not a bad feeling. After Tuesday, the city returned to normal. Louisville is pretty obviously depressed as a downtown, but there are a few bright spots. It was a safe city to walk in, even if it rained on both my walks today. Overall, the seminar itself was very good. The town - well ... could be better. Next year is Pittsburgh. My husband wants me to go, and I know some about Pittsburgh already - my in-laws live close to there. I'm still deciding. So, pictures tomorrow after I get home.

Almost Three of Four

I'm almost done with the third corner now - it's going slowly at the moment because of all the other stuff (like seminar and sending my youngest to college) I've been doing this past couple of weeks. Things sink back down to normal after Saturday, so I'll have things progressing more then. Today at Seminar I did a crewel piece with Barbara Jackson. It felt good being told my stitches were so good, since I'm pretty much self taught. This will definitely be something I'll finish, and actually finish pretty quickly. Like the temari, it's about half done.

Apology for Yesterday

I'm sorry there was no post yesterday. It's the first day I've missed in a long time! I can only beg off lack of time from spending a long time with a phone problem at seminar. I had a wonderful time yesterday in my temari class and am going to have two very presentable balls by the time I finish them! What more can be asked than learning a new skill and doing well at it?