Celeste Chalasani

Needle Artist, Designer & Teacher
Specializing in Stumpwork
Classes
Here are a few of the classes I have available for workshops and seminars. Please contact me for kit and teaching fees.

The Berry Box
Berried Treasure: What a treasure you’ll create stitching this elegant Stumpwork ornament! Plump and juicy berries nestle gently against surface embroidered and detached leaves. In this class, you will learn intermediate Stumpwork embroidery while couching wire, creating padded slips, wrapping beads and wire, and using needle lace techniques to create wild blackberries, blueberries, and a strawberry. Your kit includes the fabrics, threads, beads, wire and finishing materials to embroider the berries and leaves, and finish into an ornament.

Skill Level: Intermediate
Berry Bramble
Berry Bramble: Berry Bramble teaches traditional Stumpwork techniques while employing modern motifs of berries and blossoms found in the Pacific Northwest: Pacific Dogwood and Salmonberry flowers, Raspberries, Blueberries, Wild Strawberries, Blackberries, and Trailing Snowberries.

Skill Level: Intermediate
California Poppy: A single poppy sways, it’s glistening orange bud softly leaning in as a gentle breeze caresses it. Stitch California’s iconic wildflower as you learn intermediate Stumpwork techniques. Your kit includes silk shantung and cotton fabrics, stranded cotton threads, wire and needles.

Skill Level: Intermediate
Calla Lilies on North Bank Road
Calla Lilies on North Bank Road: Calla Lilies flourish in Humboldt County, California. In the Spring, they grow proudly, with large ruffled leaves and tubular flowers. The hillside along North Bank Road is dotted with calla lilies, as if someone painted the landscape for all to enjoy. In this class, you will learn intermediate Stumpwork embroidery while couching wire and using needle lace techniques to create a beautiful calla lily.

Skill Level: Intermediate
Cone Flower: Brighten your day with a beautiful, dazzling Cone Flower. In this class, you will learn intermediate Stumpwork techniques including wired and padded slips. Your kit includes silk shantung and cotton fabrics, stranded cotton threads, wire and needles.

Skill Level: Intermediate
Fall Daze: Celebrate autumn with this elegant Stumpwork ornament. Sun kissed acorns hold tightly to the mighty oak while golden leaves prepare to fall. Rust velvet ribbon tied festively into a bow tops it all.

Skill Level: Beginner / All levels
Flame Lily
Flame Lily: Capture the fiery essence of the Flame Lily as you transform vivid red and yellow silk thread into magical flowers. Let the vibrant colors entrance you as you employ contemporary Stumpwork techniques. You will use wired slip and surface embroidery methods to create the striking flower petals and leaves, needle lace to create the fruit capsules and a wrapped wire technique to create the flower stamen.

Skill Level: Intermediate
Happy Holly Days
Happy Holly Days: Remember holidays gone by and celebrate new ones with this elegant Stumpwork ornament. Festive red wrapped berries nestle gently against padded holly leaves. Green velvet ribbon tied festively into a bow tops it all.

Skill Level: Beginner / All levels
Kiss Me Under the Mistletoe
Kiss Me Under the Mistletoe: Remember sweet kisses under the mistletoe while you create this elegant Stumpwork ornament. Snow white wrapped berries nestle gently against padded leaves. Red velvet ribbon tied festively into a bow tops it all.

Skill Level: Beginner / All levels
Ode to the Honeybee: Where would we be without the honeybee? Succulent strawberries, juicy blackberries and sweet blueberries are just a few of our favorite fruits that rely on pollinators such as the honeybee. In turn, the honeybee needs a “balanced diet” and depends on us to plant a variety of flowers. Create your own ode to the honeybee as you employ Contemporary Stumpwork techniques including three types of padding, wired slips and needlelace. Your kit includes the fabric, threads, beads, wires and needles to embroider the sampler.

Skill Level: Intermediate
Summer Serenade
Summer Serenade: Sweet living in the summer time! Imagine a warm summer morning, with juicy blackberries glistening in the sun. Bees buzz on their search for nectar while a caterpillar lazily crawls along a stem. This Stumpwork class brings this vision to life as students learn and practice a variety of dimensional stitches and padding techniques.

Skill Level: Beginner / All levels
Tidal Treasures
Tidal Treasures: Some of my fondest memories are of walking along the beach picking up sea shells. As the waves gently roll in, I search the sandy beach to see what treasure I might discover. Each shell is a mystery, a question of what sea creature once inhabited it. In this class, you will create your own tidal treasures: a starfish needle minder, a sea urchin pin cushion and scallop needle book.

Skill Level: Advanced
Tranquility
Tranquility: Lotus ponds bestow introspection, meditation and tranquility throughout Southeast Asia. In this piece, quiet serenity reigns amongst the lotus flowers as a Golden Dartlet damselfly hovers close. Create your own pond of tranquility as you first block print lotus leaves on a silk shantung watery background fabric then employ Contemporary Stumpwork techniques.

Skill Level: Intermediate