Essex Family Tree Canvas

by Kathryn
(Mechanicsburg PA)

My name is Kathryn Cameron.

I recently took on a family tree project. It was for my family of six siblings and my aunts and uncles families, that amount to nine siblings. As you can imagine the project took on a life of its own, when I wanted each leaf to have a cameo photo, and the person's name, and at last count I had 185 people.!

The leaves are made of construction paper that I laminated after filling in the information.

I know your asking what does this have to do with stitching.
Well, I painted the tree using fabric paint onto a 12' x 15' painter canvas, I picked up from Lowes.

Now to my question, I would like to make this a family heirloom, by taking it up a notch, or stitch in your case. I would like to turn this plain canvas into some form of tapestry.

I thought about quilting, but then I thought that it is canvas, maybe I could use some form of stitching/embroidery to bring it to life.

I have acorns on the ground representing extended family members further in the past, and branching out. And on the tree I have nine families, with their children and so on, amounting to 7 generations, and still growing.

The leaves have velcro, but if possible I would like to transform them also to a more permanent placing on the tapestry.

I was thinking maybe after the background is complete, I could stitch the leaves on to finish the project. Is this idea possible? Or am I barking up the wrong tree? Sorry for the offbeat humor, I just got off work (you guessed it, Lowes), and am a little tired. I'm a kitchen designer with a background in illustration. A dream also!

Thank you.
Kathryn