Cut 'em off at the knees!

So I'm rushing like crazy to get a doll finished by next week for the Anchorage Fiber Festival. Janie Odgers, the coordinator, had asked me last summer to do a doll and I declined. Then this month I started getting lots of emails from her asking about my doll. It finally dawned on me that maybe they were short of dolls and really needed them. So I wrote and asked her - said if there was a dire need for a doll I'd try to crank one out. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by the answer 'Yes, I'd love one'. So here's what I'm working on ...

The theme of the show is Garden Fantasy. My original idea was a doll on a swing but the doll didn't like that idea at all. She absolutely refused to go along with it. She wouldn't let me put her legs at the proper angle for pumping the swing. I really didn't want to redesign the pattern again, so I cut her legs off at the knees, thinking I could do a two part leg instead. Nope, she didn't want calves and feet -once I cut them off she was happy - unbelievable. Then I realized that I kind of liked the torso effect too and now I think I will keep it like this and have her emerging from the center of a flower or something. Like I told Sherry - maybe I shouldn't share my creative process. Things evolve - sometimes if I am not crazy about my first idea I don't mind at all if the doll changes radically. Like this one is doing!

Oh - the head won't be at this angle. It only has one pin holding it on and it's at the back of the neck.