Gotta Love Elvis

Last week, I wrote briefly about the fiber class I am taking at the Columbia Museum of Art.  The class is taught by Susan Lenz and is called "Hot Fabric".    Since I mentioned the class in my last post, I thought I'd show you the results of my novice attempts at some of Susan's techniques.

This is the last piece I created.  It took about 15 minutes last Wednesday night to lay the foundation (fabric backing, layers of contrasting fibers, velvet squares, and overlay of netting), and 6 or so hours to plan out the other design elements, choose the contrasting fibers and beads for embellishment, and embroider the piece.

Susan asked us to complete several foundation pieces, so I selected one from the first class two weeks ago for a second go.  I was inspired by a Kaffe Fassett design and had an easier time choosing the embellishments because I was more constrained by the space and by the theme.  But overall, it took about 6 hours to complete as well.

I am working on one more piece today, and if I can get if finished by Wednesday evening, I will take all three to the last class and be guided by Susan's opinion about which one is most worthy of mounting and framing, which is the topic of the last class.

I loved the time I spent in this class.  I learned so much and Susan is a fantastic teacher.  She shared her studio materials freely, and I have to say I felt guilty about that.  Most of the classes I've taken with fiber artists require a separate materials fee.  So to ease my conscience, I made Susan a basket of fibers from my stash.  Hopefully it makes up in some small way for her generosity.

As to the September TIF theme, I'll be using the color palette this month.  I am cheating a bit because I will be finishing an Elvis quilt which I've already started.  The predominant colors on both sides of the quilt are the blue and yellow tones Sharon selected.  How lucky can a girl get! And before you go jumping to conclusions about my love for "The King," let me tell you that this quilt is a gift for a coworker who  was kind enough to give me her sewing machine to take my first quilting class last May.  When I asked her how much I could pay her for the machine, she said, "Make me a quilt."  She's a HUGE Elvis fan, so I thought maybe I could find some fabric with a music theme and print a few Elvis photos on muslin and do a four patch.  Well, it turns out that there is already a large selection of Elvis fabric out there, ready to be cut up for quilting!  Wow!  Who'd have thought.  Anyway, next weekend, I'll blog a little about the fabric and the design and my inspirations for the piece.  Selecting the fabric, piecing the quilt, and now quilting it has been one long  challenge, so I guess it's right and fitting that it shows up in TIF.