Continuing: Growth Chart

So, continuing on:

These are the grasses that cover the whole bottom of the chart. I think I cut out 5 or 6 of these babies.


This is what it started to look like, laying the pieces down with templates:


Next, I tried my hand at embroidering K and her cute hubby T's initials in a heart on the tree trunk. The wool fabric that we bought wasn't as long as it was wide, so the tree trunk is made of two pieces. I made little rough drafts of the embroidery:





and then the real thing:


It's not the best or the most even. But it sure does look handmade! ;) Just don't look too closely!

Next, K chose a font for the lettering. We went with Baskerville Bold. I printed and cut out the lettering and placed them on the tree trunk. Pretty cute! (At this point, nothing is sewn down, just in place)



I cut out each letter on our chosen pink fabric with my super sharp, super tiny Cutterbee scissors. I ironed on interfacing on the fabric, pinned each letter template down, and then cut out the letters. This took me one whole afternoon!



Next, since I was on a roll with the lettering, I decided to do the numbers. It IS a growth chart, after all! We must have measurement guidelines! So I ironed on interfacing for the dark pink and light pink fabrics, cut out the numbers from the template in Baskerville font, and eyeballed a good size for the dark pink background. Over a couple of weekends, I handstitched the pieces together.



By this time, it's April and my wedding anniversary. We took a weekend trip with our new dog up to a house in the mountains and while we were there, I began to handstitch the lettering onto the tree trunk. What a relaxing weekend! Hunkering down, walks and hikes, bbqing on the patio, movies all night while sewing... *sigh* It took me a few weekends to finish the lettering.



More to come....