Embroidered Pillows at Nestle and Soar Studio

Folk Art Flower Pillow on linen, Georgianne Holland ©2011

When I was a young woman setting up my first home, I didn't really know what I was doing, but I did know what I wanted: a superior home with elegant decor.

This was a tall order for a time in my life when my furnishings consisted of hand-me-downs and cinder block/pine board bookshelves!

The dreams of youth are a great way to start building a life, and over the years, I have learned to make home decor as well as learned how to earn money to buy the wonderful decorative elements that grace my home. One good example of this is the hand embroidered pillows I make at Nestle and Soar, like this Folk Art Flower Pillow. My taste in home decor now leans more toward finely crafted fiber folk art than it does anything gilded or elegant, and in my way of thinking, this is superior in every way!

The wool felt circles used in this decorative pillow design are stacked and hand-embroidered. The bright colors are very popular in home decor today. This design is my fun take on the ever-popular Penny Rug design in folk art, where concentric circles are hand embroidered into delightful designs. I've added bead work and buttons to some of the hand embroidered pillows I sell in limited edition at www.nestleandsoar.com. Each month I offer a unique assortment of colors, types, and sizes of decorative pillows. 

Spring Tree Needle Felt Pillow, © 2010

Do you also dream of decorating a first home or redecorating your long-loved home for the new year? My clients are stocking up on decorative pillows and pillow covers that reflect their love of nature. I've seen this same trend everywhere! What isn't everywhere are handmade bird pillows and tree pillows that are handmade in America in limited editions. Making special home decor using time-honored needle art skills is the joy of my professional life as a fiber artist! That is also one of my favorite ways to focus my Needle Felting fine craft at Nestle and Soar. The handmade bird pillows and tree pillows I create come in ever-changing designs and are an absolute thrill for me to create!

Setting up a home is not new to me, and perhaps it is not new to you, either. Do you agree that sometimes, it is not the big-ticket item that makes a home cozy and special, but instead, it is the little things that make home comfortable...and that works whether you are making your home feel superior for the first time or the 100th time!

Thanks for stopping by,
Georgianne 

Releasing clutter from our home and our mind

As I will be spending more time today decorating our home for the holidays, the topic of clutter of the home and the mind is a bit comical. This time of year, it seems that life is cluttered with things, obligations, and if you are like me, a half-finished project in almost every room!

This is also the time of year when I begin thinking about what I'd like to do better (or perhaps stop doing) in the year ahead. Making resolutions has not worked well for me, but thinking through my situation always seems to have rewards.

The clutter in my mind is actually more of a problem than the pile of unwrapped gifts or mismatched socks. When do thoughts tip the balance and become clutter?

• We've always done it this way!
• I dread doing this, but I said I would, so I will.
• Who would I be without "my story"?
• I couldn't live without [fill in the blank] in my life!
• Some force on my part is necessary to speed up the process.
• I'm not sure God can handle this...It is time for some supportive worrying.
• If I could just fix this one thing about myself,  life would be perfect.
• If I could just fix this one thing about [fill in the blank], life would be perfect.

It is important to me that the creative process of my Nestle and Soar studio be safeguarded, and perhaps you, too, have a creative life that can become bound-up with physical and mental clutter. As I make my plans for a prosperous, healthy, and joy-filled 2012, here are my clutter-busters for the new year:

• Try a new technique or use a new material in my folk art every month.
• Say yes with enthusiasm to only the projects that are exciting to me.
• Take time every day to listen to the hopes and dreams of other creative people.
• Give away art supplies and materials I do not use.
• Trust in the creative process and when I feel rushed, take a walk around the block.
•  Notice moments of supportive worrying and call a friend to chat (or roll over and whisper in husband's ear). Create a quiet corner in my studio for reflection and meditation.
• There is nothing that needs to be fixed, as nothing is broken. Trust the creative process.
• People are not gracing my life as projects I'm supposed to organize. Write down three things I am grateful for about each person I decide to judge. When I feel judgmental about a fiber folk art project I am working on, set it aside for 48 hours. Laugh.

I hope that the next two weeks of your life are cluttered in just the right ways! I'm proud of the mess I'm making all around my home and folk art studio, for as my son use to say, this mess is a Sign of Life!

Thanks for stopping by,
Georgianne

Green Luxury Items created by Fiber Artist, Georgianne Holland

Near Boulder, Colorado, at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in her Nestle and Soar Studio, fiber folk artist Georgianne Holland helps birds and trees come to life from a deep pile of soft merino wool. Fuzzy piles of wool roving cover every horizontal surface, and are the material used by this folk artist to depict the natural beauty of birds and trees. In this color-saturated fiber arts studio, she creates original handmade home décor items, green luxury items, for sale on her newly launched website, www.nestleandsoar.com.

Nestle and Soar appeals to consumers because the energy of nesting at home and gliding above the fray is a long-held dream for many. Folk art has always been an avenue for self-taught creative types to make useful objects that are decorative, and Nestle and Soar is certainly part of that long tradition. If you speak to Georgianne for any length of time, you will hear her say that everyone deserves the chance to nestle and soar. That has certainly happened for this passionate entrepreneur.

The fiber art created by Holland is also rooted in thousands of years of tradition: creating useful items from the fleece of animals has helped humankind survive harsh weather as well as make home more special. Georgianne said, “I have always felt the energy of homemakers and other creative women. I truly believe that the needle arts are a valuable skill that should still be celebrated in American culture. I believe there is great power in the home arts. As with this art form, the work of women’s hands will always be important. However, needle arts like the craft of needle felting have never been just for women.” These historic needle art skills are newly popular with many, and fiber artists around the world celebrate the decorative nature of this heritage fine craft.

The Nestle and Soar website features the designer pillows and folk art for the wall created by Georgianne Holland, and also features bird and tree-themed green luxury items by other folk artists and fine craftspeople. “I am proud to make this website a venue for bird- and tree-themed fine crafts.” Hand-thrown pottery, hand-pulled woodblock prints, and hand-embroidered winter-weight scarves, are among some of the treasured items featured on this new website.

Georgianne has also joined forces with the Arbor Day Foundation so that she and her customers can have a tree planted in a National Forest in honor of their purchase. “This joint effort celebrates the many friends I have made through my work as a fiber artist—friends who also adore the beauty of the natural world and help create the loving energy that is part of every transaction from Nestle and Soar.”

Georgianne Holland, fiber folk artist and writer, began her career as a family member in the profoundly popular Leman Publications, the kitchen-table creation of her parents, George and Bonnie Leman. Beginning in 1969, the Lemans published the world-renowned Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Perhaps one of this family’s greatest contributions in their 30+ years in the quilt industry was their mentoring of female entrepreneurs who went on to breathe new life into what became a thriving industry and economic opportunity for thousands around the world. Georgianne believes in the personal connection between herself and her Nestle and Soar customers, a lesson she learned from her parent’s example. This creation of community fuels her work with featured artists as well as her support of the Arbor Day Foundation today. 

Handmade Bird Pillow and the Audubon Society

Western Tanager Hankie Pillow, © 2011 Georgianne Holland

I have on my calendar "Go to movies" almost every month, which hasn't been a date I've kept with myself in a while. I'm excited to say that The Big Year starring Jack Black, Owen Wilson, and my favorite, Steve Martin, is coming to theaters! I will not wait for this movie to come to my pay-per-view. The Big Year is about birding and while thumbing through my beloved Audubon magazine, David Yarnold reminds us that like in the movie, birders (and the Audubon Society) are a very social group. That works for me!

I have been working to make the birds I depict in my handmade bird pillows more easily recognizable, as I know that true birders know their species! Often in the past, the birds I depict are figments of my imagination, and when I see a photo of an unusual bird found in the wild, I think that they are so varied in color and shape, my imaginary bird is like a rare species. Will the Audubon Society let me get away with this? I hope so, because I'm having so much fun!

The Hankie Pillows series that I began in September of this year is a good example of my work to capture well known bird species in a fiber folk art manner. They are called Hankie Pillows because I begin the exercise with a pristine vintage hankie that was created by an unknown woman sometime in the 1940s. Collecting these vintage hankies has been part of the fun of this series! Often these hankies have embroidered flowers stitched as decoration, and I always choose hankies that have tatted lace on the edges...a fine needle art I've never learned to create. I place a vintage hankie on my work table and then decide what species of bird I'd like to needle felt: today's example is the Western Tanager in bright yellow, orange and brown. I'm very fond of creating birds with big, round bellies. I also like creating tree branches for my birds to perch on. Jacques Deval reminds us that "God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages." I love birds in trees and I also love birds recreated onto pillows. Sometime next week, I plan to love birds in funny movies...would you care to join me?

Thanks for stopping by,
Georgianne

You can visit my website to see more of my handmade bird pillows at www.nestleandsoar.com

A Wonderful Little Something I Found Today

Have you ever strolled along an historic shopping area and found tiny boutiques hidden away, say, near that hip diner everyone keeps talking about? I love exploring the Old Town communities of Colorado, looking for little gems like that!

Today, I found a little gem I'd like to share with you, and the funny thing is, I have been working in my studio office all day! That's right, I took a stroll through the boutiques of Etsy.com. I found the treasure you see in these photos, a Handmade Paper Journal. 

This lovely handmade journal is right up my alley because of the leaf motif that has been stitched into the cover. I'm including two photos of it so you can see it up-close, just like you would if we'd been shopping together in a brick and mortar shop!

 There is a rainbow of handmade papers used to create this one-of-a-kind journal. Each interior page of the journal as been imprinted with a leaf, too! This journal has 110 pages to write on, which I find amazing...you could pen your memoirs here (or at least I could, as I have lived a simple life!).

The talented artist who made this great journal is named Indira Govindan, and she works and lives in Summit, New Jersey. She has other eco-friendly journals in her shop, which has the great name of Dharma Karma Arts (love that!). I hope you will stop by and look through her virtual boutique of truly unique handmade items. If you love this leaf journal, you may want to stop by sooner than later...not sure I can leave Dharma Karma Arts without making this purchase! Luckily for all of us, she has lots of wonderful items for you to enjoy.

Thanks for stopping by,
Georgianne

Where Did You Learn the Needle Arts?

My mom and I decorated this light table 15 years ago to trace patterns!

I am asked where I learned to sew, embroider, felt, quilt, and knit. Perhaps you are, too? Because I'm in my 50s, I was lucky enough to have Home Economics as part of my junior high school curriculum. Most of the women who ask me where I learned to sew are young enough, that they had no Home Economics teacher in school. They may not know a single person who sews. But oh yes, they want to learn!

Sewing and all the needle arts are certainly in another rejuvenation. In the 1970s, I remember my 20-something year old friends talking about how quilting was being reinvigorated as an important needle art. Quilting, as well as many other needle arts, keep cycling around in popularity. For those who make a living in creative fields that cater to women, the needle arts as an industry is not only popular, but a legitimate form of economic empowerment. Home Economics may not be taught in public schools any longer, but we all can certainly learn to sew throughout our communities!

I am fortunate to be from a family that honored and taught the needle arts for over 30 years. My parents, George and Bonnie Leman, as well as my six siblings, owned and operated a Colorado-based company called Leman Publications. We began publishing Quilter's Newsletter Magazine in 1969 and enjoyed many happy years being the family that worked as a team to teach the world to quilt. How fortunate for me to have Bonnie Leman as my mom and my inspiration in the fiber arts! She instilled in me the love of all needle arts as well as the love of joining forces with other women as they work to build a successfully creative life.

In addition to this entrepreneurial jump start, I will admit that I began sewing my own clothes at age 12. I have always loved working with fabric, textiles, and colors. Like so many women who are long-time subscribers to Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, I have been fortunate to combine my love of raising a family with operating a successful fiber folk art studio from home!

Where did you learn to sew, embroider, felt, quilt, or knit? I'd love to hear your story!
Thanks for stopping by,
Georgianne