Had to look up temari balls on Google. Those are pretty
-
Too many ads? Join our community of cat lovers now to reduce ads by 90%! Click here to join for free!
The "What's on your mind?" Thread -2017
- Thread starter artiemom
- Start Date
- Status
Yes and no; it depends on the pattern. Different people use different things for the core of the ball; I generally opt for Styrofoam balls from Jo-Ann's. Other options include a ball of yarn, and some people get rice hulls from home brewing supply stores and put them in the toe of an old nylon sock. Styrofoam is lighter than rice hulls, so it makes better Christmas tree ornaments, and getting a ball of yarn to be spherical and smooth is more than I can manage -- I've tried. The smaller guage the yarn is, the better.Had to look up temari balls on Google. Those are prettyAre they hard to make?
Once you have your ball, you wrap it with a thick layer of thread, going every which way -- you don't want the threads to be all parallel to each other -- and when you're done with that you work the end of the thread into the thread layer you've just wound, running it back and forth a few times so it won't slip. This is your foundation, the fabric into which you embroider. Then you measure your points, generally starting with two directly opposite each other, called the pole points (like north and south poles), find an equator, and work out the geometry from there. There are books that tell you exactly how to measure to get different shapes mapped onto the ball. After that you run some guide threads between the pins (usually), working in the ends in the same as for the foundation thread, and embroider on top of that.
There are some standard patterns and stitches -- various flowers, and such -- or you can make up your own. The masters generally make a self-portrait ball.
A lot of it is choosing your threads and colors, and it's easy to spend a bundle on specialty threads. Really slick threads don't work well, I've discovered, as it's extremely hard to anchor the ends so that they remain taut over time. I'm pretty sure there are some good YouTube video tutorials available, though I haven't checked -- just about everything is on YouTube. There's also an online Temari Group; it used to be a Yahoo group but they've recently moved. I can find out their new location for you if you like. They do stitch-alongs, where a leader gives instructions and everyone working the project checks in as they complete each step, with the leader available to help with problems anyone encounters, and they have a large group of learning files with instructions on how to do various divisions. Word of warning there, though -- they measure everything (incuding ball size) in centimeters, and frequently use some specialized tools made only in Japan, which also expect centimeters. This can make it difficult if you're using Styrofoam balls bought in the U.S.. When I learned temari (entirely from books) those specialized tools weren't available; we did it all by making measurement tools ourselves, generally out of paper strips, and got our angles from distance measurements, based on the size of the ball. I'm not sure whether any of the newer books still teach those methods.
Margret
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2014
- Messages
- 8,089
- Purraise
- 13,358
I found a few places close to where I rented the past few years. Asked a few questions and I am thinking we will go to a new lake this time. We have been there 6? 7? years? I forget how many. So all is not lost..it's just that some of the places are already booked and Mr. Picky pants is fussy about accommodations. As long as they have cable TV and I have a decent yard to play in I am happy. oh and a halfway decent bed. One place I was looking at the bed is on a pine box-which is fine for kids-but sounds hard as a rock...guess I am a picky pants too.
Well, the trash will sit another day. I was going to post here, and then take it out, and the rain has started. SIGH...
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2016
- Messages
- 2,117
- Purraise
- 2,892
I don't trust bra measuring. I was professionally measured once and when trying on bras, they clearly measured my cup size totally wrong.
This last month, I found a couple of plunge shirts and while trying to decide if I wanted them, my cleavage looked ridiculous. I realized that the 40D bra I was wearing was too huge, my chest had obviously shrunk right along with my hips. Trying on several bras, I found that a 38DD worked best. However when I measured myself just now, the tape says I should be wearing a 40DDD.
If a 40D was so ridiculously huge that the girls were drooping while the bra was on and I could fit my hand in the cup, how the heck am I going to fill out a 40DDD bra??
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2016
- Messages
- 2,117
- Purraise
- 2,892
Is there maybe a timeshare nearby? A lot of owners will rent out their week if they are unable to take advantage of it in a given year.
Hi ladies,
Unfortunately, I have sad news. My friend Chris's kitty Lily passed away last night. The vet called him early this morning. He came knocking on my door at 9:00, I just knew by the look on his face.
I drove him out there to see her, and say good- by. It was not easy, since I was in the same place, at the same place, just 13 months ago for Angel, doing the same.
He is so upset. He wishes he could have been there when she passed. I told him to at least have comfort in the fact that he went to visit her on Saturday, taking her things that had his smell on them, that she
probably felt comforted with his smell there, & was able to go peacefully. She is at peace, no longer in a sick body.
He is having her cremated.
Thank you everyone who has prayed for them. Please say a prayer for Chris as he goes through this. Thank you.
R.I.P. sweet Lily Your daddy loves you more than you will ever know. You were his heart.
Unfortunately, I have sad news. My friend Chris's kitty Lily passed away last night. The vet called him early this morning. He came knocking on my door at 9:00, I just knew by the look on his face.
I drove him out there to see her, and say good- by. It was not easy, since I was in the same place, at the same place, just 13 months ago for Angel, doing the same.
He is so upset. He wishes he could have been there when she passed. I told him to at least have comfort in the fact that he went to visit her on Saturday, taking her things that had his smell on them, that she
probably felt comforted with his smell there, & was able to go peacefully. She is at peace, no longer in a sick body.
He is having her cremated.
Thank you everyone who has prayed for them. Please say a prayer for Chris as he goes through this. Thank you.
R.I.P. sweet Lily Your daddy loves you more than you will ever know. You were his heart.
Aww, I'm so sorry to hear about Lily. She was obviously dearly loved. I was so hoping for a different outcome.
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2015
- Messages
- 1,827
- Purraise
- 1,032
In the next one, you can see that the pink one with the pentagons is incomplete; if you zoom in on it you can see the pins still in place. This is another one begun before my lost decade. My original intention was either twelve different colored stars or six, with opposite pentagons having the same colors. It also included irridescent background stars, done with a thread that was discontinued some time during my lost decade, View media item 411966View media item 411967View media item 411968View media item 411969View media item 411970View media item 411972View media item 411973View media item 411974I'm not sure why I don't have a picture of the fourth side of the tetrahedron temari; I think I had trouble focusing for some reason.
My best temari were given to my mother, and I don't have pictures of them. At some point they'll be coming back to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallyollyopia
I'm so sorry to hear this.
Margret
Last edited:
Thank you Margret.
@Angels mommy - I am so sorry too. I was hoping the outcome would be different. Everyone here knows what it's like to lose a beloved kitty. Tell Chris our thoughts are with him.
Yes, we do. Thank you so much, I will.
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2013
- Messages
- 2,696
- Purraise
- 4,448
I haven't been here for a week or more, there were over 40 entries since I last looked. Remember when I told you about water intrusion due to the heavy rains we had here in January? Twice! Finally got the walls dry after they had been opened up and were repaired again. No paint. The one shutter was sitting on the floor, nobody wanted to take responsibility for that.
Then the bathtub stopped up and it took forever for someone to come and push a snake down the drain. Not my fault, 5 other people use the plumbing farther down where the stoppage was, so nobody got charged for that.
A week ago the water heater sprung a huge leak on top, water running down the sides. Couldn't reach the shut off valve without getting on a step stool and then I could not turn it off, it was frozen. Called Property Services to shut off the water. It took them 1 1/2 hours to get there, all the while the water is running, on the floor, I got all my towels to contain the flood.
The tank is located in a closet in the hallway to the bathroom. The water ran into unit down below onto her wooden floor (I have tile in the hall) and down into the underground garage where it was running onto one side of my car, making a big puddle under my car.
So Property Services came and shut off the water and drained the tank, then put it outside my front door. Called my landlord, he said to get another tank, his insurance is going to pay for it..
I arranged that with Home Depot and there were more snafus so that I did not get a new tank until this past Saturday. A whole week without hot water. No shower, just sponge bath with water heating in a big pot on the stove, also for washing dishes. They also picked up the old tank.
In the meantime of course I had the noisy dehumidifier sitting there again drying out the place with the cats not happy at all. But because of the snafus the tank was upgraded, so was the warranty, I got a senior discount and as I paid with my credit card I will get cash back on that purchase although I will take the whole bill off my next month's rent and send the receipts to the landlord. He was happy with the discounts and upgrade, he's so cheap he thought my handyman could install the tank but the old tank had been there for 14 years and codes have changed since then and my handyman would not have known those anyway. Then Property Services will come over later for an inspection and if the work and installation was not up to code it would have to be done over again.
I tried sleeping in the guest bedroom but that bed is small and I don't like the mattress although my daughter had declared it to be really nice. So I would turn off the noisy machine which was right outside my bedroom door every night and turned it back on the next day just so I could sleep in my own bed.
Somebody finally came this morning to pick up the noisy machine and it has also been decided that Property Services was responsible for putting the shutter back up as they had taken it down which they also did today. But not the paint. Since this is a condo everything inside the paint is the responsibility of the owner. My handyman will come over later this week to paint. Landlord is paying for that also. I will finally have this place back in its previous shape, sure had to wait long enough.
The first night I had hot water again I soaked in the tub for half an hour, actually nodded off in the hot water and then went to bed and slept like a baby. Oh yes!
On Saturday, before they brought the tank, I had to take Patrick, the foster, back to the vet because he was stopped up again. Poor baby! This cannot go on like this, he had just been there two weeks before, he's probably miserable and his quality of life can't be good with all these assaults on his body. So I will seriously have to consider sending him to the rainbow bridge. Surgery for megacolon is expensive and he may be worse off afterwards with really loose stools, smearing the mess all over the place. The vet and a few of my friends from the Cat Club and Adoption Program agree with this, so when it happens again he will be released, be that two weeks from now or 6 months from now, there is just no point in continuing his misery. It will be hard to let him go, he is affectionate when I can catch him or, like right now, when he keeps hanging around my legs (and run when I try to pick him up), he has been with me for going on 3 years and he is still a pretty young cat at age 5 or 6.
Then the bathtub stopped up and it took forever for someone to come and push a snake down the drain. Not my fault, 5 other people use the plumbing farther down where the stoppage was, so nobody got charged for that.
A week ago the water heater sprung a huge leak on top, water running down the sides. Couldn't reach the shut off valve without getting on a step stool and then I could not turn it off, it was frozen. Called Property Services to shut off the water. It took them 1 1/2 hours to get there, all the while the water is running, on the floor, I got all my towels to contain the flood.
The tank is located in a closet in the hallway to the bathroom. The water ran into unit down below onto her wooden floor (I have tile in the hall) and down into the underground garage where it was running onto one side of my car, making a big puddle under my car.
So Property Services came and shut off the water and drained the tank, then put it outside my front door. Called my landlord, he said to get another tank, his insurance is going to pay for it..
I arranged that with Home Depot and there were more snafus so that I did not get a new tank until this past Saturday. A whole week without hot water. No shower, just sponge bath with water heating in a big pot on the stove, also for washing dishes. They also picked up the old tank.
In the meantime of course I had the noisy dehumidifier sitting there again drying out the place with the cats not happy at all. But because of the snafus the tank was upgraded, so was the warranty, I got a senior discount and as I paid with my credit card I will get cash back on that purchase although I will take the whole bill off my next month's rent and send the receipts to the landlord. He was happy with the discounts and upgrade, he's so cheap he thought my handyman could install the tank but the old tank had been there for 14 years and codes have changed since then and my handyman would not have known those anyway. Then Property Services will come over later for an inspection and if the work and installation was not up to code it would have to be done over again.
I tried sleeping in the guest bedroom but that bed is small and I don't like the mattress although my daughter had declared it to be really nice. So I would turn off the noisy machine which was right outside my bedroom door every night and turned it back on the next day just so I could sleep in my own bed.
Somebody finally came this morning to pick up the noisy machine and it has also been decided that Property Services was responsible for putting the shutter back up as they had taken it down which they also did today. But not the paint. Since this is a condo everything inside the paint is the responsibility of the owner. My handyman will come over later this week to paint. Landlord is paying for that also. I will finally have this place back in its previous shape, sure had to wait long enough.
The first night I had hot water again I soaked in the tub for half an hour, actually nodded off in the hot water and then went to bed and slept like a baby. Oh yes!
On Saturday, before they brought the tank, I had to take Patrick, the foster, back to the vet because he was stopped up again. Poor baby! This cannot go on like this, he had just been there two weeks before, he's probably miserable and his quality of life can't be good with all these assaults on his body. So I will seriously have to consider sending him to the rainbow bridge. Surgery for megacolon is expensive and he may be worse off afterwards with really loose stools, smearing the mess all over the place. The vet and a few of my friends from the Cat Club and Adoption Program agree with this, so when it happens again he will be released, be that two weeks from now or 6 months from now, there is just no point in continuing his misery. It will be hard to let him go, he is affectionate when I can catch him or, like right now, when he keeps hanging around my legs (and run when I try to pick him up), he has been with me for going on 3 years and he is still a pretty young cat at age 5 or 6.
I'm very sorry about the loss of Lily!
The temari balls are beautiful.
The temari balls are beautiful.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #1,196
@Angels mommy I am so sorry to hear about Lily. Your friend must be devastated..((hugs)) to all....
Thanks Cindy, he really is. She was his little girl.
He said the crying comes in waves, & he was just letting it happen. I remember all to well what that feels like.
He said the crying comes in waves, & he was just letting it happen. I remember all to well what that feels like.
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2016
- Messages
- 2,117
- Purraise
- 2,892
I am so sorry.
Thank you.
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2016
- Messages
- 2,117
- Purraise
- 2,892
So I went upstairs, again, to do laundry. (Read in the Getting Old thread for what happened the first time.)
First, I found three pairs of my husband's socks on my side of the bed. The husband (who is edging his way into the dog house) had left his sock drawer open and Montressor clearly went in search of "loveys". No piece of clothing in this house is safe. Since I've taken over laundry duties from my daughter there are no more clothes laying out to snag so clearly he was in withdrawals.
Put the socks back and made the bed about as well as I usually do, which means pulling the top sheet down at the foot end if it's crept too high again, straightening my electric blanket (I have a twin size since my husband doesn't want one, so it's only on my side) and tossing the rest of the blankets sorta neatly on the bed. No square corners or bouncing quarters here.
Brought in the hamper with clean clothes and started folding them. Laid out the hanging stuff on one side, started folding the rest and as I was folding the second towel Montressor decided that the only spot he wanted on the entire bed was the first towel. He spun an entire circle on the towel trying to figure out how to fit all of him on it.
Well, there's a reason god decided to let us domesticate the African wildcat and not the African lion. He's small, I'm big so I picked him up and dropped him on the other side of the bed where I didn't plan on putting folded clothing. Put the second towel on the first, reached down into the hamper to grab another item, straightened up and saw this.
Really cat? You do know I'm planning on hanging those, right? There's an entire half of a bed available to you, why do you want my half too?
First, I found three pairs of my husband's socks on my side of the bed. The husband (who is edging his way into the dog house) had left his sock drawer open and Montressor clearly went in search of "loveys". No piece of clothing in this house is safe. Since I've taken over laundry duties from my daughter there are no more clothes laying out to snag so clearly he was in withdrawals.
Put the socks back and made the bed about as well as I usually do, which means pulling the top sheet down at the foot end if it's crept too high again, straightening my electric blanket (I have a twin size since my husband doesn't want one, so it's only on my side) and tossing the rest of the blankets sorta neatly on the bed. No square corners or bouncing quarters here.
Brought in the hamper with clean clothes and started folding them. Laid out the hanging stuff on one side, started folding the rest and as I was folding the second towel Montressor decided that the only spot he wanted on the entire bed was the first towel. He spun an entire circle on the towel trying to figure out how to fit all of him on it.
Well, there's a reason god decided to let us domesticate the African wildcat and not the African lion. He's small, I'm big so I picked him up and dropped him on the other side of the bed where I didn't plan on putting folded clothing. Put the second towel on the first, reached down into the hamper to grab another item, straightened up and saw this.
Really cat? You do know I'm planning on hanging those, right? There's an entire half of a bed available to you, why do you want my half too?
- Status
