Quilted wall hanging for the river house

I have a bad habit of working on a lot of different projects at the same time. Lately, my choices have been huge and time consuming! I guess I just get bored with one thing and pick up something else for a while. So while I have not completed my little crazy quilt (the embroidery is all done - I just need to assemble it now) and I have not completed writing for the next online temari class (Desert Spirit), I started something else. Using up stash fabric is part of my New Year's resolution so the timing feels right.

Three panel walling hanging

I love the tile on the island on my kitchen for pressing large projects!

For many, many years (more than I like to count), I've collected fabric from Japan. We've got this new (to us) little house down on the Pamlico River and the walls are bare and bleak. So I'm making a wall hanging to go above the sofa. The three panels are nice "cheater" cloths - printed scroll-shaped panels from Japan. The sashing is from a wedding kimono and just glows against the dark blue of the panels. I added just a pop of red batik in the 1/2" border to echo the red in the panels. The outside border is an upholstery fabric with fantastic texture to contrast with the other textures in the quilt.

Yes, there is temari here! Just a little block in each corner.

Just a touch of temari on the quilt - a block in each corner.

I can always see improvements and things that I'd like to do for the next project. Next time, I'll add hand embroidery to the panels before I assemble the quilt. Wouldn't that moon look great with reverse applique using the same wedding kimono fabric?!! I'd I would continue the wheat onto the moon with embroidery. The center panel has infinite opportunities for embellishment. While the crane panel doesn't need much (I do love its simplicity), some sashiko quilting would really set it off. Just a touch here and there.

Back to pinning.....

Temari Addict Australia celebrates 4 years!

It's hard for me to believe that Rebecca has been blogging for four years now. Congratulations on making such a cheerful and interesting place to visit, Rebecca. May you have many, many more years on the web!

Rebecca is holding a contest. Visit her blog and leave a comment. You'll be entered in a drawing for some Kyo thread from Japan!

Here is the link to Temari Addict Australia

Interlocking Pentagons Temari

This temari caught my eye the very first time I looked through the Japanese temari book Flower Temari from the Kaga Region of Kyoto (Kaga Hana Temari) by Takahara, published in 1992 by Macaw. I finally got around to stitching it last week and am really pleased with the result. Now, I'm off to buy some variegated perle cotton to make another.

Here is what you do:

Stitch around the outside of one of the pentagons marked on a C10. Keep going until the corners meet the centers of the 4-part diamonds. Then stitch the same pentagon around the other centers on the C10, interlocking them as you go. Fill in the remaining space with solid pentagon stitching in a contrasting color.

There are so many temari in this book that I want to try!