Not Quite Irene

I finished the new little quilt I've been working on the past few days. Yay me! And I'm going to go ahead and post pics because it's no longer a surprise. Here's the story... Not long ago, my friend Kristen's daughter, Irene, had her first-ever dance recital, where she danced to "Walk the Dinosaur". Kristen sent me a link to a wonderful little video of Irene's dance, as well as sending me a couple of snapshots of Irene in costume, including this one: Irene in her dinosaur dance costume All this coincides with Kristen's family moving to a new home, so I decided to make a combination housewarming gift/dance recital keepsake and turn Irene's adorable photo into a small portrait quilt. My original plan was to just send it and surprise Kristen, but when it was finished this afternoon, I was frustrated and disappointed to see that I really hadn't done what I set out to do. Oh, the quilt is ok, if you don't know who it's supposed to be. But I didn't really capture the Real Irene. I don't mean photo-realism; that was never what I was going for. But when I get a portrait just right, there's a spark of personality there that says to me "yes, that's it" and this one doesn't quite have it. It says to me "anonymous cute brown-haired girl" instead of saying "Irene". So I sent an email to Kristen telling her what was up and showing her the photo and asking her if she wanted a "not quite Irene" portrait or if I should toss it. Kristen said she wanted it and told me that "while it's not quite irene, it's very much irene at the same time!" So, there we go..."Tiny Dancer" (my original name for it) aka "Not Quite Irene" (the name I will always associate with it!) will be on its way to Nevada tomorrow and Kristen gave me permission to post both Irene's real photo and a photo of the quilt here on RSR. Tiny Dancer aka Not Quite Irene As I told Kristen earlier, I remember now why I so seldom draw children. Adult faces are much easier!