Solutions and Work of Art

I've been watching this newer show on Bravo called Work of Art in which a few "artists" have decided it would be fun to torture themselves for a chance at money and a modest amount of fame. I can't imagine trying to be creative on an extremely tight deadline - usually hours. Most of the stuff that's been produced is total dreck, but that's part of the fun. I'm enjoying it.

Anyway. My point isn't really about the television show. It's about solutions and time. 

See those rectangular empty boxes? 

This is Constantinople in my own colorway based on Watercolours Cheyenne. It's nearly finished now. Except for those rectangular boxes. (In other words, this isn't a recent photo. Small boxes are filled. And outer border is nearly complete.)

Those empty boxes are supposed to have a linen thread with a pulled stitch. So I stitched one box the way it's supposed to be. Hated the stitch. Disliked the color. And after thinking it over for 24 hours, I cut it all out.

Back into the pile of UFOs. Poor thing. I think it's really pretty and deserves some attention. 

I had played around with some other threads in my stash, but nothing really worked. And the playing was pointless because I had no idea what I was going to stitch in those boxes. 

And yesterday it came to me. That convergence of ideas. I took Stars and my threads to Needlewoman East to see if I could find a lighter version for some of my neutral threads. Found some things to purchase and try. We'll see. And then I was walking around when it hit me that I should have brought Constantinople with me. But I hadn't. 


Off I go to find Cheyenne in Watercolours. And because it's there, I picked it up in Wildflowers, too. I try matching some Trebizond and some Mandarin Floss. But nothing seems quite right. And I decided to buy the Wildflowers and vow to make a return trip with the canvas and threads. 


Didn't have time to play with Stars. And off I went to our Stitch in Public night at Panera. I worked on my Ravish Me canvas until I ran out of my background thread. Pulled out a blackwork bookmark and proceeded to make it non-reversable. (I'll be frogging that, too.)


And then came home. Pulled out the canvas and threads. Pulled out the Wildflowers from its brown paper bag. And pulled out Stitches for Effect. I went right to Alicia's Lace Variation and there it was. My solution. That stitch. And the description even recommends using Wildflowers. 


Do I have a point here? Yes. Sometimes you can't force things. You just have to wait. Time is necessary. I had all the pieces, I just needed to put them together. 


Like Ryan on Work of Art said, sometimes you need to sleep on it. And when you wake up in the morning, there's the answer.