Family Tree #2

When I finished embroidering my first family tree, I thought that would be the end of those.  They are intense to say the least.  It was for close friends getting married, the inspiration struck me and I embarked on a project that consumed all my free time.  It was a nice project for a couple reasons.  The first, embroidery to me is incredibly satisfying and the second, I was pregnant for the first time and since all my friends would spend their nights at the bar I was able to spend my nights with a family tree embroidery.  More images of the first one here.  

A few weeks ago I was approached by a friend to commission another family tree embroidery.  I was a little hesitant to accept, but strangely enough it was perfect timing.  Three years later, now pregnant with my second I not only had the time, but somehow my intense desire to nest while knocked up makes undertaking a project like this not as daunting. 

My embroidery is placed on an antique textile that combines the existing pattern with my new design.  In this particular pattern, the bride and groom have personal affiliations with anchors and squirrels, which were included in the design at my friend's suggestion.  This family tree maps back to the grandparents, with siblings included at the sides.

My favorite stitch of all time is the woven fill that I used to create the anchors.  Which you can find here.  Tell your friends.  It is the best. 

andy and i got married

In a pretty magical whirlwind, Andrew Joseph Menchal and I were married at my parent's house on August 6, 2011 in Portage, Wisconsin.  There were 180 people, 5 kegs of beer, 2 cases of champagne, 6 cases of liquor, 12 bottles of homemade syrup, seven cakes made by a lady in town (6 vegan cupcakes), a few flower bouquets from the local farmers market, a 120 year old barn and a pig.  There was a love chant that would not yield, my mom who pretty much made everything look like it fell out of a hollywood movie (take that martha), my dad who started a leg wrestling competition at midnight (thanks dad!) and I am pretty sure most guests were hoarse the next morning because we all laughed too long and too hard that night.  Everyone danced til my mom threw the breaker in the barn at about 2:30-- but since then the rumors of what happened in the field after the dance floor closed are slowly surfacing.  It was extremely fun.  Thank you everyone. 

Abe turns 2

There comes a time in every man's life when he needs a teepee.  Abe's time came early.  I made him this one for his 2nd birthday and it's been up in our living room since.  It's been getting some use.  Right now he is watching videos on my phone of his dad-- I probably shouldn't have said that.  I bet it's top secret.

Wedding present Quilt design.

Oh wedding presents.  I actually hate trying to give wedding presents.  Registries seem so boring and are actually so time-consuming to fulfill that I usually wait until the last minute and then end up buying the first thing I come across in the store.  Sometimes though, someone really important to me gets engaged and the sheer thought of going through the motions kinda makes me want to gag - but also makes me want to make them something pretty special.  These presents are generally insanely time-consuming, but I hope thoughtful enough that they will not get relegated to the "garage sale" pile in 20 years. 

My bestest friend for so many years is now engaged and I am trying to figure out what exactly to make for her.  And because I know she never reads my blog, I feel pretty confident that I can use you, cyberspace, as a sounding board.  I am leaning toward making her a quilt - because she has always wanted to learn how to make one and because she always loves the quilts I have made in years past, but I've never made one for her.  Plus her and her soon-to-be-hubby are couch sitters and cuddlers.. it might just be the perfect fit. 

Here's the plan:  1 inch squares made in illustrator, color palette to come later.. All measured out, it'll be about five feet wide, before the border.  Now, please tell me - is this nice?  or crazy?  Mostly it'll be just a quilt - but I need some answers before I start cutting stuff out.

In progress: FORTUNE TELLING machine

I am in the middle of painting the front panel to a fortune telling machine called The Mysterious Box-O for HoverCraft on December 5th--- The world's only human-powered fortune telling machine (says Bob).  My friend Bob is the mastermind behind the fortunes.  We will be putting it together officially some time next week. 

Hand painted t-shirts

The planning for Hover Craft is well underway.  All of us ladies are very excited.  My favorite thing to come out of this so far?  I am actually going to have a vendor booth for the first time in AGES!!  So I am pretty excited to start figuring out what I am going to make.  Enter an idea I have been thinking about for a long time:  Hand painted t-shirts.  Here is my first design.  What do you think??

Family Tree Embroidery

Jess and BJ Family Tree, 2009 (detail)

I designed and embroidered this family tree for my good friend, Jess and her husband, BJ last year when I was very very pregnant.  I didn't have a television that worked, so at night when all of my friends were out and my boyfriend was at work or band practice I would listen to music and embroider until I couldn't keep my eyes open in hopes I would be able to sleep with that big baby kicking around.  I don't think I would have ever found the time to finish it if I wasn't super prego, but I am glad I did.  I love that lady.

Click here for more shots.

(hand embroidery on antique linen - the edges are part of the original textile.  It shows the marriages of three generations on each side.)

In process!

After taking pictures of my newest embroidery, I am realizing that there may be some symbolic ramifications going on that I didn't think of when planning this out.  It's the start of another memorial embroidery, but for my grandpa.  Time to reel it back in and make it a little more manly, no?

FlashBACK!

SPOTTED!  Temper Temper t-shirt of 2005.  Look a little closer and the t-shirt is a limited edition sewn and designed by Fasten Collective of 2005.  This was old school Fasten before the boutique- when we only sold in the summer at the East Side Open Market (now the East Side Green Market) in the Beans and Barley parking lot.  Vee, Laurie, Leslie and I slaved over these.  I think the band sold them for $15 a piece and they flew off the merch table before i even got to the show.  We dye-removed all the giant thrifted tees and then cut, sewed and embellished in my apartment on Oakland.  Yes, that is a stenciled cat in the corner with puffy paint detailing.  Mirabelle swears this is still her favorite shirt - she wears it all the time and I can tell you from seeing it in person, they get better with age.

borders.

i haven't made any progress on my thunderbird quilt since my last post.  something was missing.  the something this!  a chain link border in fancy colors.  can't wait to start.  can't wait to find the fabric.  can't wait to cut it out and sew it.  i can wait to quilt it, but absolutely can't wait can't wait to put it on my bed.

done!

My memorial embroidery is done!  Check out more detailed shots here.  Now I just have to figure out what I am going to do with it... and no, I am not going to give it to my mom or turn it into a pillow- these have already been suggested.  (thanks Andy)

quilts take years.

Every time I finish a quilt it takes a couple of years from conception to cutting the last thread.  My first quilt was created out of leftover fabric from clothes I had made.  I was 18.  My mother taught me.  It took forever.  And when I finished, I swore I would never make another.  The process was too much- paying attention to every little cut to ensure a tight grid, sewing hundreds of tiny squares together, hand quilting the batting and fabric together and then binding the layers.  My first quilt wasn't fancy.  The fabric didn't match.  The backing was pieced together because I had made a mistake measuring how much it would take.  And I have to hand wash it because I had decided to put a satin binding on the edge.  It has a giant hole that burned through when I accidentally set my apartment on fire.  I sewed around the edges of the burn hole and then my dog at the stitches.  It's almost ten years old now.  I still use it.  I love it.  It makes me want to make more quilts.  And I have.  They age so well.  They go well with my other favorite hobby, which is napping.  And they record history - fabric squares taken from my brothers favorite pants after my mom had retired them, skirts that have worn out years ago, fabrics that I trade for others from my mom or my lady friends, so many other fabrics that look familiar, but I cannot remember where they came from.  Every time I finish a quilt I get inspired to make another.  This one is going to be based off of a thunderbird pattern from Native American beading.  It was going to be a mini quilt or a flag- I had pieced it together from one inch squares that were thrifted for me, but they weren't all the same size and they weren't all square.  I didn't want to sacrifice a lot of time to end up with a frustrating and wonky finished product, so I let it sit.  And then I cleaned up the pieces a week later.  And then I went to my mom's house and slept in a bed with a pile of quilts.  And I began thinking about my thunderbird design again.  So today I figured it out.  And now I am on the lookout for thrifted fabric to fill the need.  I can't place the moment I had the idea for this quilt, so I am going to call today Day 1.

In process!

I grew up in a family that had a ton of pets.  Here is a memorial embroidery for my favorite twelve!  It's a process.  I couldn't remember exactly how all of the pets had died, so I called my parents and my brother and sister to confirm the text.  It was a little controversial.  My brother was five when our pet parakeet, Keeter, died.  He swears that he was starved to death by my parents who were trying to teach us a lesson in responsibility.  My mom says that he died of old age.  Needless to say, revisiting the lives of these tiny (and not so tiny) lovely animals was a fun adventure.  Who knew there were so many mysteries to be uncovered from our childhood???? 


I hope to finish this soon, but I work on it when all my other work is done and when Abe is sleeping...  so it takes a little bit. 

Embroidery for you.

This is a page from an embroidery packet that I drew. I am working on shrinking it down to print into a little zine, but since the web knows no size, you can grab it off my Flickr. here.