Tree Huggers

my tree, before

There are so many things that I could blog about from our busy month of October, but I think I will just jump in with photos from Iowa City's tree hugger project. I was so excited to hear from Codi at Home Ec Workshop about this project, and I knew I wanted to participate right away.

my tree, after

Here's an article explaining a little bit more about the project. It is an art installation project organized by the Iowa City downtown association. I love the color and fun the tree huggers bring to our downtown. Plus, it is a wonderful display of the talented fiber artists in our community.

I helped install this tree hugger after I finished mine and after the bikers moved their bikes

I joined over a hundred other volunteers on Sunday afternoon in installing our knit (or in my case, crocheted), fabrics around each assigned trees. I knew right away that I wanted to make a chevron pattern for my tree. I love how it turned out, and I hope I can find time after the holidays to make an afghan with the same pattern for our family to keep.

 more artists installing their work

It was fun to be on a busy corner downtown - while I was installing it, I had several people stop and ask me about the project and compliment me on mine. The only negative comment I got was a random guy in a car shouting out - "you've got to get rid of those zip ties!". Ha! But that was just part of the process - we secured the rectangles of fabric with zip ties, then sewed up the seam with yarn.

I love the way each artist created a unique design, yet they all work together because of the cohesive color scheme. My favorites are the trees with little shapes like hearts or leaves worked into the color blocks.

I think the plan is to keep them up through February, but if you are local you should check them out right away! My photos don't do justice to the color and whimsical feel they bring to the area. I'm thrilled that I could be a part of this amazing public art project!

Find more photos in my Flickr set.