Elizabeth Busch Workshop
by Anita Rabinoff-Goldman

On October 19th and 20th, 17 QC members were treated to a terrific workshop led by Maine quilt artist Elizabeth Busch. Elizabeth, who spoke to the QC membership at the October 18th meeting, is a RISD grad who majored in painting and art education. Her work is represented in many public spaces and has been seen in numerous national quilt and craft shows.
Elizabeth's workshop covered the techniques she uses for painting fabric and constructing quilts using the fabrics she paints. Using transparent acrylic paints from Pro-Chemical, we were shown how to apply the paints to unprimed canvas building up layers of interest with a variety of application tools and resist materials. Many QC artists brought additional tools (stamps and stencils, for example) to built up their surface designs. Our purpose was not to create a finished quilt top with each piece of fabric we painted, but rather to create fabric that we would later cut up and either piece or fuse to create the quilt top. We were a very productive bunch, making many yards of fabric to use at a later date.
Elizabeth surprised us with one of her methods of cutting up fabric for construction. She cuts her fabric on the wrong (unpainted) side where she can't see the portion of the fabric she's cutting up. In this way, she is creating a sort of "no-judgement" zone, keeping her ego out of the process and opening herself up to the possibilities of surprise that the technique can provide.
Elizabeth had some other tips to share with the group. To construct quilts with painted canvas, she recommends using Heat 'n Bond if you're fusing instead of piecing. She finds it is provides the best hold for the heavier fabric. Elizabeth hand quilts almost all her quilts using embroidery floss and pearl cotton. She also uses Pellon fusible fleece for batting finding it best suited to her work.
Everyone was happily exhausted by the end of the second day of the workshop and went home with lots of amazing fabrics and the beginnings of beautiful quilts.