GROWTH CHART

It seems impossible to think that our darling little grandson is turning ONE already!  What a thrill it's been for me to join our son and DIL, plus extended family in CA to celebrate this occasion.

Living such a distance from them requires extra thoughtfulness regarding gift ideas.  Do they have it?  Do they want it? .......you know what I mean.  

 After much pondering, I decided to make Raiden a growth chart.  (Or should I say...I made a growth chart for his parents?!?) grinning.... He's too young to care!

His bedroom theme is rocket ships, so my starting point was to draw one the length of a tape measure. 

 Then the design was recreated with fabric and arranged on a wholecloth background.

 Eventually I realized it wouldn't be necessary to make a wall hanging the length of the tape measure.   So instead, I cut it down and begin at the 2 foot measurement.  When hung, the 2' foot mark will be used as a guide to hang it from the floor.

I blogged about this nifty trick some time ago...without revealing what the project was.  Here's a reminder of the process.  The motifs were prepared with fusible web and arranged on the background which was pinned to my design wall.  Well....we all know how difficult it is to relocate our designs to a pressing surface without altering placement.  

So, I used a small iron 'the husband' had passed onto me....I'm not sure what he used it for but whatever it was, he didn't plan on doing it again so it's now in my studio.  Happy dance time.....it was the perfect tool to 'heat tack' each of the motifs in place before moving it to my ironing board to permanently secure them.

Raiden's Growth Chart  16.5" x 43" -  © 2013 Mary Stori

Here's the finished piece.  I allowed plenty of space to the left of the tape measure to document height & dates.  A permanent marker & hanging device was included with the chart.  

Raiden Hayashi Stori is a typical active 1 year old little boy...who decided he was going to start his birthday celebration early....as you can see in this action shot.  He got into the parent's liquor cabinet. Oh my, yet again another item that will require 'kid proofing'!!!  This photo was not staged....funny how we forget just how fast these little ones can be.

I like being a grandma!!!!!!!