Lisa Call

Thread racks installed in bedroom studio

Ready for Texture

Two days ago I prepared Structures #97 for the surface stitching. Last night I spent the evening with my builder working out what might be the final floor design so tonight I was ready to sit down and start quilting Structures #97.

Problem was all of my thread was jumbled up in plastic bags, placed there when I packed up my house a few months ago. It was all tangled together due to neglect and shuffling about the studio. Not very presentable or useable.

I use dozens of colors of thread on each textile painting and the thought of selecting the colors I wanted for this piece, without having them organized, hurt my head.

More Studio Set Up

So I spent a couple hours tonight putting the mettler thread back in order - around 190 spools.

[yes, I store it in numerical order by color on the thread racks - you can read more details of my super organized thread inventory of around 500 spools in this post about my thread.]

I moved the Valdani thread in plastic bin tonight as I don’t really have room on the wall for all of it.

My bedroom has more color with the thread racks on the wall. They may only be there a couple of weeks if I don’t have to go through a long building permit process. I should found out tomorrow what the approximate start date is on that project. I love the floor plan we came up with and am excited about the remodel.

Tonight when I sat down and spent about a half hour actually sewing and adding the texture to Structures #97 I was at peace. Making art, specifically textile paintings, is definitely my passion. It felt great to get organized and back to this part of the process.

Markings #10 In Progress - stitched section ©2007

 
One of my goals for this year states:

I complete the 17 major pieces started prior to 2007 that are still unfinished: Structures #47, Structures #48, Structures #49, Structures #50, Structures #65, Markings #4, Markings #5, Markings #6, Markings #7, Markings #8, Markings #9, Markings #10, Markings #14, Portals #1, Portals #2, Circles #1, Circles #2.

When I revisted my goals mid year, which I failed to write about, I changed this to completing the 13 pieces in the Structures and Markings series. This week I’m very likely to complete this goal. Markings #10, the last to be completed, has about 14 more hours to go.

Completing this work mostly involved hours and hours of sewing parallel lines of stitching into the work to create the texture I love. To me my work isn’t completed just because the design is done and all the shapes have been sewn into a composition. It looks too flat, too untidy, less interesting. Plus it doesn’t store well as the fabric gets all wrinkled:
 

Markings #10 In Progress - Prior to Stitching ©2007

 
I have to added dense stitching or it just doesn’t feel right. After creating a fabric composition I layer it with cotton batting and a second layer of fabric for the back. I baste these 3 layers together and then spend hours adding stitched lines to the work to add texture.

This goal has been a good fit given the difficult year I’ve had, spending teh majority of my studio time in this meditative process of sewing lines back and forth. There are some artistic decisions to be made but much of this work is done on autopilot. A wonderful time to contemplate the events in my life and try to make sense of it all. Or listen to music or books on tape.

I had to take a quick break as I ran out of one of my green threads and I’m waiting for the local quilt store to open. It’s a rare occurrence for me to run out of thread given my rather detailed thread inventory system but Markings #10 is a large piece (probably 7 feet x 8 feet) and I forgot just how much thread is needed for such a beast.

Time to brave the first snow of the season an go get my thread and some more books on tape at the library.