Do What You Know

I pinned the pieces of fabric on the eye lids days ago when I was making one of Linda’s pillows.  I knew it would be the next thing I’d do on the fabric painting that I started a couple of weeks ago.

But when I got into my studio this morning, I looked at the fabric painting, hanging on my wall and tried to imagine the fabric on the eyelids already sewn on and thinking about what I’d do after that.

Then I heard myself say out loud, “Just do what you know and don’t worry about what comes next.”

Of course, this is how I work.  I never plan, but create a piece one stitch, one line at a time.

Having the eyelids in place, having done the work of stitching them, makes all the difference in what comes next.  One thing leads to another.

How can I know what happens next if I can’t see what came before it.

I had taken the box of felt animals (Bob from the dump saved them for me when someone was throwing them out) out last week.  I thought I might use them, but I didn’t know how.

But after stitching the eyes, I knew just what to do.

I took each animal out of the box, one by one,  and placed it along the bottom edge of the piece.  I didn’t even  have to rearrange them.  I had placed them perfectly the first time.  Using tiny stitches up front and big basting stitches on the back, I hand sewed the animals down.

Now I can see the piece clearly evolving.  I still don’t have words for it.  And I don’t want to influence it with words at this point.  I don’t want that part of my brain in the process yet.

After attaching the animals I clearly saw the green chevrons in the rectangles emerging from the top of the triangle. I stitched those and tomorrow will fill them in with different shades of green maker.

Then I’ll see what comes next.