A HEALTHY Project

It is sometimes uncanny how a project comes about, and this is one of those times.   Let me tell you the story of our latest endeavors.

During the course of the year, our local kite club is involved in several events where we fly kites to support some civic activity, and one of those is the annual kite/bike day put on by the Corpus Christi Mayors Office.  While doing the liaison work for this event the city person mentioned the wonderful flags she had seen online in pictures of kites festivals and wouldn’t it be great if they could find something for their events.  Well, being the salesperson I have always been, I could not pass up an opportunity so large as was just presented now could I ??   The idea was discussed and what I do was explained, the image/logo was sent to me and I immediately saw how to present the information in a “windfeather” format, so I broke out the art paper and colored pencils producing a concept rendering and a bid estimate of what it would cost for such a windfeather.  I was most surprised when I was asked to make a matching pair!!

The work now begins,  I must secure the large-sized fiberglass poles, these are 16 foot tall windfeathers and I seem to be very short on lime green material, so the supplier must be called and get 6 yards on the way to Texas!!  That’s where the wheels started falling off the wagon,  it seems nobody has six yards of mint green on hand to ship me immediately.    The order was confirmed only 13 days prior to the November event to be held at the USS Lexington at North Beach and we were planning to roll these new windfeathers out there.   Well, the mint green was ordered from the mill, and finally showed up;  only two days AFTER the event!!  We flew two plain colored banners I had in stock instead.

Now that all the material was in hand the process was started, letter fonts were printed, patterns were cut, logo elements were drawn and patterns cut and it seemed to be rolling along, and then the other wheels fell off!!!   I received an injury at my job, was subsequently hospitalized 14 days later and then shipped out to a rehab facility. I spent all the holidays and most of the winter in a hospital bed.  When I was finally returned to Fulton I was still not able to effectively walk much and needed to keep my foot elevated most of the time, very hard to do when sewing!!  But, being stubborn as I tend to be, I stuck it out, spent as much time possible at the studio thanks to my pal James who was keen to learn to sew kites, etc.  With him getting me to and from, and “pushing” me a bit to get back in the saddle it took a bit, but the process continued.  Elements were constructed, letters hot cut, and put up in the project bags;  then came time to assemble it all into a windfeather.  This is when we both realized we needed to consider a larger workspace with a bigger table to handle the large format feathers!!  We squeezed and rolled and shoved and shelved things to get maximum usage of current facilities and the bits and pieces started taking shape.  Soon one unit was complete, the other still midway in process.  The end of this journey was in sight!!

A couple more days, a long stint on a weekend and both feathers are done, ready to go.    OOOPS!!   Still have to construct a storage bag!!  Seems easy to forget those “STOOPID BAGS”  as some kitebuilders call them.   While they seem silly to have to make, they do serve a good purpose; to keep the “goodies” contained and clean while waiting to be freed to air it out in the breeze somewhere on some beach or unused soccer field.   I let this one out for a bit while I was making the “STOOPID BAG”——  

They are now in the hands of the good folks at City Hall, helping promote healthy lifestyles and “clean living”…..   Sail on my darlings!!!!