More Progress
Structures #48
This was the state of the quilt around noon today. What you are seeing are about 190 separate squares or "blocks" like this one:
I took each square of fabric and inserted several small thin strips into the block to make my structures motif. This is what the back of the block looks like:
I can sew about 9-10 of these blocks an hour so it took about 20 hours to do all of these.
But I’m far from done. I now have to sew all of these separate blocks into one big single unit. I spent 4+ hours on this task this afternoon but I’m at best about 1/3 of the way done.
The easy way to make a pieced quilt is to make all the blocks the same size as it’s a pretty straight forward task to sew them together - make rows, then sew the rows together. This quilt isn’t quite like that. It’s pretty much like putting a puzzle together. Except the pieces don’t really fit together. So I have to make some bigger, some smaller, and sometimes make new ones up along the way. In other words it’s a lot of fun because I have to think.
Several people have asked me how I do this and I don’t really have an answer. To me it’s obvious how to do it. I just look at what’s there and sew it together in an order that sort of works. I think people that are good at packing more food into a refrigerator than might normally fit are the type of people that can look at something like this and see how to fit it all together.
My goal was to finish this quilt top this weekend and I knew that wasn’t really realistic, but it did keep me rooted to my studio for most of the weekend. I managed to put in 26 hours in my studio this week, 6 hours more than my normal goal of 20 so I’m quite pleased.
In addition I made a lot of progress on my email mailing list but I need to do a bit more testing when I’m more awake so I’ll wait to unveil it on my website for another day or 2.
Hurray for FOCUS!
Posted by Lisa in: Goals, Making Abstract Contemporary Textile Art
jafabrit said,
March 26, 2007 @ 5:14 am
This is just fantastic.
Olga said,
March 26, 2007 @ 5:26 am
I love the combination of subtle air colours and the busy-ness of the lines. It’s amazing but the result seems to be a beautiful meld of dynamic action with calm. Powerful stuff. How great also to be able to devote so much time all at once to working on it. Progress like this must be so energising.
Marina Broere said,
March 26, 2007 @ 2:14 pm
This is so interesting! I love how it looks now with the top right in ’sharper’ lines and contrasts, slowly giving in to more softer nuances.
Sheila said,
March 26, 2007 @ 7:59 pm
Following up on Marina’s comment about how you’ve “shaded” this piece, is there a particular reason that you chose to make the upper portion more intense and clear while the lower section becomes muted? I’m thinking most people would have done it the other way around.
Yet as I study it, perhaps I see why. I see a bit of landscape here with that lower left shape looking like a sloping hillside and the upper right looking like sky.
Am I reading too much into this? ;->
Sherrill Pearson said,
March 27, 2007 @ 5:17 am
Hi Lisa,
I always have the same opinion about fusing after I look at your work.
Fusing is fine, but the skill level cannot be compared to piecing (sewing) the design.
I love your work because of it’s subtlety while still being exciting to look at. Your work draws me in, rather than blaring in my face.
I have subscribed to your news letter and look forward to it.
Sherrill, Montreal, Quebec
Diane Clancy said,
March 27, 2007 @ 10:21 am
I am really enjoying reading about your process … it is fascinating.
It is looking beautiful! I also liked the stage before - I saw land and sky and so much movement of another type. Lisa, have you ever considered leaving some of your quilts looking more like the last post? Not meaning better - but just different … each feel you create is so incredible!
But then again, I have a problem with certain mediums - like pastel, charcoal and pencil - of getting too attached to stages of the painting and not wanting it to go past a soft sketchy stage. Once, years ago I even made a second charcoal drawing at the soft stage and then pushed one to completion.
It showed me that the soft stage is sweet to my heart - but not finished. So I retract my earlier idea. Oh well … Thank you again for sharing with us so deeply.
I only have been looking at blogs for a week now, but I keep coming back here to read older articles - I LOVE your blog!
- Diane Clancy
Lisa Call said,
March 27, 2007 @ 10:25 am
Thanks everyone.
Olga - yes - making progress is very energizing. It feels great to get this older work finished up.
Everyone else left some really great comments that I want to address in more detail so look for another post soon on many of these topics.