"things" I LOVE!

I thought it would be fun, and also nice, to share with you a few of my favorite things.  Not raindrops on roses or bright copper kettles, (although I love brown paper packages tied up with strings), but some of the stuff I use in my studio that I really love.  Who knows, you might find that you will love some of these too.  So here's a first list -

1.  MOO.  Yes, the company is called Moo, they are British and they print the most awesome business cards ever!  They will print a batch of cards for you, let's say 50, and you can ask to have a different photo on each of these cards.  Really!  The paper is thick and lovely, the turn around is very good and although they are a bit more expensive, they are totally worth it!!  They also print greeting cards, postcards, labels and more.

2. Clear seal-able bags.  I've only been using these for the past three months but I love them!  They come in all sizes and the seal can be opened again and again.  They are more expensive than regular Ziploc type bags but they are worth it.

3. Laminators.  You know I laminate my master charts, and my front page in all my design books.  I've been doing this for years and have found the best supplier of laminator machines and pouches.  The owner is very knowledgeable, always has time to talk me through my needs and when there's a problem, he takes care of it.  Also, they have a great deal on laminator pouches, buy 2 get 1 free.  These pouches are expensive, (hmmm, is there a theme here?),  so it's great to have a good deal. 

4. Ikea for storage.  You know about their office type storage solutions, I'm sure.  They do have great merchandise for good prices.  But what I like most is to use some of there kitchen solutions for my office needs.  These jars are great, I have dozens of them.  Buttons, beads, paper clips, tacks...

5.  My camera.  I love my Canon EOS Rebel T3.  I'm sure they've come out with a newer model, but I love my friend.  A good camera makes a huge difference!

6.  Moleskin little journals.  These little notebooks/journals make whatever I'm writing much more fun!  Very pretty colors and easy to stick in my bag.

7.  Slat walls.  Nothing more to say except there is no better way to store and see your threads!

8.  Bisley cabinet inserts.  The cabinets are expensive, (that word again...), and if you don't want to splurge for them, get the inserts!  They work so very well for spools of thread, such as Soie Perlee, which is how I store mine. 

That's it for list #1.  If you have any recommendations you'd like to share, please do!

xo for now

Orna

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I lost it.

Can't quite get into my rhythm since Seminar ended.  Maybe it has to do with the summer coming to an end, with Nina starting school, with the High Holidays right around the corner?  I feel like a car that can't quite get into gear...  go...sputter...jump ahead...sputter...stop. 

Therefore I have a few apologies: 
1.   I'm working on getting your Journey charms out, (you know who I'm talking to...), but I mis-ordered a few metal pieces and am waiting for the correct ones to arrive.

2.   I have a few more Journey kits to get out to you, (again, you know who I'm talking to...), and am almost at the end of the list! Yay!

3.   I started charting The House I Built, but then stopped and moved to charting a new design on silk gauze, and then stopped and started editing my directions on my new Baby Steps but then stopped and decided to go back to The House I Built.  I realized I was going round in circles so I stopped everything. :-(

4.   Last night, after coming home from a beautiful Friday night service at our synagogue, for the first time in months and months and months, I sat at the TV and held NOTHING in my hands.  That never happens.  I'm always stitching, beading, sewing,  I absolutely always have something in my hands.  Last night, nothing.

I tell you, I'm going around in circles and I just can't get my rhythm.  I hope it doesn't last long. 
   

I need my rhythm.

 

 Dramatic Video Edited by Nina Willis

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Exceptional talent on my walls.

Nothing quite like having artists for friends.  And when they are as talented and thought provoking as Ira Upin, you really consider yourself lucky!  The impact of his work on me has always been like some sort of sonic BOOM!  I'm particularly in love with his portraits, he studies faces and shows you what he sees.  These two pieces have been gracing my walls. 

The funny thing - I did NOT choose these two because of our furniture.  It just happened and it may be too matchy matchy for me.  But I just can't give up those faces!

Ira and Jenny are leaving tomorrow for one of his many shows, this time New Orleans.  See his work here and enjoy his fearless use of color and imagery.

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Meanwhile...

Remember the mess when I came home from Seminar?  I did it, I cleaned it all up!!

At Seminar,  ANG set up a presentation for my design The Philadelphia Journey.  I donated the design, and prepared a special kit.  The design was given out to each participant at Seminar and I would like to continue with this.  If you would like to receive a free copy of the instructions, (they are in color), please send me your address and I will mail a copy out to you.  I have a few kits still available at the $28 price point, (partial skeins, plenty to complete the designs).  The fibers are all silk!  The beads are silver Magnifica and the kit includes both the canvas and the stretcher bars.  Check out my Etsy Store to see the piece in all it's glory and order a kit which comes with the design.

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"Whatcha been up to?" ... this...

Seminar is practically over and so is my very tightly packed week.  It was a very special week, I met some lovely new friends, reunited with some favorite old ones.  I taught my class, a wonderful experience.  It wasn't your traditional type class, (if you know me you are now saying, "well, duh"), and my students came along this unique path with me, at first terrified and later just sailing beautifully along!  My heart burst with pride, do you hear me Nancy, Beth, Sandy, Barb, Laura and Lynn?  You were phenomenal!

Nancy promised Manhattan skyline when Philly is done.

The city of Philadelphia is coming to life.

Smiles!

Lots of progress from a super stitcher!

Notes on stitch variations

Taking care of some Seminar business

I have so much more to tell, a little each day.  Our loft looks like it had a hurricane sweep thru it, really!!  Don't believe me?  here!!!:

I'll be back very soon - xo

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Things I collected as a kid...

I loved coins from all over the world. 
My father worked for El-Al, the Israeli airline and would bring home coins from anywhere he traveled.

and then there were the stamps...  The artwork, the names of the countries and their alphabets, arranging in albums, it was all so much fun!  Tearing the envelopes and soaking the stamps until they came off, drying them and placing on their respective pages, I did it all and enjoyed every moment.

Collecting dolls from around the world was the most expensive, and I didn't have a large collection, but studying their costumes and giving them names, how exotic was that?!

This is the Cambodian Barbie that I bought Nina when she was very little.  We seem to have lost the shoes :(

Back to Seminar tomorrow.  What a delightful group of women! We are making great progress.

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Messin' around with tablescapes.

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Smooth as Silk

Close up of a finished Shibori Silk Scarf

Of all the threads I love to use, the best, beyond a doubt, is silk. Cotton can get pretty good, but nothing is even remotely as easy and luxurious to use as silk thread! Yum!  Silk production is older than anything I can think of--estimates put it between 7000 BC and 3000 BC. It was at first only used to adorn the royalty of China, where it's cultivation began. It soon popped up on musical instruments, fishing lines, paper and a very strong flexible glue. For a time it even became the sole means of currency in China--imagine being paid in silk each week? 

Silk Designers in India

Silk Ties

By 330 AD silk had traveled to the western world, and the rest is, actually, history. Silk owes it's high price to the lengthy process used to create it, which is actually a little, Ew, Ick. But we are adults and we love our silk, so:  the little silkworm spins it's silken cocoon around itself, ready to make it's change. Silk makers then gather thousands and thousand of these cocoons and boil them. The boiling process allows the threads of the cocoon to be slowly unwound, pulled out of the vat and wound onto a spool. Alas the poor little silk worm is sacrificed, but his legacy is a strong one. The fine gauzy spooled thread it is dyed and then woven into fabric or spun to make the threads we needlepointers love so well!

A modern day design by Misterrobb

Chinese Silk Embroidery

Silk is an entire subculture unto itself, be it scarves or ties, sheets or ribbon, silk is the quintessential definition of luxury. The silk scarf is a complete art form unto itself, examples range from the kitschy modern handpainted scarves on Etsy to the revered and high end Pucci,  Givenchy and Bvlgari.

A silk scarf by Pucci


and then, of course, one of my favorites, Hermes.

I love the colors in these scarves, and I love silk!

Old Japanese Silk Store

a favorite of mine, Planet Earth Silks

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New Kit - just like cotton candy

These boxes of thread combinations, swirling around pretty pieces of colored canvas, remind me of cotton candy.  Sweet, melt in your mouth, and puffy-lingly delicious! (that is a word, isn't it?)

Put these lovely boxes alongside a new design that makes color exploration a real treat and you get... 

COLORATIONS 2012!

Each box is unique, with 9 different skeins of threads; silks, cottons, overdye, perle, stranded, metallic, each different but all lovely.

Gorgeous Greens

  

 Can be stitched on 18 count mono canvas or on congress cloth. 

Opulent Oranges

Perfection Pink

Promising Purples

 See it all HERE

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