These two photos show the yellow flower side and the white puff side of the dandelion.  The white puff side was stitched with a combination of a thin white wool thread and Rainbow Gallery Arctic Rays.  The Arctic Rays is what gives the fuzzy effect. (Debi notes  that it is really easy to work with in spite of being so fuzzy.) The remainder of the design is worked in pearl cotton.

Wrap and mark a 2 1/2 to 3 inch mari, with a C8 division. Use a marking thread to match the mari...three strands of dark green. The photo and diagram at left shows the placement of the  leaves.  The red pin is the original N pole from marking the C8, the yellow pins are the 8-centers around the obi, the white pin is the 'new' North pole for the purpose of this design.  Stitch green spindles as shown for the dandelion leaves. Start the spindles half way between the marking lines intersections as shown (green lines on diagram).

The stitching diagram above shows the stitching of the flower side.  The orange lines are the extra support lines to add before stitching.  The dark and light green lines on the diagram show the stitching of the base.  After the base, stitch several long straight stitches across the top to create the beginning of the flower head.  (These are blue and brown on the diagram - Joan described these in her post on variation number 1).  Then the top of the flower is stitched (see photo above with yellow flower) in crescent shaped rows, from left to right, then under the mari back to the left for the next row.  (Grey pencil lines on the diagram)  To get the petaled look on the dandelion,  stitch two rows from left baseline to right baseline, then one row that stopped one line short, then two rows all the way again, repeating until I liked the size.  Finally, add a stem, just a long straight stitch from the flower base to the leaves.

Joan's Thistle: (see completed Thistle temari at top of pattern page):

I used a c8 and held the Mari so the 8 pole square is diagonal. (the corners are pointing north,south,east,west.) I added extra marking lines on the top half of each 8 pole. Thistle 1: I added 4 extra mark lines. I worked the green first with single thread, passing my needle under the wrap to start the next row. I worked the Yellow with double thread,straight stitch, passing the needle under the thread wrap and covered the top edge of the green. My marking was not tight enough and the top of my green was not straight. so the Yellow covered most of my first 2 rows. I worked the blue and dark purple with 2 rows of double thread double thread and used the marking lines to form an arch. I passed the needle under the wrap to begin the next row. At this point it was becoming more difficult to pass the needle under the wrap so I started working back and forth for the 3 remaining purples.I stitched 2 rows each with double thread. I could not find a *comfortable* way to do the top of the thistle. I was unhappy with the edges when I worked back and forth and I did not like passing my needle under the wrap because as I went along I was also passing under previous rows of stitching so I had to dig my needle deeper and deeper.

Thistle 2 is worked with the C8 square held on the diagonal. I put 2 extra guide lines between each of the top 4 guidelines. Hold the ball so the thistle head is worked downward. I then used my gold thread to stitch an arch around the center knot. Next I did 2 rows of standard kiku stitch in blue-purple. Next I worked 2 rows of dark purple kiku below the blue-purple. My dk. purple stitches did not touch the blue-purple. This part is a variation of the kiku. If you look at the dark purple rows you will see little X's formed. I worked the rest of the thistle top by putting my needle through the hole between the X's. This way you will have a point on every guideline with just 1 row. I worked 2 rows of med. purple 1 row of light purple and 1 row of very light purple. I worked back and forth turning my ball to go back in the opposite direction. For the stem I used a dark yellow-green and a med. yellow-green. I stitched 2 rows and then changed colors for a total of 18 rows or 9 bands of color in a V shape under the gold arch; I passed my thread under the wrap to start each new row. I used the center guide line to take a stitch as I worked across. I filled in a small gap with my dk yellow-green.

This is the easiest pattern of the 3 thistle patterns. It is done an a C8, hold your ball so the square is on the diagonal. Add 2 extra guide lines between each of the 4 guidelines on the top half of the square. I stitched the thistle top first. Using your drk. purple stitch one vertical straight stitch about 1/4 inch long between each guideline. Start the stitch as close to the pole as possible. next use your med. purple.Bring your thread up in the same hole your drk. purple went down in.Stitch one straight stitch about 1/4 inch long between each guideline. Repeat using light purple and bring your thread up in the hole your med purple stitch went down in. When this row is done look to see if there is room to put a second stitch between the guide lines and fill in if necessary. Repeat using pale purple. Remember to bring your thread up in the hole from your previous row. Fill in if necessary. Place a pin about half way between the bottom of your thistle and the south corner of your square. Start a spindle at the pin using lt. green, but cross your stitch under the thread wrap when you come up to the thistle. do 4 rounds then change to drk. green and do 3 rounds. Use blue to make one horizontal straight stitch under the thistle and over the top of the Green stem from one end of the dark purple to the other. Use drk. yellow for two rows bring you stitch up close to the side of the stem and let the blue stitch stick out on either side. Repeat with two rows of lt. yellow. Thistle is complete.