temari NY 2004

TemariNY 2004 StitchIn page 2 back to page 1
Poughkeepsie, NY USA April 23-25 2004

        Saturday indeed found us up and going with the Marriott crew here on time for breakfast, which was self-serve hot or cold cereals, bagels and cream cheese and coffee cake, juice and coffee. The project for the weekend was combining two traditional Japanese crafts - temari and kokeshi. I'd been the fortunate winner of an auction for a darling Kokeshi-like doll made with a Temari ball body last fall, and thought that it would be a neat project to work on for the StitchIn. So, everyone set to working a pole to pole kiku (or simple kiku) - or whatever struck their fancy (ok, so this crew is not known for following instructions). This was an ongoing thing throughout the day, with the project table set up on the porch with the wooden doll heads, caps, bunka to make tassels for arms, glue and markers to paint the faces..... and needless to say there were as many variations as we had people. Not everyone completed their little buddy here, but all the needed parts went home as needed and I do believe we have a growing population of TemariKokehsi people scattered over the northern hemisphere. As we were working on these and catching up across the board, there was a strange noise in the doorway and there stood Carolyn Volk - an alum from last year that had been tied to a previous engagement this year and had to pass on reserving a spot for the weekend, but then had plans changed at the last minute. So - being a genealogy fan, Carolyn decided to drag her ever-loving hubby (and rubber-snake shooting, but that's a whole other story) Dennis down from Jamestown, NY (the OTHER end of the state of NY) to find the cemetery in Canaan, CT (about an hour from me) where her ancestors are buried exactly on THIS weekend so that they could drop in and say hi to everyone. Once the eyeballs dried up a bit, I was told that there was a presentation to be made... and they got me. There has been a core group on the TalkTemari list trying to dub me with an appropriate title (or so they deem) as list mama, MammaSan Ginny, etc. - you get the idea, which I tacitly have managed to duck out from under so far... Well, like it or not I have now been invested as the Mayor of TemariKai, thanks to another alum Barb Suess who also had to pass this year and a secret committee (whom I'm still ferreting out).... they nabbed many current and past attendees to contribute to "decorating" the Top Hat that is the symbol of office. Words actually fail - only the visual will do it justice. And, The Hat has been blessed for double duty - the now proverbial hat that I use to create GITS pairs now is official also. The presentation and investiture was moved up in the day's schedule it seems to accommodate Carolyn's drop in....   thank you to Barb Suess in Raleigh and Nicole B for the organizing and doing and to all those that are a part of it, being by making one of the teenies that dangles from the brim and makes seeing out from under it impossible, or contributing to the materials (and to Kathy who hauled the thing in her backpack on the plane from Raleigh to Poughkeepsie and never dented it). It does indeed defy description.

        Lunch and dinner were to be catered from a local establishment and I was lucky enough to have wonderful neighbors willing to do the pickup run for me late Saturday morning, so things arrived wonderfully fresh.....   lunch break saw a four-foot submarine sandwich, coleslaw, chips, and a fresh fruit platter of melon, grapes and strawberries go down the collective hatches. Sue H also brought traditional Japanese Moche - rice cakes that get baked and dipped in soy to eat... and actually were not bad! (kind of gluey, but not bad). During lunch we also made available the "store basket" - asort ot "trunk show" assortment of threads form various places that were available for sale well under retail.

       Did I mention that the weather Saturday was gorgeous? well, it was - so then it was outside for photo ops of all the temari brought for Show and Tell...and then Paula took the center of the floor (literally) to give a hands-on demo about working multipole divisions (per the instructions on Temarikai.com but seeing it shown to you as well is a nice help in understanding the process). Kathy then took over and taught the "complex four" division (for lack of a better description of it) that she figured out from the Japanese postcard book (yes, everything that is not will be posted on temarikai in the coming weeks.....). The remaining time of late afternoon was spent working on the "little temari people" - and general helping and sharing. Dinner hit the table with lasagna, chicken marsala, and green salad....   and of course the ongoing selection of goodies for dessert. Again Sue H as well as Nicole tempted us with traditional Japanese sweets - which to western tastes of many would not be considered sweet but they are indeed tasty.

        Saturday evening was, well - let the games begin. First up was the annual Yankee Swap - there are many variations of this around and we continue to "fine-tune" things - but essentially everyone was asked to bring a wrapped gift, value of about ten dollars that had to do somehow with temari or temari-making. Gifts are all put in the middle of the group and we send a set if dice around - roll a 7 or 11 and you choose a gift (to be left UNopened)... this continues till everyone has a gift. Then we set a timer and send the dice around again. Everyone rolls and if a 7 was rolled, all gifts were passed one to the left. If an 11 was rolled, all gifts were passed one person to the right. If a double was rolled then everything got passed two persons to the right until the timer went off - you got what you had when the bell rang- so in the end of course no one ended up with the actually gift (or wrapping) they had their eye on to begin with which makes it all the more fun (this was an improvement over last year, when the timed round was if you rolled a 7 or 11 you got to choose and trade for any other gift. The brilliant idea of Ginny to put a teenie temari on her wrappings sort of created chaos....). One by one we opened our "win"; the person that gave it fessed up and everyone oohed and ahhed over the range of wonderful things that found their way into wrappings (this is a real gift, not gag exchange). Next up was the evening's entertainment - one of our illustrious number, who has been trying to make it to a StitchIn for the three years they have been running and finally made it (Karen tried last year and her camper broke down on the way home from Florida) has been taking belly-dancing lessons for a number of years now as her exercise program. So, with no further fanfare other than the music eminating from the stereo, Karen StJ appeared in full costume and put on a recital for us - which was fabulous. She claimed to be so nervous but she did a marvelous job.... and needless to say the next logical step was for her to give lessons to anyone wanting (or who had had enough wine to not care). Out came the extra veils, dangle belts that make the most wonderful noise and the tape was rewound. Hats off to Nicole, Carol, Harriet and Sarah who all learned to shimmy with the best of them (and I have to confess that I am now the proud owner of a T-shirt from Karen's club that professes that one needs to "Shimmy through Life").

       Despite all the hints and warnings, the Annual TemariKai Trivia Quiz was met with a full chorus of moans and groans.... and these suckers STILL flunked for the most part (even though about half the questions were the same from last year). However, the congratulatory prize to the winner was a very nice washi-paper covered address book so I think interest peeked up a bit for future editions when they saw what was on the line (even Sarah's last minute cramming didn't help her). Carol of Alaska took home the prize for the most correct answers... which probably makes sense since I'm not sure that they have much else to do up there all winter.... As I mentioned previously, we were very well blessed with companies and people donating gifts in kind to the weekend for either goodie bags or door prizes, and as it turned out there was a door prize per person. Rather than wrapping things and doling them out helter skelter with people getting things they didn't want or need we decided to just draw names out of the hat, and as your name was chosen you had your choice of what was available on the table so everyone was a happy and grateful camper. Our deep thanks go to: Marc Fournier and Kiyoko Tibbets of Sophia Books for donating three Japanese craft books and magazines; Vicki Smith of YLI Corp. for a color pack of Pearl Crown Rayon; Tracy Chapman of Sew Thankful for gift bags of Valdani Pearl Cotton; Vicki Clayton of Hand Dyed Fibers for two packs of silk Pearl; Beth Stoll for two sets of temari fabric coasters and a temari fabric bowl; Barb Suess of Kiku Designs for two Zingers; Ruth Cameron for a Temari-design patchwork needle case; and Carol Canright for a local craftsman pottery dish for temari display. After the door prizes we did our Temari Exchange; everyone was asked to bring a completed temari, that somehow represented something about them. The names were returned to the now for-real hat; you drew a name and then presented your temari to that person with an explanation of why it was representative of you. There were oh so many gorgeous temari and almost as many moist eyes as sharing took place (imagine temari with tulips, lighthouses, mountains, Alaskan skies, varied textures, deeply meditative, earth-honoring... all as different as the number of people we had). Just as we finished with the "programmed events" the crew got me again.. Sue H took the floor to offer up a "left over gift" - which finally gave me the answer as to why everyone kept disappearing into her bedroom all weekend one or two at a time (no, we're not that well, uh....). I was presented with a traditional Japanese "Sayonara" doll - made in the style of a Kokeshi Doll, her kimono is actually a Washi paper scroll that unwraps for everyone to add a note and sign.... and considering this StitchIn broke records in terms of the number of places represented that people called home, as well as the abiding friendships that have been made, it is most cherished. I thank Sue and everyone that participated in it. We finished up about 10pm or so; the rest of the evening was open to stitch and share at will, although most were happy to call it an early evening. We still had Sunday to do!

       All good things alas always end too soon, and Sunday morning found Nicole in her now-traditional Brunch Chef role, cranking out delicious bacon and egg bread puddings and pans of Monkey Bread along with coffee and juice. Paula had had to say her good-byes at the conclusion of Saturday evening as she was due back on call in Pennsylvania by noon; however as is also now traditional Harriet's hubby and best story teller David joined us and didn't let us down. He's also the official group photographer. After the official photo it was too soon time to put the drivers on the road and first batch of fliers out to the airport, many with bag lunches that kept the weekend going in their minds as everyone found their safe routes home. Nicole and Sue C as usual hit the day running and before I could blink had beds remade, towels washed and put away and rugs vacuumed; Sunday evening they along with Sarah and I had a movie-night and then tucked in. The limo to the airport was (unfortunately) on time for them Monday morning; Sarah and I had a remaining 24 hours to share before her limo would arrive at 3am Tuesday to return her to Newark for her British Air flight home. Very thankfully everyone tucked back home safe and sound... all of us with another set of wonderful memories, bellies aching from laughter, new ideas and friends, and grins on our faces that haven't worn off yet. Just to think back on the quirks of the time - Eric's two suitcases he brought for 36 hours, which contained one clean change of clothes and the rest was all temari stuff.... Sarah's moocow slippers (that Scooter thought were hers)... Harriet and her yoga sits... Nicole and her tackle box of threads.... Karen's neve-not-there camcorder... the graffiti that kept growing on the bathroom wall (on postit notes thankfully).... Eric worshipping at Nicole's feet (which had their traditional orange polish pedicure).... about eight of us "supervising" my very good natured nextdoor neighbor painting his house....
         And yes, Temari NY 2005 plans are underway. My thanks to all who come and place their trust in "someone on the internet" - granted many of us now are for-real ongoing real world friends but there are always the freshmen each year that gather strange looks when they tell their families and friends they are taking off to spend the weekend with a bunch of people they met on the web....   folks around me now know that this is the year's event and look forward to it as much as I do. It's amazing what a little Japanese Folk Art can do in life.....

on to the photos...