Enticing my Muse

I suppose by now I ought to have stopped being surprised by my inability to stick to a plan... This project was supposed to be a simple piece, a "quick and easy" just to get me in the mood to create again. I guess I was more in the mood than I thought!

"The Peacock" is a wall doll is based on "Enticing the Muse", a pattern I found on the internet. I expected she would be a piece of cake, a 2 day project at most, as the original doll had no face, mitten hands, and very little embellishment. I chose a remnant of my one of my favorite quilting cottons and made the little mini-quilt for her body, adding the fine binding just because I could. I even remembered how to turn the little mitered corners. I guess quilting might be a little like bike riding... you don't forget what your fingers have learned.

Once having created such a pretty little quilt, I HAD to give her fingers and a face. What good is a muse if she can't look you in the eye??

Because I still believed I was just messing around, I decided to attempt something different for her face. Using Sherry Goshon's face painting book, I followed the instructions to create a face with African American features. I see by the photo that I need to darken and shadows and punch up the highlights, but all in all I am happy with her. One of these days though, I will learn to resist the temptation to keep making the eyes bigger and bigger and bigger...

Then I got out my beads. And some more beads. And then yet more beads. Finally, with the addition of the wrapped wire wristlets, she looked balanced and complete, which is good because my eyes have had enough of threading the miniscule hole of that oh-so-fine beading needle!