Crazy for Allie

I fell in love with the work of Allison Aller while she was stitching her award-winning quilt "Crazy for Flowers". I have loved that quilt from afar for years and have grown to admire both Allie's life and work through her blog, Allie's in Stitches.


It was less than a year ago when we hatched the plan for Allie to come teach her unique style of crazy quilting to my Embroiderers' Guild and, for the past week, we have spent many wonderful hours together --- laughing, sharing, stitching, and traveling.


I finally got to see Crazy for Flowers up close and it's magnificent! All the pics in this post are from Allie's quilt -- I just had to share what I saw -- and help you get a sense of the richness I experienced when I finally got to spend time with Allie up-close.


So many details to explore and new wonders to discover about this person whom you've "known" but only just met.


I kept drawing parallels between what I found from my detailed study of her quilt and what I discovered about Allie herself. The depth of color, the exuberance, the love of life and love and gardens and flowers... It's all Allie. And so much more interesting, alive and dear...


She's all that I imagined her to be and so much more.


It's funny -- because we read each other's blogs, we started out "knowing" so much more about each other and so the conversations came very easily and I found myself filling in the outlines of the online Allie I know.


She's real. She's warm and kind and genuine. And the fabric and threads of her life are just as beautifully put together as her quilts. She draws those around her close to herself and leaves them with a sunny smile and a twinkle in their eye to mirror her own.


She's a natural at teaching and her class was a huge hit! Everyone played, learned and loved the time that they spent in her class. She was confident, well-prepared and her passion for crazy quilting lit the room and spread like wild-fire.


She graced our home with a warmth and presence that gave more than she took and both Jim and Jack were charmed by her ease and genuine interest in themselves.


We traveled through the States of Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and New York in 7 days but, more importantly, we traveled through years of each others lives and dreams. And I gained so much more than I gave.


She's a joy, a delight, a beam of sunshine and she is poised for great things in this world, just wait and see.


Beautiful, strong...Magnificent. Just like her quilt.

Crazy for Flowers. Crazy for Allie. It's one and the same.


Allie, we miss you already. Thank you for coming. You're welcome back any time.

Tomorrow, I'll show you how she inspired others through her teaching...