More on Stitching

This sampler, 12" x 12", was made in my class at Arrowmont week before last. It folds into a little book. It was my big project for the week. The assignment had to do with memory and prophecy. All the numbers and symbols in this piece have particular significance to me; funny because I never make things with much personal meaning. I've always thought that I purposely avoid telling much about myself in my work because everybody has their own issues - many much worse than mine - and my stories really aren't that interesting or tragic or important. I am beginning to think, however, that I haven't told my stories because I want to avoid them. I want to avoid what I think and believe to be true about myself. It's too painful.
Perhaps it's time to be truthful, even if it sounds silly to you. Good work, transcendent work is always that - truthful. I have not been producing good work lately because I haven't told the whole truth. I do want to make good work, above all. Struggling at the moment with making Art and making stuff, like crochet and clothes. I can't seem to marry the two. They aren't even dating at this point.
This little sampler is not a sampler in the traditional sense of learning and mastering stitches. It's a sampler of my beliefs and stories I tell myself about me and my life. It looks whimsical, doesn't it? A person-who-was-not-in-my-class remarked to me that she could make a book like that for her grandson. It's not a toy. It's more like a charm, like physical representations of superstitions or something like that. I used 6 strands of DMC on most things, so it's very tactile, especially the 6 and 7. Anyway, I've been home from Arrowmont two weeks and remain utterly vexed by the stitch.

I have begun a doll, aptly named Flossie, covered entirely in embroidery. The granny sqaure count is at 27. I would like it to be 30 by days end. We shall see. I also MUST make a new calender/planner book for myself for the coming school year.