Wallhanging for Grandpa Wilbur

About a month ago I went home to New Mexico to celebrate my Grandpa Wilbur's 90th birthday.  He and my grandma live in the same town as a lot of my extended family, and everyone else made a big effort to come for the party, so it turned into a de facto family reunion.  It was really great to see everyone and celebrate.  My Aunt Susan was organizing the party, but I volunteered for two projects.  

The first was the invitations which I designed in illustrator and had printed at vistaprint.  I've used them for lots of print-on-demand things and have usually been very pleased.  It always helps to find a coupon, and the shipping is a bit much, but the quality is good and reliable.

The second project was to do something with this sign.  My aunt rescued it from my grandparent's garage many years ago.  My grandfather had written this message on a piece of particleboard and had always meant to do something with it, but never got around to it.  We all loved his handwriting, so I took some pictures and after a bit of editing, got it in good enough shape to print at spoonflower. 

When it came back I stitched some simple borders on it, added a little topstitching (with a couple layers of buckram-like material underneath to add a bit of stiffness, and then stretched it around stretcher bars.  

I think he appreciated it, and he's hung it up in the house.  Luckily there were extra prints of the center panel in the yardage from spoonflower because now both my aunt and uncle have asked for one.  It was definitely a fun and easy, but meaningful project.