She’s Got Legs…

Yes. Now that song is in my head All Day Long. And probably yours too. If not, don’t think too hard about it. Avoid the earworm.

So after totally sucking Tuesday night (well, at least on the art front…wait, I lost both games too, but I was close for a while on one), last night I completely rocked. Four hours of sewing and ironing (hello chiropractor on Friday, because that twist and turn I do to get the fabric and iron to the side without standing is a killer). I’m feeling much less panicked about getting this done now (although still not completely out of panic mode…I might need a margarita party Monday night once it’s hung). I’m actually thinking about the next steps…OK, so I thought about those on Sunday and called the Mom Store for supplies…I really would have gone out and bought them, but she handed it to me and…well…there we are.

You have to understand that I am doing almost nothing else when I get home. I feed myself (barely) and the animals. I pet them. I sleep and shower. But I’m not (really) cleaning. I occasionally move something or throw something out because it seems easy to do it right then, but the house isn’t getting cleaner or even presentable. Sigh! Art waits for nothing. Deadlines wait for nothing.

I started before dinner last night…decided to get to a certain point before I was allowed to eat. I needed to finish the ribs to the hole. That sounds awful, but it makes sense when you’re looking at it. Have I mentioned this thing has a giant hole in it? It does. Originally something was going to hang through it. I could still do that, but it would probably have to be a baby doll and not fabric. I thought about gluing small pieces of fabric all over the baby doll…like decoupage of old, but…eh…time and I just don’t know if I want that.

So it was still daylight when I started on the other side (which I technically started Monday night)…

I had originally sewn the outline with this red old thread from Sandi, and I think the stitching was too close together with the muslin being so light and foofy, so to keep the base fabric flat, in some places I have to rip out a stitch and pull to lay it flat. This section was particularly bad for some reason…

I finished the side, and girlchild called from Boston. An hour later, I’m pretty proud of all the things she’s trying to do. Apparently moving 3000 miles away makes you braver. Good for her. I cooked dinner while talking to her and then ate after she went off with her friends to study Anthropology.

Then I finished around the hole. I thought I had more torso until I hit pubic area, but no. It was right there. So I formed that over the purple that would be the legs.

I keep burning myself on the iron. This one looks worse this morning. I don’t know how I’m doing it…just reaching around the fabric and hitting it, I think. I tried to move it behind me after that so I wouldn’t keep burning myself.

Sometime around 10 PM, I got all that done and tried to see the whole thing. It’s getting harder…

So all that’s left now are the legs. I put away a bunch of the blue (at least the smaller bins…I’ll wait on the larger bins) and pulled purples.

I don’t have anywhere near as many purples as blues, but I still have a lot. Purple’s weird though…such a range of red-purple to blue-purple. Seems harder than blue.

Here’s the legs coming off the bottom…I think they’re at least as tall as I am. If the whole thing is 17 feet, then 5 feet for legs is actually a little short, but I did make the body the biggest part. Oh yeah. And now you can really see the hole. Although it’s not currently a hole. Yeah.

Purples piled for legs…

I rested for about 20 minutes with the dog on the couch in the dark before starting this. I could legitimately have gone to sleep, but I am still worried about having enough time to finish, because I honestly don’t know how long each step will take.

That’s the plus to keeping track of your time. Then you can estimate better for next time. I spent about 45 minutes on this part of the leg (and picking fabrics out). It’s halfway done. I should be able to finish the legs tonight after my meeting. Really. I should.

I’m 15 hours into the piecing. Someone asked if I would sell this. Thing is, I’m already almost 19 hours into it and it’s not near done yet. And it’s weird. Where are you going to hang it? A wall that’s over 17 feet high or long (I could hang it in my hallway or my living room or even my entryway), but it’s not even configured to hang on a wall. It could be, but that would take more time. And it’s not going to be cheap because of the time involved.

So that’s not why I make art. I suppose that’s obvious to most.

OK. School calls, along with about 75 damp and mushy gummy bears (don’t ask). And I try not to look at the calendar and see Monday looming (that’s install day, although I can push to Thursday if I have to, but it’s not like Tuesday and Wednesday are days that have a lot of sewing time available). I want this fucker done and out of my hair. I like how it’s coming out, but fuck me. It needs to get out of here. And my head.