Christory

I don’t have much physical Christy-history because of a house fire that happened when I was 16.  I can remember accidentally knitting a blanket over 6 by 8 feet in size (that first row has lots of tension, doesn’t it?), sewing paper towels together with needle and thread when I was tiny, making some horrible purple denim jeans that split up the bum when I was 13, etc.  Until someone invents a device that will screen cap what I can see inside of my brain, you’ll have to just visualize.  I can remember hand-appliqueing hearts with my mom and grandma for a 3 generation bedquilt that took us from my age 7 to 15 or so to finish.  Pretty amazing to see my hand sewing improve over that span of time… It was beautiful and something I wish I could pass on to my kiddos, but this blog is not about being sappy!  It’s about projects and my ever-present need to create stuff.  

While I still don’t think I’ve solidified my style, I’ve always loved color.  Being the youngest child had some advantages- I convinced my parents to paint the wood paneling in my childhood bedroom pepto bismol pink and LOVED it.  I later convinced them to let me paint my room “blueberry pie”- the darkest, most saturated shade of blurple that has ever existed.  I never got tired of it.  Looking back on it, they were probably just amused by my passionate persuasions and let me do my thing.  

Keeping the love of color in mind, check out some past projects.  They’re my journal as I’ve never been organized enough to write my thoughts down on a regular basis.

From left to right, top to bottom:  this 2′x2′x6″ box made of wood, plexiglass, foil and stained glass.  I glued the glass shards onto the plexi and some of them have fallen off over the years.  Sliced the top of my thumb joint bad enough making this to leave a scar.  Made at age 16.  

Odd yellowy thing made of wood, plaster cloth and plaster, metal mesh, and finished with watered down acrylic paint.  Made my freshman year of college- age 18.  I had fun in the wood shop with lots of these projects.  The white shows through where my cats have wiped their faces.  

Neutral colored screenprint made from a series of poorly proportioned illustrations.  My original concept was interesting, I swear.  4′ square stretched onto a homemade wood frame.

another 4″ square silkscreen, but this one is a 3 color repeat.  I still really like this color combo.  Both age 20 or 21.

Creepy face (supposed to be my own) made in sculpture class in high school, age 16.  I painted it later and made it even creepier.  The paper wig was made from printer paper edges that I couldn’t bear to throw away at my first job.  

Hand dyed cotton canopy hanging over my old queen sized bed- if I had to guess I’d say that thing is 100″ wide by 20′ long.  I always try projects that are gigantic and overwhelming!  It’s a multicolored spiral at the center, batik in the messiest sense of the word.  My friend Reade and I dyed all sorts of things one summer and ironed out the wax with leftover paper from the nutrition store where he worked.

queen sized rainbow spiral quilt.  I hand dyed this fabric as well.  I didn’t bother with proper piecing techniques; I roughly and impatiently appliqued the spiral segments directly to the batting in some places.  The back is a solid hand dyed (more subdued) blurple.  I’m glad I’ve grown out of the blurple phase.  The quilt was machine quilted at my mom’s shop.

Hope you enjoyed following me on my journey back in time!  I never really finished talking about the wedding projects but I have more fun things to talk about now.  John and I are settling into our first place and there are tons of home projects to do.  I’m sure you’ll be able to read soon about knocking down ugly molding, making cabinet doors, retiling the bathrooms, etc.

The real first post… if it works.

Alright general public*, I’m going to give this a shot.  This, specifically, is tracking my projects and showing everyone* what I am doing.  Hopefully knowing that there is record of my half-finished projects will motivate me enough to finish.  

Things I’ve finished: the water lily quilt.  Gigantic, beautiful, warm in the winter, with one small spot of cat vomit right now.  That has to be taken care of. 

Things that are half finished and better get done: wedding dress.  2 flower girl dresses.  I have 3 months to get these done!  4 silk ties for 4 special men.  Dress for the rehearsal dinner.

Done and done: The FW09 range at work!  Wedding invites.  

That’s about it!  I’ll work on uploading photos and all that jazz later.  Thanks for reading.

 

*mom and dad.  Mom, your extensive knowledge of grammar has only been passed on to me enough to realize when I’m being incorrect… but I am usually lost to fix it.  Sorry!