There's a chill in the air. It's July, which that means it's time for the Jumpers and Jazz in July festival! Last year as I was stitching on my tree jumper had an idea of what to make for this year's jumper: sushi. I have come to realise that this was somewhat cheeky and obvious. If you consider that my jumper last year was a giant pink squid! I did, in fact, make some calamari to include in my installation but I held on to it as it didn't quite work. On installation day, I packed up my truck with all my pieces and tools and headed to the hills. I got on the road much later than I had planned. It wasn't too bad though, as the sun was shining bright and it was quite warm. It would have been good to have an offsider as I did struggle a bit with attaching the underlying foam... and then there was the fit issue. Oh, my goodness! I had some work to do to make the jumper fit. I'm not sure if my calculations were out, or if my tree has out on some weight! I very nearly had a tantrum, ripped it all of, packed it up and drove away. But that's not what I do. I persevered and came up with a plan and made some massive changes. My very friend Nick wandered up for a chat at just the right time. He was put to work holding things in place while I stitched bits together. It's all part of making something custom-fit an object that lives 2 hours drive away. It is the first time I can remember having to make such an adjustment in my history of making tree jumpers for Jumper and Jazz!
As I completed the sewing up, and I stepped back to see how it looked, I was close to tears. It looked nothing like it was supposed to in my head. I didn't want to take any photos as I was embarrassed by what I had put up. I was very disappointed with myself. AS I walked my gear back to the truck, I comforted myself with thoughts of "you can't make it great every year" and "you had to have a fail one time." This was the time. Friends assured me that it looked great; that I was overreacting and that I was too critical of myself. I hear their words, but I didn't agree. It wasn't a ploy to garner appreciation. I was 100% ashamed and hoped no one would look at it.
