Mbmbam Live! and embroidery.

Nate and I are big fans of a podcast called My Brother, My Brother, and Me. On Sunday we had a chance to see them record a live episode at Second City in Chicago. Tickets were cheap, the calendar was clear... we jumped at the chance. I also immediately had the urge to make them something. "Kiss Your Dad Square on the Lips" is their signing-off catch phrase. I don't know what it means. I think it's a reference to one of the earliest shows, before I was listening.

While I was working on this piece, I wished I had time to make one for each brother, each with different text. One would say "What's Up You Cool Baby?" The other would say, "Pack Your Bags and Move Away." Or maybe just list some cat warrior names.... "Bramblepelt, Nightshade, Shadowskin, Lilypad, Troutleap." For about 24 hours I obsessed over how to accomplish this feat of stitching. Finally I realized that I would have to forgo eating and sleeping for a week to get them all done, and I had to settle for one gift. One gift for three brothers. Bummer. But it was the best I could do.

This piece is definitely not perfect. There were some flaws on the fabric... spots I thought would iron out but didn't. I also wasn't very pleased with the framing job. Because of these imperfections I was less than thrilled with the final product. I thought about abandoning my plan to give it to the Brothers. Nate convinced me it looked fine and that they would love it. I'm glad he did.

The live show was super fun. I had never been to Second City, so that was kind of exciting. The McElroy brothers were guests for another podcast, Jordan, Jesse, Go!. Nate is a fan, but I hadn't heard it before. Very funny. I laughed my head off. After the show I saw the McElroys walking out from backstage and caught Griffin's attention. I gave him the embroidery and told him I only had one, and didn't know how they would decide who would keep it. Maybe they'd have to fight over it. It happened to be Griffin's birthday, though, so he said he would keep it himself. Someone snapped a picture of us. What a fun date with my guy. Big thanks to Megan and Marty for babysitting the boys so we could hit the town!