Doubt became certainty in the cold light of day, and I unraveled it without remorse. Patons Gold has an appointment with my dyepot today, which can only improve it. It needs more complexity, although whether Grape Kool-Aid can add any complexity to anything is what I am about to find out.
Meanwhile, inspired by the beautiful work of Ann Wood, I went for a scrounge in the garage bins, on the hunt for these doll legs I made way back when and then stashed away when the rest of the dolls they were meant for failed to manifest. The striped fabric came from a tattered antique quilt top, the rest of which I did not find in my bin rummage and it haunts me now. I can't possibly have gotten rid of it, but where oh where did it land? Anyway, these doll legs, these unfinished bits of something of my very own, please me so immeasurably. They are the beginning of something creative. There will be some sketching, some experiments, some play with fabric scraps, and they will, I hope--I'm sure--emerge. Two sisters, with interesting hair and probably shawls, and these wonderful, witchy, rag doll legs.
I finished this yesterday, too, as the last of the daylight waned. There was just no working on it after about three o'clock. It is, of course, Alicia Paulson's Love and Joy stitch sampler, made from her PDF pattern on Belfast linen in "Rue Green," already in my stash but not quite the fabric she suggests, and pretty small. I struggled a little with seeing the holes in the fabric, my aging eyes and their trusty bifocals were a pretty even match for the 32-count linen. I worried that it had finally come to pass that I had got too old to do something I want to do, which made me mad enough to keep going until it was done. Let's see if I can get it in a frame while it is still 2016.