Workbasket: Ordinary Heron

Kayaking brings me deep enjoyment and peace, and so often I am kept company by the many herons that populate the many lakes nearby. Hopefully, this conveys that peace.

Silk, hand marbled cotton, Egyptian varigated thread, tonal wool thread on a vivid green silk.

Beloved: A Wedding Stole

Custom stole for a minister who believes we are all "beloved". A joyful thought indeed!

Shantung silk with crystals, pearls, beads and polished shell fragments.

The Greatest Love of All

Detail from a custom wedding stole.

Fishers of Men

I had a great time designing this tea green stole with hand embroidered koi. I was going for something a bit different and am pleased with how the three tones of varigated thread play against one another on the silk.

The silk has a great glow under lights and is now available in my etsy shop for immediate purchase!

Red on White

Now available for purchase in my Etsy shop!

Please click on link on the left for further details and my other offerings.

Workbasket

Joyful clusters of flowers are blooming!

Ordinary Arizona

A custom order for a special newly minted minister. 

Silk on silk. Jackrabbit done in brown linen.

INRI

On purple dupioni that is shot with a bit of blue, with light golden dupioni for the letters. Finished up with buttery yellow cotton floss French knots.

Jerusalem Cross on White

Grey/Silver dupioni on a creamy white.

Custom Stole for a treasured summer intern

"From Bud to Bloom"

Wool, silk and cotton on a woodland dupioni silk.












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Ordinary Joy

A custom stole for ordinary time...

New offerings in my Etsy shop

http://www.etsy.com/shop/MontreatDesigns

Please come visit!

Butterfly Stole - custom order

One white crisp cotton jacquard by Marc Jacobs, an organdy butterfly that was originally to have freestanding wings in silver had to be tacked down with, white mini bugle beads, due to the curl of the organdy. It turned out for the best, I think, a bit more spirited, which is more reflective of the recipient.

Custom Stole ~ A Teaching Garden

I really am thrilled to work with such great clients. My latest delivery, below, came from working with a great customer that wanted all the liturgical colors represented in one stole. The colors made me think of a garden and the flowers that would be powerful with their symbolism.

Here are a few pictures with the flowers and their meanings below...

















Bluebells~ humility, gratitude and everlasting love
Lavender ~ devotion, purity, solitude and social justice
Poppies ~ mourning, remembrance and been used to symbolize the blood of Christ
Lily ~ devotion and friendship
Thistles ~ represent the suffering of Christ
Shamrocks ~ the Trinity – St. Patrick used them as a teaching tool
Strawberries ~ I decided to add these to represent the sweetness of God’s words. They traditionally represent humility, modesty and abundance
Olive branch (leaves near strawberries) ~ peace and hope.


This was so much fun to create! Thanks S.M. For being so great to work with!

Butterflies for Ordinary Time

How about some hopeful butterflies to greet the new year?

On a lovely weight green cotton that has a great luster, hand dyed batik is used for the butterflies in a variety of colors. Hand appliqued in Egyptian cotton completes the look.

Now available in my shop!

Wedding Stoles

In just a bit I will be adding two wedding stoles to my shop on Etsy, and they both come in creamy dupioni. One has a chest detail of hand embroidered 'ribbons' that represent the two partners and a hand beaded circle or 'ring' representing the presence of the Trinity in the relationship.


Next is a simple wedding stole that has hand applied albacon vintage lace (circa 1930s) from France, and hand beading with seed beads as well as crystals, framed in a mass of tiny french (of course!) knots. ;)
This is located on the lower panels of the stole.

I love them both for different reasons... But think both are dreamy...

Progress on the Paraments

Here is a sneak peek on the progress made on the custom work for Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church. This is a detail from one of the two pulpit ribbons.


The pinecones represent the congregation, the ribbon - God's all embracing presence, and the open tail of the ribbon - (not visible in the photo above) that there is always room for more in the church community and they are welcome.

The parament design is anchored by the traditional 'IHS'.

A Stole for Advent

Lovely french knots on dark purple damask... Now in my Etsy shop!

Green Liturgical Stole

A circle for eternity, God's constant presence.

A pale grassy dupioni silk, with an embroidered circle of vines, leaves and water on yellow silk. A contrasting tonal bronze dupioni piece is secured with a piece of wood wrapped in silk, embellished with French knots and seed beads.

Beaded Baptismal Stole

For this particular stole, I chose to collect a variety of beads in aqua and use the last of my Nicole Miller cotton.

The shell is from a beautiful blue silk that I have been waiting to find the right home for. I finished the base of the hand beading with tiny french knots, which I kind of fell in love with.... :)

I am working hard in creating original designs for my upcoming exhibition, and I think this will be one the audience might favor...we will see!