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to the Ladies and Gents of Brandywine:

What a delightful weekend I had with the EGA chapter of Brandywine!  The class was so much fun! 


 

Thank you for the hospitality and for the willingness to go on this color journey with me!




and now for Monday...

xo
Orna

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A brief list of random thoughts.

A brief list of random thoughts:

1.  Tomorrow I join 17 others to take a journey into their color worlds.  This two day class is always an amazing experience for me. 

It usually begins with a room full of faces that seem apprehensive, unsure, skeptical and at times downright pouting.  I completely understand, they have decided to trust me and join a class that promises to teach color but refuses to use a color wheel.  A class for which preparation is to collect stones, feathers, fabric, beads, paper, inspired by a magazine photograph.  Weird. 


It usually ends with a room full of excited, confident, open and at times downright jubilant faces.  What more can a teacher ask for?

2.  Overnight, (I swear it happened overnight), Nomi decided to try out the terrible twos. She must have got her hands on some sort of Parenting book and she turned into a walking NO! machine.  What I love about this?  As a parent I would probably be crying, as a grandparent it makes me laugh.  She is so cute when she yells NO!

3.  Nina has a new love; Folk dancing.  She discovered it in Jerusalem this past summer.  Right outside the stone walls of the Old City we came across a large group of adults dancing to folk music from all over the world.  Most of these people were our age and older, and seemed to be familiar with the dances and the beautiful music.  I noticed Nina moving to the music.  Next thing, there she was, grabbing hands on both sides and joining into the circle of dancers.  Her head down watching the feet of her neighbors she danced so beautifully and effortlessly, catching on to the steps at record speed.  She was glowing.  So, we came back home and I looked into finding a folk dancing group she could dance with and found one in Philadelphia.  During the summer months they dance outside, on the upper terrace of the Art Museum, at the top of the Rocky steps.  It's beautiful out there and with the folk music in the air and my daughter dancing with such elegance, it is quite the view!



4. I've been noticing plaid in fashion everywhere.  So I went investigating and Googled plaid fashion 2014.  I was right, it's a trend. 


Which made me feel that my design Contemporary Tartan was a trail blazer!


5. I noticed the plaid when I went looking for some nice dresses for Nina.  Being 12, going on 13, she has a year full of Bat and Bar Mitzvahs to go to, which posses a problem when you have a tomboy daughter who HATES dresses.  

 

 







Nina might go for plaid in a dress, making it less "girlie". These are just a few examples, (Free People).  I've brought home and taken back unprecedented numbers of dresses for her to try on, with no luck.  I'm about to head out the door for my next return/search expedition.  I need to make it fast so I can complete my packing for the workshop I'm giving tomorrow. (See 1.)










We'll talk soon!
xo


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How it goes...

The two "Big-Time" Jewish holidays (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), came and went.  There was so much cooking and baking going on around here, I don't know when I'll be able to look at chicken soup again without feel nauseous.  


From the book...
I mixed things up by trying many a new recipe from a most fabulous book,  Ottolenghi The Cookbook. The Sour Cherry Amaretti cookies are to die for.  I gave the recipe to my friend Dalia. She called the other day to tell me that she was upset with me, she made the cookies, they came out amazing, she kept eating them and finally decided to put them in the freezer so she wouldn't eat them anymore.  But that's not why she called, she said, she just wanted to tell me that the cookies are very tasty frozen as well!  Sorry Dalia...

I've spent many hours at the computer writing instructions for my new color class design.  So many hours, and I'm still not done.  It's such a long process and demands so much attention to details.  Let me explain: below you can see a tiny section of the design, probably not more than 1.5" x 1.5" in size.  This tiny section is more than 3 pages long in the instruction book!


The written pages go through proof-reading and style-adjusting and marking and marking until they are ready to move on to my stitcher-gals, who will painstakingly proof stitch the design.



So, back to work until I find an excuse to get up and move away from the computer.  In about 2 hours doing laundry will seem like a fun activity.


PS -
I also wanted to give you a teeny, tiny peek at a new design I've started.  It will be an Ikat pattern.  I love the interesting combinations of shapes in Ikat patterns so I'll be working on a few stitched ones for you and me.

 




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Go ahead, make my day!

 Thank you to...

 Heidi's leather bag with Squaredance insert.  Genius, Heidi, just genius!



Kim's Flower Cuff with metal insert.  Such beautiful work, Kim!  Thanks for the metal inserts!!




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Prep and Prep and Prep!

Since yesterday I have been prepping...

in the Kitchen for the Holidays -



in the Studio for Color Classes -




and on the Web for inspiration -

Jazmin Berakha

Kimika

Emily Barletta

What have you been doing?

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©Orna Willis
All images, text, and content on this site are the sole property of Orna Willis and may not be used, copied or transmitted without the express consent of Orna Willis. Any other inquiries please email me at orna@ornadesign.com

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