My weekend ...

I have 5 drawers full of designs that have never been introduced.  I seem to be in a constant catching up when charting and writing instructions are involved. I haven't visited these drawers in a long while.  This morning I took a peek.  If only (!!!!) I had another me who could just write and chart. 

*    *    *    *    *    *

There is a verse in the Old Testament that I think is so smart, (there are many smart verses).

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; 

there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

I am a HUGE believer in this verse, in regards to almost any aspect of life; what has been done will be done again.  I love reading and pouring over older art books. Each time I do I will realize that what I thought to be modern and new in our times, has been done before!  Have you looked at needlepoint books from the 60s and 70s. What creativity, what modernity!  It really keeps me humble and puts me in my place.

BUT, (you knew there was a but, right?), each of us still has our personal signature.  We may mix the known in a different way, we may turn things upside down, we may add our special touch and with that maybe not create something new, but create something that is of us, is ours.  It is such a great compliment when people tell me that they recognized one of my designs right away! I have heard people say: oh, that's an Orna.  I love that!  I have no illusions of being a great artist, I am what I am, I bring what I hold inside.

Have a wonderful weekend, my friends!

Read more...

Good morning from Valentino.

It's enough to make one's needle twitch.

Valentino 2015

Read more...

Adorably ridiculous.

Every once in a while I come across something that grabs my attention.  Sometimes it's useful, sometimes beautiful and creative, sometimes unique and sometimes just darn silly and adorable. Truth is, I tend to keep the silly and adorable to myself, these things don't necessarily show my more refined self.  

This time I'm sharing. I LOVE miniatures.  They appeal to me in a very strange and satisfying way. Couple that with anything that has to do with threads, stitching and organization? Fohget about it!

Here it is.  I found this on Etsy, it's a shop in China! This is all from the same store. What a mishmash!  

All of these DIY miniature kits, you build each on your own.

A floss organizer.  I've never seen anything like this and 

what are those symbols between the rows of thread? 

they come in lots of colors...

and more miniatures, this time vintage vehicles. How weird! 

How mesmerizing in a strange kind of way.

I wanted to give you the link to the shop, just in case you think it's adorable as well but I accidentally closed it down, so I went looking for it on Etsy. And to my surprise, it turns out there are many shops in the far east with this stuff.  WHO KNEW??

Read more...

Fiber, Metal and Stone, all in a week's work.

I find designing stitches for my painted canvases very challenging. A painted canvas is a piece of art, it's, well,  ... a painted canvas. So there has to be a very good reason to stitch over it.  I search and search for good justification to adding  stitching on top of the painted work and if I'm not absolutely sure I've found stitches that enhance what is already there, well, no compromising, I keep searching.

So, if you remember my birds, (who for the reasons stated above are taking sooooo long to design!!), I had my third bird moving along quite well.

 

In fact, the background was all done in the manner you see above.  I was stitching the background, adding the felt leaves, padding the flowers, but the whole time I was not happy.  When I competed it I shuddered.  It was WRONG!  It was so heavy that the poor bird became buried in a big pile of stitches.  I looked at the canvas and despite hours of stitching and experimenting, it took me a minute to decide to grab my trusty seam rippers and out it went! I felt a burden come off my shoulders, and off of the bird's shoulders as well.   I put the canvas down for a couple of weeks and with a deep breath came back to it again.  After a few failed attempts, I got it!  And this time I'm very happy! Here is a glimpse.

I've been a little all over the place this week, working on some metal stamped jewelry, (I promised to teach a class on metal stamping and designing jewelry, I don't know when I'll learn to say no?) 

Then I went on to design and execute a new silver ring with a beautiful raw amethyst stone. Sawing out the leaf shapes and then putting the ring together was challenging but I felt the stone needed to be exposed more than just on the top.  Once I completed the ring,  I found out that the shank is too big for me!  If I want to wear it I will need to redo the shank, and I'm already getting  a headache.  :(

It's time to get back to stitching so off I go.

Read more...

Seriously, it's been that long?

Edges of Royal

I didn't realize it's been 10 days since I wrote last.  There was the sale, my oh my, you were busy there! and kept me busy! Thank you so much for validating my work with your purchases.  I appreciate it!  We worked really hard to get the orders out as soon as they came in, it was challenging! and fun!  Next, you remember my website saga, right? After looking around and contacting a few people, I began doing it on my own to see how I do.  I've been using one of the template sites for designing your own website.  I am surprised to see how well I'm doing!  It's tons of work, very tedious, but I think I'm kind of enjoying myself.  The one problem is that I'm not getting much else done when I'm at work.  I will continue working and see how things move along and whether I am going to complete it on my own or continue to look for someone good, reliable and affordable.

Read more...

It's raining threads on sale!!

Lots of threads have entered into the wonderful world of the Adorn by Orna Etsy Shop.

They come in silk perle...

They come in stranded silk...

and they all come with 15% discount!!

AND  don't forget about our amazing
digital instruction books - all 50% off!!  

Read more...