A Window into the Workshop

Allie taught for a total of three days while she was here. The first day she gave a lecture on her personal journey from sane quilting to crazy quilting...I was shocked by how many quilts Allie has made over the years! And they were not small quilts either! The lecture was a great summary of her life and her work and was enjoyed by all.

That afternoon, we were taught how to create a crazy quilt block using curved piecing -- which I was delighted to learn. Most of us created blocks which we brought to class to use for our two-day flower embellishment workshop.

In the two day workshop, we learned a total of eight flowers and Allie had placed the components for each flower in their own separate bags. This helped keep the supplies organized and was like opening up a present when we moved on to the next flower...I loved that!


In these pics, we were fusing Angelina fibers to make a "fabric" from which we could cut out flower petals and sew them onto our blocks. We progressed through each flower in much the same fashion.


Some of us got further along than others but all of us had a great time.


This friend, Carolyn Everly, won the award for dressing to match her block.


And she was overcome with happiness at having won...as you can tell.


And this is Barbara Meger, a Guild member who teaches smocking for the Smocking Guild of America... She's anything but meager so I've nicknamed her Barbara Got-Alot....and yes, she made that jacket with the buttons on it -- hence, her nickname. Need I say more?


And Bobbi Pohl pieced her own block to embellish and has started her own blog so check it out... She came in second place for dressing like her block because that hand-painted silk scarf was gorgeous!


And Robin Atkins came back to Baltimore just to take Allie's class...what an honor to have her back here. Not only is she an accomplished beader but an accomplished needlewoman as well!


There was lots of giggling and laughter and some of us even accomplished alot...like Robin!


And I absolutely loved making this apple blossom from flowers that Allie had found at the dollar store.


I didn't get too much done on my block so it will probably be a few days before I have time to finish. I'm still recovering from all the excitement. Until next time...