Structures #58, #61 and #62 Revisited
In my last 3 posts I showed three pieces I completed last year. The original plan for these pieces was a single quilt.
This is the final image I took as a single unit:
After completing the quilt to this point I put it away because it didn’t quite feel right. Several months later I pulled it out and added in the large blue shape in the green section and then I quilted the piece.
It looked something like this (only as a single piece):
After putting it up on my wall and looking at it I suspect I felt like Cynthia, a wonderful ceramic artist, might feel when a piece doesn’t survive the final kiln firing. All that work and - arg!!!!
I knew there was no way I would ever show the piece in public as it did not live up to my standards. There were a couple things that just didn’t work.
Last year I made a few pieces where I extended the quilted line into the next shape using thread. One of my more successful attempts at this type of quilting was with Structures #60. The faint lines that continue from one block to another were made with thread.
Structures #60 ©2006 33"x89"
You can understand this better if you look at the detail shot:
In what was to be Structures #58 I attempted to do long sweeping arcs continuing the pieced lines across the entire quilt surface. I drew in the lines I wanted to stitch with chalk but didn’t think much about all the places where this newly stitched line had to jump across pieced lines. The chalk lines were beautiful arcs but the final sewn lines were not so pretty. In fact it looked terrible.
The sewn lines were very prominent and very croooked and they ruined the beautiful flow of the quilt. It’s not quite as obvious in my collaged image but in the real quilt it look terrible - very distracting and amateurish. And it was confirmed by a few close friends in my critique group.
This was the worst of the lines:
The other problem with the quilt was the middle pale section. Even looking at the first image in this post I can see it really doesn’t flow well with the orange and green sections. The pieced yellow lines are very subtle in that section and after it was quilted it really looked out of place in between the green and orange sections. The stitched quilting lines were very prominent in this yellow section and it looked completely different than the rest of the quilt and it didn’t look good.
When a quiltmaker is faced with this type of mistake there are usually 2 choices to be made: 1) donate it to a charity as a baby quilt or 2) cut it up. I went for #2 as I didn’t want to scare any innocent children.
I was a bit dubious at first but after a while these resulting 3 small quilts really grew on me and I like them quite a bit. The yellow piece, which is what I felt ruined the whole, is my favorite of these smaller individual pieces. I love the prominent pieced line on the pale yellow fabric.
I really love the idea of extending the pieced line using thread but I learned in this piece that it is not technically an easy thing to do. When I try this again I will definitely make sure to take more care.
Here are the final 3 pieces again:
Structures #58 ©2006 30" x 32"
Structures #61 © 2007 23" x 32"
Structures #62 © 2007 33" x 19"
I really appreciate all the comments on my recent posts about sacrifice. I have more to say but it will have to wait until later. It’s studio time now.
Posted by Lisa in: Abstract Contemporary Textile Art
Diane Clancy said,
July 22, 2007 @ 8:28 am
Hi Lisa,
This is a great post! I appreciate your honesty. When I was first reading, I thought - “oh, oh, those don’t go together!” I was relieved to hear that your analysis matched my own. Or should I say, my analysis matched yours? It is great fun - and educational - to hear about your processes and about how you turn things not working out right into successes. Because I do think the final ones are grand! Alone, I am enjoying the subtleties of the yellow quilt.
it is interesting to see the closeup where you carried the quilting over into the other unit. Very nice looking. Again, I get so much out of following your process - thank you!
~ Diane Clancy
http://www.dianeclancy.com/blog
Lee said,
July 22, 2007 @ 10:25 am
I’m sorry the long sweeping lines didn’t work - in the onscreen image it looked like a fabulous idea. The smaller versions are very strong on their own. I especially like the feelings I get of worked fields and relict road ways.
Wanda S. Hanson said,
July 22, 2007 @ 11:40 am
I like the yellow one the best too. The quilting thread color seems more predominant on it than it is on either of the other 2 pieces. Your quilting is so exquisite and perfectly executed. I know you love your Pfaff machines and they are the ones I sew on the most too, but the Babylock Professional Quilter which is only straight stitch does the most beautiful and really straight stitch. You will have to try it out if you ever have to get another machine.
Melissa Lanitis Gregory said,
July 23, 2007 @ 1:21 pm
This isn’t so much about your quilts in this post, or the “sacrifice” thread, but only that, in looking at your work and reading your words, I can really appreciate your focus on “the work”. Your process is interesting to me: how, without the pressure of working in order to sell, you become totally focused on the process…
And how possible is this in my own work? Right now I focused on getting my work out there, as I am feeling the need for that type of validation and some income…but the process is important to me as well…
Hmmm…. more things to balance!
Meagan said,
July 24, 2007 @ 11:07 am
My condolences that your pieces didn’t turn out the first time, but now they really look very cool. I have had pieces not turn out before, and it is always after wasting lots of time and materials. However, after seeing how nicely you salveged or “recycled” the pieces you were unhappy with, I may go back and take another look at my own “whoops” pieces. As always, you are an inspiration. :-)
Kiandra said,
July 31, 2007 @ 9:20 am
Thanks for sharing your process Lisa, and being so honest. Like Diane, when I saw the first piece I thought something didn’t go, but I was unsure what.
I love them apart, they are all very strong pieces, with my favorite being the yellow one also.
I also love #60, and the technique of continuing the line with the quilting. Your process and dedication to the craft of quilting is very inspiring…I always leave here with a gusto to work on defining my style.
Alan Kelchner said,
August 1, 2007 @ 10:57 am
Lisa, I think the quilt at the top of this post should not have the blue section. It’s entirely too jarring. Perhaps a lighter color, more neutral, in two or three spots across the work? I think it would add some interest and give the entire piece some continuity.
Alan