A little less than a year ago I was in the midst of design panic. One of my dearest friends had called to let me know that she had gotten engaged and had a question to ask me.
"Fire away," I said.
"You can say no, " she said. "Will you make the chuppah for my wedding?"
I was so relieved that she didn't ask me to be a bridesmaid that I said yes immediately and without reservation. Then I got shortness of breath and sweaty palms thinking about what I, a nice Presbyterian girl, had just agreed to do.
"You know, if you just throw a bunch of tulle in the trees that will be ok too..." Yeah right! This woman has been my friend since college, she knows how I am about inflexible deadlines.
So, a ton of sketches later, and discussions about whether or not her mom would have a fit if I used ski lift tickets as fringe, this is the design that landed on the chuppah...just kind of happened. Oy!
My methods were highly unorthadox, but then what do you expect from a shiksa making a chuppah? I was rapidly running out of time, so everything was heat fused to muslin. And then machine quilted to hold everything down. This thing ate thread, worried friends made multiple emergency runs to the fabric store for more, and I managed to sew my finger onto the chuppah. Yup, blood, sweat and tears. Gulp.
It was finished the day before...amazing, I know. The wedding was lovely and of course I boohooed a bunch. Here's the chuppah in action.
And the finished project! The heart on the tree says, "Lenny loves Amy." Ahhhh!
