Temari

One of the other crafts I do is make Temari balls. I was taught by a friend of mine who lived part of the year in Cyprus (from what I understand it is a popular craft there).
Temarikai is a helpful site for anyone who is interested.

They are stitched balls and are a traditional Japanese craft. I start with a ball of wool and wind some sewing thread of whatever colour I want the background to be. Then mark out the sections and stitch the pattern. Here are a few photos of temari balls I have made.

Japanese Wallhanging

Been planning quite an elaborate Christmas present for my mum. She really likes koi carp and I spotted this Kona Bay Japanese print at last year's Festival of Quilts; so I just had to have it.

I'd seen something at the show with a similar print in; which was banner shaped with diamond blocks surrounding it. Thought I'd do something similar but I've got a bit of a penchant for Cathedral block windows. Lynne Edwards has released a new book Cathedral Window Quilts: The Classic Folded Technique and a Wealth of Variations
It's a really beautiful book and she goes into detail on all the different ways of making Cathedral Windows plus other types of folded blocks too. What I found quite useful was the machine piecing section which I put into practice making the wallhanging. I must say it was a little fiddly at times but think it turned out well. One of the tricky parts for me was the free motion quilting on the picture.

I used Perfect Pallete fabric for the main background & the windows are from a charm pack of Kona Bay fabrics. Finally finished it just in time for Christmas. This is my Japanese Window Wallhanging.

Los calcetines primero

Just taken up knitting again after my first attempt ( which involved the knitting being thrown across the room after dropping a stitch and not being able to fix it). This time is different; think I've got the hang of it.

I was inspired by a friend of mine after seeing a knitting magazine of hers. It was Let's Knit and they had a whole section on socks; the idea of double pointed needles was a bit daunting but I just had to have a go. I went next day to buy it and you get a free pack of dpn with the magazine.

Got some Regia 4ply sock yarn and by the end of the weekend I had knitted my first pair of socks (one or two hiccups along the way - picking up the stitches was a bit haphazard).

I love the self-patterning yarn so easy to make but the finished sock looks super. The pattern came free with the yarn. My fiancee, Jim, really liked them too so I went and got 6ply Regia yarn and made him a pair. I'll post a photo of them later when I can get him to model them.