Allie's in Stitches

Quilt Finishes 2025

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 13:51:00 +0000

My finishes for 2025 traveled in two directions: traditionally structured quilts and tops along geometric lines, and organic, experimental, free flowing floral collage.

From memory and baby quilts to crazy quilts and flat out experimentation, my quilt life continues to feed my soul.

Scroll through for a quick drive-by of my year!

Quilt Finishes 2024

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Wed, 01 Jan 2025 16:29:00 +0000

My work in 2024 was exploratory as usual, but also taken up by months of preparation for my new crafty class on Contemporary Stained Glass Quilting Many class projects are shown below.

I also spent some weeks preparing for my exhibit at The Texas Quilt Museum which has just closed. Seeing it and speaking there was a highlight of my year, for sure.

Another highlight was creating my "Soldier Boy" for the Cherrywood Poppy Challenge.

Viewng all the Poppy quilts together at the Houston Quilt Festival was a very moving experience.

Travel last spring to Uzbekistan to study their textile traditions has led me deeper into my quest to combine international textiles in quilts. With some side forays here and there, that will be my focus moving forward. Here's to a productive and exploratory year in 2025!

This flannel quilt was made for Quilts for Cops .

Check out their website to see the great work they do!

This is a hybrid quilt, combinig antique textiles and embroidery on Pendleton wool. It still needs to be quilted, when I can figure out how! It's all basted and waiting....

My "Soldier Boy: Every Mother's Son". I used needlefelted silk and bamboo fibers in the Cherrywood cottons, and my stained glass technique to support the vibe. I was so happy he was Honorably Mentioned!

"Home Sweet Home" was a mishmash of collage, piecing, stained glass lettering, embellishment, and quilting. I listened to The Secret Garden on Audible as I worked and it was the perfect soundtrack.

******** Craftsy *******

My goal for the class was to teach how many variations there can be using my simple stained glass leading method. Have a look.... The last photo, the leaf vine, is the class project.

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Once the filming was completed in mid September, I needed to play without too much forethought! I used textiles and techniques from all over the world and all over my quilting history, too.

***Texas Quilt Museum Exhibit***

This fun picture is of all the quilts that would be boxed up and shipped to the museum.

And here they are, so brilliantly hung, all together. Deepest thanks to all involved in this wonderful endeavor.

Thanks for stopping by here....and happy sewing in 2025!

Quilt Finishes 2023

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 19:38:00 +0000

What a productive year, if I do say so myself!

2023 found me making Memory Quilts, pillows, crazy quilts, traditional quilts, art quilts, class samples, and tops.

Here they are, in chronological order backwards.

I'm already jumping into 2024 with both feet. Happy Sewing, everyone!

Quilt Finishes 2022

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 01:30:00 +0000

It's been a prolific and wide-ranging year in the sewing room. I worked on more 'Quilt Renovations" (or "Palimpsests"), a raft of pillows, finished a couple major crazy quilts, and a memory quilt for a client.

I am thinking 2023 is going to see me shift towards a brighter palette...although there is one major project coming up that will use only actual antique fabrics, not reproductions-- from the mid to early 19th Century. I've been collecting them all year and will take the plunge next fall.

Meanwhile, in chronological order, the work of 2022. No captions, just photos of overall finishes, a few details, and a few of the projects in use.

Happy Sewing, Everyone!

Quilt Finishes for 2021 (and Beyond)Part 2: The Palimpsest Series

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Sat, 22 Jan 2022 04:18:00 +0000

Palimpsest: something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form.

During the second half of 2021 I dove into the Palimpsest Series. I take an old, tattered "base quilt" and create a new quilt on top of it, hopefully letting the character of the original quilt come through.

Those old quilts have such beautiful hand quilting in them, and their drape is so soft from use. I've adored working with them. Each one is different, of course, requiring different techniques and strategies to bring it to new life. Sometimes the entire original base quilt is covered, sometimes not. But the handquilting always shows on the back.

To gather them in one place, I post below the finished image of the first 11 of them, with brief captions. I am continuing the series here in 2022.

A vintage cloth childrens' book provided the imagery for this baby quilt.

Palimpsest #1. Three different base quilt sections were joined to make the background.

Palimpsest #2. Vintage blocks, trim, and rick rack transform the base quilt.

Palmpsest #3. A favorite, tattered old quilt was restored with new patches and a new center.

Palmpsest #4. Many vintage textlile elements create the new compositional layer over the original base quilt.

Palimpsest #5. Over the top, this one is!

Palimpsest #6. This was laid out over a single piece of Pendleton wool, with a velour backing.

Palimpsest #7. The base quilt was overdyed and is the red that you see.

Palimpsest #8. Floral blockprints from India are featured.

Palimpsest #9. This draws on my years in crazy quilting.

Palimpsest #10. The base quilt was overdyed and you can still see its patterns. This quilt was an interpretation of an antique quilt owned by Julie Silber. See it here.

Palimpsesst #11, 80" X 80". The original quilt was such a wreck that only the border from it shows. But the drape is wonderful. I included old quilt blocks and part of a top, piecing of my own, fabric from India, France, and embroidery from Slovakia.

Palimpsest #12, 76" X 80". The base quilt is a 1980's mass-produced Double Wedding Ring imported from China. Hand dyed sky fabric, vintage curtains, and a few quilters' cottons completed the mix.

What a joy this series has been for me.

Quilt Finishes from 2021, Part 1: Illustrations

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Sat, 15 Jan 2022 18:09:00 +0000

I started 2021 working on my illustration project, and got pretty far before I abruptly ended it. I'm proud of what I learned though, and will share a little about why I had to stop at the end of the post here.

This was the final sample using the technique I settled on for depicting figures in cloth. The models are my firefighter nephew Andy's wife Caylie and their daughter Lily.

This experiment was putting Lily in a collage context.

My sister and I had written a little story and all the poses by Caylie and Lily were to illustrate it. I decided to make the figures first and then put them into their backgrounds. These took a long time and really REALLY made me stretch.

One of my favorite work in progress photos of the whole year is of all of them together on my design wall.

I started making backgrounds for a few of them.

But the backstory to this project eventually overwhelmed me. My nephew Andy was diagnosed with brain cancer soon after I began these, and I used the making of them as a way to reach out to Andy especially (sending him lots of photos as he lay in bed in the hospital or at his home.)

It was also my way of coping with this terrible, inevitable loss.

Andy died April 25, 2021. Two weeks later, I gave a long-scheduled interview with Michele Muska for the Quilt Alliance's Save Our Stories project.

Michele did such a gentle job with me that it was a fun experience. Here is the YouTube link to the 40 minute interview about my life in quilting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G73DqPGod2Y

I talk about Andy and this project at the very end of the interview.

A few weeks after the interview, I realized that I could not continue with this project. It is just too painful. And I'm ok with that. I learned a lot, and Andy and I had a sweet connection via these little illustrations over his last months.

As in all the QSOS interviews, I do talk about the bottom line of what quilting means to me. If you tune in at the end, you will know what this image means.

Always and forever, Andy.....

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Part 2 of my Quilt Finishes for 2021 will cover my Palimpsest series, which I turned to with intense focus after putting Andy's project away. Stay tuned...

Quilt Finishes for 2020--Most Eclectic!

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 20:26:00 +0000

2020 was a year of great experimentation for me. From using vintage textiles in my quilts, which I think of as #herhandsandmine, to doing many studies of fabric faces, making memory and Tshirt quilts and pillows, playing with new piecing techniques, starting a long term crazy quilt project called "The Russian Brocade"....

I gather the images here as I did at the beginning of last year, to create a record all in one place of my work for the year.

I am hoping that my work in 2021 will be even more out of the box, as that's what keeps it fun for me.

Happy New Year and keep stitching!

22 Quillt Project Finishes from 2019

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Thu, 02 Jan 2020 03:20:00 +0000

It has been a productive and eclectic year for me as a quilt designer and maker. While cutting down my teaching engagements has been a little bittersweet, the time freed up has enabled me to do more experimentation in my own work, as well as to spend more time making comfort quilts for others. This latter aspect of quiltmaking has become more and more important to me.

A developing theme has been incorporating vintage textiles into my quilts. I use the hashtags #herhandsandmine and #vintagetextilesinquilts over on Instagram where I post a lot @alliealler --do find me!

Another new direction, at least for me, is to incorporate freemotion quilting as an integral design element in my work. I always resisted that, but knew that studying under Cindy Needham would help me break down my barriers. My 5 days of workshop study with her last July was one of the best experiences I've ever had as a student!

So here is most of the year's work., in the order of making. I loved every minute of it.

A flannel quilt for my cousin, like the one I made last year (which she really loved.)

An amulet made with Amy Butler and Heather Jones in Morocco.

My main project of the year, "Snowflowers", which took a third place ribbon in Houston last November!

An embellished jean jacket, to illustrate some techniques from Christen Brown's book on beaded embroidery.

A wedding pillow for my second cousin, incorporating textiles from her grandparents.

High School graduation quilt for my niece, using a vintage quilt top as a "base".

"Vintage Summer" completed top. It still needs to be quilted.

Vintage doilies and Grandmothers Flower Garden blocks are part of the mix. I might add another border....

An experiment with machine appliqued collage.

My class project with Cindy, using a cross stitched table cover as my base.

Another quilted cross stitched table runner, but this time with appliqued elements in the center.

This vintage tablecloth has vintage blocks and a doily added. It is the first time I tried using heavy thread in machine embroidery to function as quilting.

More vintage elements collaged and appliqued. I was quite brave to use that heavy white thread in the swag like quilting. No hiding goofs there.

The fifth in my series of vintage collaged elements, appliqued, machine embroidered and quilted.

This quilt, called "Regrowth", was made especially for a survivor of the Paradise Fire in California, who was suffering from PTSD. Lots of vintage fabrics and textiles are incorporated here.

A throw quilt made with old hankies, doilies, and cotton plaid fabrics.

This is actually very small, about 8" X 10" It reminded me of Louisa May Alcott.

My friend Rhonda Dort challenged me to rescue a cutter quilt, renewing it and making it usable. We each took half of a Double Wedding Ring and had very different interpretations. This was very fun!

I had a small section of the DWR quilt left over so I made this little wall hanging. (the colors aren't quite great in this photo, sorry.) R is my husband Robert and A is me. ;-)

This small wallhanging brought me back to my Broderie Perse days, with some stained glass quilting technique in the lettering.

The Pink Fan Rescue quilt. Again, Rhonda and I split an old unusable quilt and went in wildly different directions with it. We have another one to do in the coming months, too!

My last project of the year was a comfort quilt, for the mother who lost her daughter in a tragic accident last summer. It was very sad to make it...but it she was so glad to receive it that I am grateful to have been able to send it to her. Caitlin loved sunflowers.....

I expect to be just as busy in 2020...I post on Instagram at @alliealler and Facebook as Allison Aller all the time. Swing on by....and Happy Stitching!

Beaded Embroidery Stitching by Christen Brown: My Review and a Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Tue, 09 Apr 2019 12:14:00 +0000

*************EDIT with Winner!***************

I used a random number generator to pick the winner of the ebook, and it is #7, Karen!

Welcome to the Blog Hop for Christen Brown's latest book, Beaded Embroidery Stitching!

C &T Publishing has just brought out Christen's excellent guide for creating beaded needlework. She covers everything you need to know, from supplies/tools, design inspiration, and stitch diagrams, to 8 wonderful projects, (shown in different color variations too.)

All the stitches are shown at the front of the book, beautifully grouped and organized for easy reference to the rest of the book, a very helpful feature. The actual stitching graphics, by illustrator Mary Flynn, are clear and excellent, while the color photos of Christen's stitched beauties will inspire you no end!

I have had such fun incorporating just a few of the book's inspirations and techniques into the project below. Please follow along in my process....and don't forget to enter the giveaway at the end, for an E-copy of Christen's book.

I started with a purchased jean jacket from Costco. Being totally enamored of vintage textiles, I appliqued old blocks, lace, motifs, and repro fabrics to the front and back, knowing I would be adding the finishing touches with my beading. I call this, "The Americana Jacket". Very '70's, isn't it?

The front of the jacket.

The jacket back

The first things I wanted to add were beaded buttons (page 68).

Mother of pearl buttons with lazy daisy stitches of perle cotton with a bead

Next came adding some beading to the collar and front pocket flaps. I decided to use the Continuous Bead Stitch Fancy, pg 52.

The stitch instructions in the book.

Beading the collar

For the back of the jacket, I wanted a heart, so I started with beaded buttons again.

My heart template and chalked guidelines, with an array of buttons to choose from.

I wanted an inner heart to go in my button "frame", and came upon a great discovery: these Wash Away Applique Sheets from C & T provide a really great stabilizer for beading onto fabric!

A great product! The paper washes away, too.

The stabilizer placed on a vintage block, fusible side up

This shows the ironed under edges, adhering nicely to the fusible side of the stabilizer, as well as the beading stitches.

The beaded heart topstitched into place, with outline beading being added

The completed heart. Christen gives a great tip for keeping those tiny outline beads in a smooth line, on pg.52.

Once the back was finished, I decided to add some more beaded lazy daisies to the front.

Chain stitch with beads. Notice how the lace has provided my spacing for me.

So here is the completed back of my Americana Jacket. With my bead embroidery stitching, I wanted to add to the complexity of the detail without turning it into a "Rhinestone Cowboy" type of garment, if you know what I mean. It's still within the vintage vibe I was after, but definitely more interesting.

Design notes: the vintage block used for the inner heart is on point, as is the vintage block in the back yoke. Also, the stamped brass filigree in the center of the heart mimics the shape of the embroidered "A" motif in the center of the yoke. I think these subtle touches unify the design without being too obvious.

The front of the jacket is just slightly glitzy, enough to make that 70's aesthetic more fun.

Jacket front. Two vintage log cabin blocks were used for the yoke; I pieced the vertical strips from repro fabric. Design note: the pattern of the vintage red print along the bottom of the yoke is carried on in the buttons going down the front, another hopefully unifying element to the overall design.

Having Christen's book in front of me really freed me up in this project, and gave me lots of tips. I have done beading before, as in my book, Allie Aller's Crazy Quilting, but this resource has lit my fire anew!

I am so eager to see and read what my fellow bloggers on this hop will present to you, featuring Christen's book. Be sure and check them out! Especially because each one of us will be giving away a free E-copy of Beaded Embroidery Stitching. Leave a comment below each blog post the day it is posted, and that night the Blog hop host for the day will choose a winner. We'll each notify the winner the next day on our blogs, so we can get the email of the lucky winner and email them a copy of their book!

April 8: C&T Publishing, https://www.ctpub.com/blog

April 9: Allie Aller, https://alliesinstitches.blogspot.com/

April 10: Kathy Seaman Shaw, http://www.shawkl.com/

April 11: Laura Wasilowski, http://artfabrik.com/

April 12: Judy Gula, https://www.artisticartifacts.com/blog/

April 13: Brian Haggard, http://www.brianhaggard.com/

Happy Beaded Embroidery Stitching!

A Visual Review of my Quilts of 2018

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Thu, 03 Jan 2019 18:10:00 +0000

I have been quite productive this year, making studio work, commissions, class samples, gifts, and service projects.

I thought it would be fun to have a visual record here on the blog, in chronological order, to get a sense of where I've been and where I'm heading. Lots of imagery here, but I promise the captions will be short!

A 24" X 24" pillow top incorporating vintage textiles.

I quilted and finished a vintage top given to me by Nancy Darooge on my HandiQuilter Sweet 16.

Two pillow tops made of vintage, Indian, and repro textiles and trims for my friend Geeta Khandalwahl, whom I visited in Mumbai in February with my traveling companion Meg Cox.

A class sample for my Road to California class in January. It is next to Geeta's book on Godharis of Maharastra.

Conifer and Deciduous, 6" X 10", created on those long flights to and from India

Two versions of my "Gothic Windows" quilt made for my class at the Lincoln Quilt Guild in Lincoln, NE. Vintage and repro textiles are used in the second example.

An experiment combining my stained glass technique, vintage and hand dyed fabrics. I consider this a fail.

But I love this one, a throw quilt made from vintage blocks, hankies, curtains, crocheted and embroidered table linens, and hand block prints from India.

Another success, combining vintage blocks from my friend Lisa Boni and Peppered Cottons, from Studio E Fabrics, along with my stained glass technique. This is currently being big stitched, then it will be machine quilted.

The jury is still out on this Vintage Spring top. I think one more, dark-in-value border on the left and right sides would have made me feel better. (Too late for that; it's already pin basted waiting to be quilted.) But I did love pushing the envelope on how to combine vintage textiles in new ways.

This was my major piece of the year, the commission for Camp Newaygo in Western Michigan.

June Collage, a gift for my brother Matt, combining vintage textiles, repros, and embellishments.

Nan, my mother. A class sample for the World of Quilts Alaska Cruise I taught on in August.

Class sample for my Stained Glass Leaves class on the Alaska cruise.

Two pillow tops for hostess gifts during my travels to Michigan in August. Both incorporate vintage textiles and some hand embroidery.

A commission for Karen South using her and her grandmother's blocks, as well as vintage textiles belonging to her grandmother.

A memorial quilt for the widow and daughters of my dear high school friend, Dr. Douglas Mossman of Cincinnati, Ohio.

I quilted up this adorable panel to make a baby quilt for my new grandniece, Grace.

For the first time in over 30 years, I made myself a garment, this Tamarack Jacket from Grainline Studio. It fits and I love wearing it!

Vintage Autumn combines vintage blocks and fabrics, Indian block print fabric and trim, repro fabric, embellishments, and a handful of silk scraps (the orange triangles).

When Paradise, California burned to the ground one day in November, nearby resident Cindy Needham, one of the quilt world's finest instructors, organized a multi faceted relief effort for quilter survivors in the area. A quilt drive was part of that, so I made this and sent it on down.

My cousin Tracy really liked it so I made one for her during the week between Christmas and New Years.

Buffy, a Christmas gift for my son Chad's girlfriend, Deidre.

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That brings me to the present.

Obviously, the main theme is combiing vintage textiles in new ways, a direction I've been hashtagging #herhandsandmine over on Instagram.

I've been working on what I call "Snowflowers" to go onto what will be my Vintage Winter quilt. Each "flower" is a doily that's been enhanced with fabric and embroidery. They'll be appliqued onto a background, looking something like this:

This is a longer term project, and is reminding of the crazy quilts I used to make. The more time spent working to realize the vision, the richer and more enjoyable the work on it becomes.

And that's like life, right?

Vintage Summer waits in the wings for next year when all the flowers are up and inspiring my soul.

Happy 2019, my friends!

Memories that Linger: Epilogue.... A Reminicent Sketch of Camp

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Fri, 31 Aug 2018 14:46:00 +0000

My "Memories that Linger" quilt was installed and unveiled at Camp Newaygo last week. What a thrill that was! (To see the seven posts about the making of this project, look at my blog archive list for 2018 and you'll find them.)

It was very moving for me, to see the quilt hanging in its forever home, looking like it had always been there.

My friend Meg Cox had asked me to jot down some of my own memories of Camp Arbutus. It was just a little ways north of Camp Newaygo and identical in spirit.

My own lingering memories were so much fun to write......

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Memories that Linger, Indeed: A Sketch of Camp

A trunk filled with everything you need for 2 months. Yes, we lucky ones were drop kicked from our boring, sweaty homes in the suburbs to an old growth pine forest on a lake for a summer with our friends. We were freed from the dynamics of family, dysfunctional or not, and sent to camp.

After an endless 3 hour drive north, finally seeing that beloved camp sign, turning down the long gravel road to the greeting area by the main lodge, that trunk bumping in the back of the station wagon—Arrival made the heart beat so fast!

No electricity in our cabins. No running water or heat (or AC). Certainly no internet or cell phones. Bunk beds were squeaky, mattresses were thin, an orange crate was your storage area, and there were 6 of us plus a counselor in a very small one room space.

Slide Inn, photo by Don Harrison. My home for the summer in 1969 as a camper, and 1974 as a counselor

But we didn't care about those spartan cabins. We loved them.

We ate together around big tables on the huge screen porch of the lodge, three pretty awful meals a day—powdered eggs and Wonderbread for breakfast, cheap bologna and more Wonderbread for lunch, mystery meat, instant mashed potatoes, and overcooked canned vegetables for dinner. Watery Kool-aid (aka, "bug juice") was the campers' beverage; the counselors drank the worst coffee in the world, hardly improved when we would sneak soy sauce into it. Ice cream squares like Styrofoam appeared on a good night for desert.

But we didn't care about the food. We were hungry!

The group bathrooms had concrete floors, sinks with orange rust stains around the drains, daddy long leg spiders in the corners of the showers. The older girls required those mysterious feminine hygiene disposal buckets that had a pungent fecund smell. It was freezing after a shower to wrap up in a towel and walk back to your cabin and you always got your feet dirty again right away.

But we didn't care about the bathrooms. We went swimming in the lake twice a day.

Not only was there no family from home at camp (two cousins and my little sister totally lost their family aspect at camp)—even more importantly, there were no boys.

Of course, by age 12 all we thought about at night was boys….and in the dark, after taps, one of us would whisper a story from "True Confessions" magazine out loud by flashlight, and there would be strange heavy breathing coming out of those bunk beds. "Naked and Alone on Mainstreet" was a good one…and you got in serious trouble sneaking out to visit the boys' camp down the lake ("She was sent home, Oh my God!")

But our society was complete unto itself without them. Just for the summer, not for our whole life.

We learned to sail, canoe, shoot 22s, arrows, ride horses, pass inspection, play tennis, compete in sports—all without those boys trying to beat us. They weren't even in our minds.

We had crushes, paired up and broke up, followed charismatic girls as leaders; we put on skits and danced flirty polka dances on rainy nights in the lodge; had dramatic melt downs that involved smoking contraband cigarettes in the woods with a friend's arm around our shoulders; we lit campfires and sang our hearts out in four part harmonies under the trees and the stars---all without those boys, and it was good.

Lucy and Alice, the two counselors standing in the back during morning sing, developed a deep friendship that thrilled all of us all summer.

Our camp ceremonies were extremely serious, and always conducted in silence. Dressed in our whites, we would line up by cabin and take a special trail to a campfire deep in the woods used only for this purpose. The mosquitoes would be fierce. Our procession was led by two girls selected (by whom? We never knew.) for the honor by their good behavior and overall camp spirit. They wore special Indian style fringed dresses, their faces darkened with grease paint, and held aloft blazing torches made of poles with kotexes tightly wired to the end that had been soaked in kerosene overnight—they burned for hours and smelled terrible, but more of them around the campfire did help with those mosquitoes.

We sat in our cabin groups around the fire, and Indian role call was given—each cabin had a tribal name. When your tribe was called, you pounded the ground where you were seated with the flat of your hands, which raised a ton of dust. After the roll call, two more girls appeared from the woods, also in Indian garb, and did a special welcoming Indian dance around the fire.

I can still do it. I was one of those girls one year. It was one of the highlights of my growing up years.

Then the actual ceremony would begin.

Over the weeks of camp there were several ceremonies, and we looked forward to all of them: a welcoming ceremony, an awards ceremony, a Final Vespers ceremony, and at the end, the sacred Birch Bark ceremony. This last was the most special of all.

A genuine and ancient birch bark canoe hung in the lodge. Once a year, at the end of camp, we all, in our whites of course, lined the steps from the lodge down to the water front. Extremely carefully, the birch bark canoe was lifted from where it hung and passed between the line of girls down to the beach. Getting to touch the birch bark was very moving and quite thrilling as it passed through our hands on its way to the water.

One girl was chosen for the honor of paddling the birch bark. No one knew who she would be until she appeared, again dressed in Indian garb with grease paint darkening her skin, slowly walking up the beach to the canoe, at sunset. We would all gasp when we saw who it was—the choice (again, by whom?) was always perfect.

We would sing the special birch bark song—only sung that night—as she paddled out into the lake.

And hopefully the ceremony would end before the canoe sank, as it was very leaky. We always quickly returned to our cabins before our camp director Mac would quietly motor her barge out to the canoe and rescue it and the paddler.

The birchbark canoe

The next day would be Final Banquet, (fried chicken!) followed by the final ceremony (unofficial)—that of being picked up by one's parents to be taken home.

You would wait in dread for them to come. When you spotted them walking towards you, as you sat in the greeting area where you had been dropped off two months before, you would wail and sob as bitterly and dramatically as you could. (Some welcome for Mom and Dad, right?) You would cling to your friends who were crying with you, vow eternal loyalty and love, and be led away up the road to the station wagon in the parking area. So sad! Crying so hard!

On the drive into Traverse City, you would then brightly ask, "Can we please get some real ice cream, Mom?"

*************

The song sung at camps all over the US, that inspired my quilt:

“If there were witchcraft, I’d make two wishes,
a winding road that beckons me to roam,
and then I’d wish for a blazing campfire,
to welcome me when I’m returning home.
But, in this real world there is no witchcraft and golden wishes do no grow on trees.
Our fondest day dreams must be the magic that brings us back those golden memories.
Memories that linger, constant and true,
memories we cherish, Arbutus of you"

Nejee Year, 1970, in our Sunday whites Don't let this decorum fool you.

Stained Glass Leaves

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 15:33:00 +0000

Over the last few years I have made so many quilts about leaves using the stained glass technique from my book. I thought I would collect my photos of them here, so you can see all the variations I've explored.

Wool applique on cotton flannel background, using metallic cotton for the leading.

A detail of the center, above.

Green leading on a black cotton background.

Blue cotton leaves, in prints, solids and plaids.

Large scale cotton prints as leading.

This little candy thief was a lot of fun to make. He's velvet; the leaves are cotton and silk.

This top is the class sample for my recent class with World of Quilts Travel on a fantastic cruise to Alaska. I think I am going to add a few more rounds of leafy borders to this one.

Combining leaves with the Gothic Window block that I have made many quilts out of too.

This experiment combined leaf vines with vintage fabrics, blocks, and a hand dyed sky background.

Combining a stained glass leaf border with a crazy quilt mandala center.

A free form fabric collage that was then "stained-glass-ified". Cotton and silk on a rayon background.

I live in tree country here in the Northwest, with alders providing most of our deciduous leaves. They are right outside my sewing room window, so they are my constant inspiration.

This is a project in the book under construction. See what I mean? ;-)

"Nan", My Latest "Frame it With Flowers" Project

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Sat, 21 Jul 2018 18:04:00 +0000

"Nan"

I'll be teaching the embellishment class, "Frame it With Flowers" twice in the next 8 months. (See the My Teaching Schedule tab, above.) This has given me wonderful motivation to create a new piece, to be used as my current class sample.

Nan...that was the name my mother's closest friends and relatives gave her. The picture above was taken a few years before she died in 1976, and is my very favorite of her. Framing this image has been such a joy--I've gotten to look into those eyes all the while I stitched!

All the techniques here will be covered in class.

Below are some more Framed loved ones created in past years...

"May"

It all started with our cat May in 2010.

"Allers, 1961"

A similar piece commemorates my husband's family. It cracks me up how "engulfed" his dad looks!

"Abe and Faye"

My sister-in-law asked me to make this commemorating her parents' long marriage. This was taken right after Abe got home from Europe in WWII. Pure happiness!

"Elle, Dave, and the Girls"

This picture was taken a few months before my niece and nephew-in-law's twins were born.

"Pete and Katie"
To celebrate my nephew's engagement. ;-)

"Tammy"

My wonderful neighbor who loves her garden.

"Max and Esther"

This was taken in the courthouse moments after they were officially pronounced man and wife by the absolutely sweetest judge. I love everything about this picture, especially their wedding clothes!

I've used this format for two of the three dedication pages of my books, too.

This is from Allie Aller's Crazy Quilting, C & T Publishing, 2011. Again, it is my mom--she would have been so proud of me to publish a book! This was her senior college portrait; you can't see the jeans and saddle shoes she was also wearing. ;-)

"Man of My Dreams"

This is the Dedication page of Stained Glass Quilts Reimagined, C & T Publishers, 2017.

It just struck me as funny and so us, that I would choose this picture of my husband, Robert, to frame and honor in my book.

Every Frame it With Flowers project is different, and each student's take is such a joy for me to see.

I hope you will try this sometime....

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My mom taught me gardening, and to frame my life with flowers.....

Blog Hop for Lynn Krawczyk's The Hand-Stitched Surface

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 04:39:00 +0000

Lynn Krawczyk of Smudged Design Studio is an artist who loves to explore and think outside of the box with her stitching. Her playfulness is infectious! When she asked me to join this blog hop and spend time with her book, The Hand-Stitched Surface, I was eager to come play.

Truly, how enticing is that cover? So much mixed media goodness is going on with that needle and thread.

But before I dive into my own engagement with one of the chapters, Lynn asked me and the others on this week long hop to each give one of our best stitching tips.

Do check out the other ones presented! They are fantastic!

Monday July 9 – Lisa Chin

Tuesday July 10 – Ana Sumner

Wednesday July 11 -- Lyric Montgomery Kinard

Thursday July 12 – Libby Williamson

Friday--ME!!

Saturday July 14 – Lynn Krawczyk

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I learned my tip from the very great stitcher, Lisa Caryl.

Using these simple round plastic canvas shapes, available at any crafts store or here on Amazon, you can easily mark whatever sized circle you need on your embroidery.

It is easy to mark dots around the circumference size you need with a water soluble marker.......and then use the marked dots as your guide for stitching a perfect stitched circle.

After you have finished stitching, a quick spray with a water bottle and the marks are gone, leaving your perfect circle of stitching.

I will always be grateful to Lisa for this tip!

*****************************************************************************************

Now, back to the fantastic pages of The Hand-Stitched Surface.

The book is divided into three sections: Stitching Techniques, which are very helpful with clear examples of many stitches and how to make them, Fabric Projects, and Paper Projects.

It was the paper stitching that intrigued me. Rather than make a project--though the ones Lynn presents are really cool; I especially loved the Embellished Photos--I studied her excellent pointers on how to work with needle, thread, and paper, and then launched off on my own.

I decided that adding stitching to a handmade greeting card would make it extra special. So I started with a Thank You card.

This began with a background collage of cut out floral images from a catalog. Then I cut out the anemone and moth out of fabric, glue-sticked them onto my background, and then handstitched them on with a buttonhole stitch in #12 thread.

The lettering is done with a whipped backstitch. (Thank you, Mary Corbet for the YouTube how-to in that link!)

This card was definitely out of the box for me.

For my next card, I decided to print an image onto cardstock, again a thank you image, one I had created several years ago. I wanted to see what added stitching to it would look like.

What I found fascinating about this was the design element provided by the holes in the paper. The way I photographed it, you can see the light shining through them. Very different!

For my last experiment, I decided to try and obscure the holes with beads. As Lynn would say, "Why not?" Her freedom to see what happens is one of my favorite things about her book. It is liberating.

Below is another image I made years ago, using the same process as the "Thanks" card above...by appliqueing the lettering onto a background fabric, arranging fresh flowers around them, and then photographing it. The photo can then be printed on fabric or paper.

When working with paper, it is good to pierce your holes before stitching, as they are permanent. You want to place them as accurately as you can. For my second card, I used my sewing machine and an unthreaded needle to make my holes, ensuring even spacing.

Because the paper stock was heavy, the holes could have several passes of thread go through them.

And here it is, finished.

This was so much fun! I love the unexpected three-dimensionality of stitching and beading on paper.

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Lynn opened some new doors for me and her book will for you too. U.S. readers, leave a comment here for a chance to win a copy for yourself. On Tuesday, July 17th I'll pick a comment at random, and then post the winner. So do check back! Each of the bloghop posts is giving away a free book too, so comment on them all!

Thank you so much, Lynn!

*********EDIT*******
We have a winner! Quilter Beth!
Thank you all for visiting and commenting!
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"Memories that Linger"...Part 7, Finishing

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 20:12:00 +0000

Many steps have been accomplished between now and my last post. The project is at last complete!
I will lead you through my process....

Where I left off in my last post....there were no flowers along the bottom yet.
The scarves you see in the picture above have great significance at Camp Newaygo. Each color represents a specific group of campers, according to age. You are presented with your scarf when camp begins, and hand it on at the end of camp.
The camp's director gave me one of each scarf to incorporate into the quilt. When I asked what order they should be in, she made a spreadsheet!

This is one organized camp director!!

I used my Accuquilt Go Fabric dye cutter to cut out the leaves and flowers. If you look at that flower die on the right, at the top of it is the four petaled flower shape I used.

Once all the flowers were cut out and arranged (in order!) along the bottom of the quilt, I outlined them all with black "leading". For any new readers, that technique is in my book from C & T Publishing on stained glass quilting.
Sewing down all that leading took awhile, and the weather had gotten so nice that I moved operations outside and spent all day under the dogwood sewing.

And here they are all in place. I made the colors overlap each other a little, to symbolize how a girl makes transitions as she grows up... ;-)

Next it was time to add the picnic table. In real life it is in the center of the three cabins, but design wise that wasn't going to work. I wanted it in the foreground....my sense is that table is kind of an institution...so much happens around it! So I wanted to give it symbolic pride of place.

Here is how I "built" it:

At first I had thought to use different colors of brown fabric, but realized quickly that a better solution was to make it out of a whole piece of light colored silk, and then shade it with colored pencil. Then I carefully leaded it, cut it out, and appliqued it into place.

With the top at last complete, it was time to quilt! I used my Handi Quilter Sweet 16 which functioned flawlessly and enabled a lot of intense quilting over the entire surface.

Finally it was time to square up the quilt and trim it as accurately as I could. I used my rulers and my new cutting mat with its perfect 90 degree corner to draw my cutting line. Notice how I have stretched the quilt as flat as possible by taping the quilt backing to the floor. Wide painters' tape works great.

I decided to create a faced edge rather than use binding. In the picture below I am sewing on one of the facings. This was done before trimming off the excess--the sewing is way more stable that way. You can see the quilting in this nice morning light!

I ironed the facings to the back and whip stitched them into place by hand. Luckily, my Dodgers are on a winning streak this June, so watching some games while I handstitched was great.

Then came the sleeve, also sewn on by hand. That extra fabric is to account for the dowel that will be used to hang the quilt.

No quilt is complete without its label.

This one has a little story....

My friend Anne, who with her sister commissioned this quilt, sent me this shirt while I was working on the quilt. When we were 19 years old (over 40 years ago), I had snuck it out of her closet, embroidered it, and mailed it back to her for her birthday, which is in the fall.

She wondered if I could include any of the embroidery in the quilt.

I did include a bit of it in the label...and the fabric with the writing on it is from the shirt as well.

I felt super bad when I realized I had misspelled "commissioned" and had to correct it...I was going to redo it but then just decided it was pretty authentic the way it is!

The very final step was attaching this cording to my finished edge. I wanted to add that final definition to my composition. Again, I was stitching under the dogwood and I had the Dodger game streaming on my phone!
Anne and her sister Ellen have lives in baseball too--being deeply involved with the West Michigan White Caps--so we all loved the sharing our love of the game during the making of this quilt.

It is going to hang here in the lodge at Camp Newaygo, over the stairwell:

Every time campers or conferees or wedding guests (all people who use the lodge) go down the stairs to the rest rooms, they will see it! ;-) This space gets no direct sunlight so the quilt should hang there safely for many years.

And here it is, finished. It is around 68" X 78".

This was an immensely meaningful and personal project for me, and I haven't written much about that side of things. But maybe one night when it's late I'll sit under the dogwood and type the tale here (most of it!).
In the meantime, it has been a blessing indeed. Thank you for following along!

"Memories that Linger"...Catching Up, Part 6

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Tue, 08 May 2018 15:28:00 +0000

Well, obviously I am doing a whole lot more sewing than blogging about this commission for Camp Newaygo in Newaygo, Michigan.

I've come very far on this project since my last post, so I thought I would just post a long sequence of process photos so you can see what's been happening.
Here we go....

The cabins in place over the full sized pattern.

Now on the muslin foundation fabric.

I started roughing in the woods behind the cabins, the yard area in front, and the trees of course.

I leaded the trees first, and the background woods were mostly in place, but I ended up taking out some of the blue sky in the background as it didn't "read" very well.

When the background woods were finished, I began to add all the foreground leaves.

Here is the central scene all laid out up on my design wall. The chair gives a sense of scale.

Sewing all that leading down took some time. It's a good thing I've learned how to zig zag backwards!
(This technique is covered in my book, Allie Aller's Stained Glass Quilts Reimagined.)

It was certainly slow and careful going, sewing down all that detail on the cabins' porches.

Once everything was sewn down, I used my full scale drawing to add my trim to the perimeter of the scene, cleaning it up nicely.
Next it was time for the lettering, above and below.

On a gorgeous spring day, I cut out my letters while sitting in the garden.

The letters got double leading!

The upper banner is in place, against a beautiful sky hand dyed by Stacy Mitchell of Shades Textiles.http://www.shadestextiles.co/

I set up some tables so I could lay the entire piece out while I worked. This was invaluable. Then I'd pin it up on the design wall to have a look.

The ground area came next.

It has a banner too. It took a lot of measuring and careful pinning to get those curves smooth and even.

And here is where I am now. This picture distorts the view a little--the letters are the same size top and bottom.
There are some flowers now to add along the bottom....

And now you are caught up!
This has been a challenging project and incredibly rewarding. I've loved every moment of it.

"Memories that Linger"...Part 5: Outlining the Cabins and Auditioning Fabrics

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Fri, 02 Feb 2018 23:51:00 +0000

After the cabins were "built", it was time to add the leading...this will be a stained glass style quilt, after all.

Adding the leading to Cabin #1

To learn how I do this technique, pick up a copy of my book, Allie Aller's Stained Glass Quilts Reimagined, from C & T Publishers, April 2017.

As you can see from this detail image below from one of my quilts in the book, you can get very articulate with this leading technique!

Detail from "The Parish Farm", pg 43 of my book. This section is 16" X 25".

To prepare the "tree fabric" for my large hanging, I felted some strips of cotton base fabric with hand-dyed wool and silk roving.

Roving fibers laid out on a cotton base for felting.

Once the cabins were leaded and the tree fabrics were ready, I pinned everything up on the design wall, directly onto my paper pattern, with some of the other background fabrics too, just to see how they might work.

Trees, leaded cabins, and woods/foreground fabrics pinned into place.

There is much work to be done, of course, but this was my first glimpse at how my piece might come together.

It's very encouraging!

But it will have to wait a few weeks, while I am off on an adventure.....

"Memories that Linger..." Part 4: "Building" the Cabins

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Sun, 28 Jan 2018 21:34:00 +0000

The focus, heart and soul of this project for Camp Newaygo is the grouping of these three old cabins. They are driving the entire piece, so I wanted to "build" them first.

Here are some of my construction tools!

Spray adhesive, masking tape, marking tools, exacto knife, gluestick, rotary cutter, magnifier, remotes, scissors, ruler, cutting mat

I've been wanting a large lightbox for years, and this project was just the excuse I needed to finally buy one, from Amazon.

In the photo below I have placed the area of the large full scale drawing I wanted to trace, the cabin (#9) on the right, over the lighted surface. Over it is a layer of muslin, which will be my foundation fabric. Having the design traced on the muslin will help me orient placement of my cabin fabrics as I collage them into place.

Muslin over pattern on lightbox, with photo nearby for reference as I trace.

The next step was to again trace the cabin design, but this time onto freezer paper. I use this to sometimes cut out actual templates, sometimes for tracing a specific shape onto tracing paper for then cutting out a shape, and sometimes to help me place an element exactly on the collage.

Cabin #9 design traced onto freezer paper.

The big pieces go on first. Everything has to be lined up as perfectly as I can get it.

Cabin #9, under construction.

After much trial and error, I learned that the best way to make those window frames was to cut them up from a single piece. Using the exacto knife made this possible. Because these frames are so delicate, the white fabric has been prepared with fusible web. This prevents the fabric from fraying and also assures the frames will stay put when I have positioned them exactly where they need to be.

Cutting out the inside of the window frame, through the tracing paper.

Another helpful discovery was to use the holes from the windows cut from my freezer paper tracing to help me "register" their placement onto their background fabric. (Alas, the lightbox could not shine through dark brown silk taffeta to help me see the tracing on the muslin.) This worked really well.

Placement of three windows using the freezer paper.

The picture below shows Cabin #3 well underway. (Sorry it is so blurry.) Some of the pieces are held in place with spray adhesive, others with fusible web, and others yet with gluestick. It just depends on the situation.

Cabin #3, the collage underway.

I was constantly referring to the printed photograph I am basing this composition upon, using that slick lighted magnifing glass to peer as closely as I could into the actual construction details, especially of the railings and the steps. I really want this to read properly. The eyes of my future viewers will catch anything false!

Magnifying the steps on Cabin #1.

I learned so much while making my first Cabin #1, that by the time #2 and #3 were done, my original Cabin #1 looked pretty rough in comparison, so I did it over. There will be trees added in the foreground in front of the cabins and behind them in the background, which will help seat them into place. Right now they look like they are floating. Of course there will be the foreground area with the picnic table too, but that will be created last. In landscape quilts I always work from back to front.

Cabins #1, #2, and #3, collaged on muslin foundations and taped into place on full sized pattern.

This was painstaking work, but I really enjoyed it.

The next step is to add the "leading", that is, the black outline, around all my shapes on these collages, because this commission is going to take the form of a stained glass quilt. But I am going to let these rest for a day before tackling that--it, too, will be a demanding and painstaking process.

Then I'll be able to start in on the background woods. That will be much more spontaneous!

"Memories that Linger..." Part Three: Creating the Design

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Mon, 22 Jan 2018 20:54:00 +0000

When I was asked to make a wall hanging for the newly refurbished and expanded lodge at Camp Newaygo, the first thing I had to know was where it would hang. I love site specific design very much, and my design process was going to be based on the location of my piece.

I traveled to Michigan and got to stay with my old friend Annie, and she took me to camp for a tour. Though I have years of happy camp memories from my youth, I had never been to Camp Newaygo.

I needed some real time visuals, not wanting to work from someone else's photos.

I also knew that I wanted the focus to be a very iconic image from camp. The lakefront with the dock and all the canoes? A campfire? The path through their wetlands?

All good but no....it had to be the cabins, the oldest ones there, built when the camp was founded in the late 1920s.

These are cabins #1, #2, and #3.

Cabins, #1, #2, and #3, Camp Newaygo, Michigan

When I think of the hundreds and hundreds of girls who have called these cabins home, in that special girl-power reality that is camp...all the friendships, the fun, the longing inherent in those adolescent years, (and the concomitant endearing and exquisite dramas)--and most of all, when I remember my own growth and happiness within the rustic outdoor world that made camp so special....I just knew this was my scene.

Then it was on to the lodge to pick a spot.

One of the large spaces in Lang Lodge, Camp Newaygo, Michigan

The large rooms in the lodge have walls of windows and are full of light--a very great thing but not so great for textile wall-hangings, (fading is the issue) not to mention the special events held in these spaces that would require my wall-hanging to be moved often. So I kept looking and recognized the perfect spot as soon as I saw it.

Stairs down to the new lower floor, Lang Lodge, Camp Newaygo, Michigan

That wall above the stairs is perfect. It gets no direct sunlight, and will be a nice large area to fill with color, memory, and meaning....that's the plan, anyways!

My design could be very large, about 62" X 78".

I did use my photograph of the cabins to develop my drawing.

Edge detection from cabins photo

I confess to having flunked Photoshop the three times I tried to learn it, but I can handle a freeware program called Irfanview. I used it to get this edge detection from my cabins photo.

Then I took the edge detection jpeg and ran it through a program I like so much that I pay for it every year, called Rapid Resizer. I was able to enlarge my edge detection and print it up to a 14" X 18" image, and traced my design off of it. The only change I made was scooting cabin #9 toward the center just a little bit, for compositional purposes.

I asked Anne and Ellen to choose a phrase that would be meaningful to everyone connected with camp. I like words on quilts. After what I am told was a serious and protracted family discussion, they chose a phrase from a favorite camp song, "Witchcraft". We used to sing that same song at Camp Arbutus. Memories that linger/Constant and true was their most excellent choice.

As I was working with my design, I had some trouble with the lay-out. I messaged my Facebook friend Ginny Maxam, a graphic and card designer whose compositions always are so pleasing to me. She steered me in the right direction, suggesting the central image be an oval with the phrases surrounding it like a hug. Thank you, Ginny!

Working drawing, "Memories that Linger"

Above the central scene will be a twinkly night sky, and below some of the wildflowers that grow at camp. Some of the details and the font may change, but this is pretty much it.

I'll be assembling my scene collage style on a muslin foundation. Because I took such care to get the proportions of the cabins right, I wanted to blow up my drawing to actual size so I could make actual freezer paper templates for cutting out my fabrics.

So my next stop was FedEx/Kinko's, and their sweet wide format printer.

Full scale pattern, "Memories that Linger"

And here is the pattern, ready to work with, up on my design wall.

The next step is to build my cabins, the subject of Part 4 in this series.

"Memories that Linger"....Part 2: A Warm Up Exercise

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 21:33:00 +0000

In Michigan, camp takes place in the woods.

I live in the Pacific Northwest now, and though this is indeed tree country out here, the feel is obviously very different, especially in scale.
So I did a little warm up piece to start to get myself back into the Michigan woods like those above.

I started with a background, needlefelting hand dyed silk fibers from Treenway Silks and bits of silk and wool fabrics onto a base of printed cotton.

6" X 11" background prepared with felting

Then, because the hand was still so easy to stitch through, I developed two representative trees...just to start thinking about them as I embroidered....

Because my wallhanging will be 5' X 6', I don't think I'll be able to go into this much detail....but one thing leads to another.....

"Memories that Linger", a Commision for Camp Newaygo, Part 1: Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 21:19:00 +0000

I am embarking on a highly personal journey with this project. It interweaves deep themes of friendship, girlhood, family, memory, and love of place (This last is especially important to a Taurus like me.) It's the most meaningful artistic challenge I've undertaken in my life. I intend to blog about the creation of the wall-hanging I am to make for Camp Newaygo and where it takes me--both inwardly in my heart, and outwardly in the sewing room.

"Memories that Linger.." is such an apt title. (It's a phrase from a favorite camp song.) This journey is about the memories we make, and how we deliberately refine them as we age...It's about the ones we want to keep and nurture, and the ones we need to nuke into oblivion. It's about how we can choose how memories linger.....Do they rule us or do they sustain us? Do they define us? Do they propel us forward or hold us back?

But don't worry, this will not be À la recherche du temps perdu....just simply a story of growing up, told in fabric and in thoughts, and how "you can take the girl out of the Mitten, but you can't take the Mitten out of the girl...."

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Annie, one of my oldest and dearest friends, and her sister Ellen commissioned me to make a wall-hanging for the newly renovated and expanded lodge at Camp Newaygo, in Newaygo County, Western Michigan, near where we grew up.

The mitten

The newly renovated and expanded Lang Lodge, Camp Newaygo.

Camp is very important and dear to Annie and Ellen--all the women and girls in their family for three generations have gone there. Thousands of girls who have attended since its founding in 1927 feel the same strong love and gratitude for camp as they do.

I myself went to a similar camp north of Newaygo, called Camp Arbutus. This cabin, Slide Inn, was my perch above the lake as a complicated 12 year old who found peace in the woods, and also as a much more complicated college-aged counselor at age 19. Camp was my refuge from family drama back home; it was my joy in being outside and up north; it was where my heart got broken by mean girls but mended by sweet ones. Camp was also where I learned to sail, tie knots, shoot arrows, sing in 4 part harmony, and sneak cigarettes in the outhouse. But I digress....

Slide Inn, Camp Arbutus, Mayfield, Michigan photo copyright Don Harrison

Camp Newaygo has reinvented itself over the last 20 years or so, becoming a year round conference, event, and community center, as well as maintaining its girls' camp programs in the summer.

Aerial view of Lang Lodge, Camp Newaygo

Until Annie and Ellen hired me for the commission, I was oblivious as to how this reinvention of Camp Newaygo was made possible. I certainly didn't know how much it involved my own father.
Nor did I anticipate how my old friendship with Annie would be reinvigorated with such beautiful love by this place and this project.

This plot is indeed a thick one!....

Examples of the Glue Applique Method for Stained Glass Quilts

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 23:13:00 +0000

One of the techniques from my book, Allie Aller's Stained Glass Quilts Reimagined, is called the "Glue Applique Method". I'll be teaching it at Road to California next week, and have been busy making new quilts to showcase the versatility of this technique.

Here it is in solid fabrics, really a fun kid's quilt:

Then I tried it in wool and cotton flannel. This functional quilt is nice and heavy and warm.

Here it is up on the design wall.
Below is a detail of the center section.

Then I wanted to try using a vintage Dresden block and mixing some vintage fabrics in with contemporary and hand dyed fabrics too, to create an unusual piece:

It's not quilted yet...I really like it because it is so different!

Then I made a very simple quilt as a "class sample", to show my students how big a bang graphically they could achieve with very simple sewing.

If you look at each of these quilts, you can detect the common block design, right?

Here it is in (mostly) batiks:

And then there is the quilt that started it all, "Windy Sunshine", a project in my stained glass quilting book. Here is a detail:

Different leading techniques are used in the quilts in this post, (all covered in the book), and I think they do stretch the idea of what a stained glass quilt can be.

Pretty fun!

My Block for the Designer RSVP program, Studio e Fabrics

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Tue, 24 Oct 2017 20:28:00 +0000

I was honored and thrilled to be invited to participate in Studio e's Designer RSVP program, whose purpose is to showcase their lovely line of Peppered Cotton Fabrics.
These are yarn dyed "shot cottons", meaning the warp and weft are woven with different colors--giving the color a depth unusual in a cotton solid.

Pepper Cory, the fabric line's designer and well known quilting authority, teacher, and maker, talks about how versatile these cottons are, how good at "playing well with other fabrics" in her recent segment of The Quilt Show.

As designers, we were instructed to create a 16" X 16" block using only Peppered Cottons, in a style that was unique to our own personal work. Being interested in stained glass quilts, as you know, I decided to make a stained glass quilt block.

Here it is framed, and ready for Quilt Market, where Pepper will present all the designer blocks.

They are from:
Sue Pelland Designs; http://suepellanddesigns.com/
Janice Pope of Anything But Boring Designs http://anythingbutboring.com/
Valerie Bothell; www.valeriebothell.com
Robin Koehler; http://nestlingsbyrobin.com
Barbara Black; http://bbquiltmaker.blogspot.com/
Kelly Ashton; Kellyquilter.com
Susan Marth; http://www.suznquilts.com/
Kathy Delaney Quilter; http://kathydelaney.com/
Bonnie K Hunter; http://quiltville.com
Gyleen X. Fitzgerald; https://www.colourfulstitches.com/
Pepper Cory; http://www.peppercory.com/

My block was inspired by a vintage quilt in the collection of Julie Silber. I modified and simplified the original applique.

Here is my drawing:

Feel free to use it as you wish!

I love creating patterns from vintage sources and discuss that process step by step in my book, Allie Aller's Stained Glass Quilts Revisited. Check it out, it is a great resource (if I say so myself.) And do stop by Studio e's booth at Quilt Market, #2319.

View My New Episode on The Quilt Sjhow!

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Sun, 03 Sep 2017 21:51:00 +0000

Here is the link to my show:
https://thequiltshow.com/watch/show-list/video/latest/show-2105

There is a trailer at that link to give you a peek. Subscribers can see the whole show.

It was a joy to work with such a team of talented and truly joyful professionals. They brilliantly structured my show so that information from my new book on stained glass quilting was presented so clearly. We had two great demo sessions and looked at a lot of quilts. I am really grateful for the opportunity, and the wonderful experience, too.

Click on the book's cover over on the sidebar here, below my profile photo, and it will take you to Amazon, where you can order my book, if you are inspired to learn more. But meanwhile, this week enjoy the show for free!

Thank you so much, Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. You are the best!

Stained Glass Flower Portraits: A Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (allie aller) — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 07:14:00 +0000

These "headshots" of individual flowers from my garden--below--are just supposed to be quick portraits of each one, little personality captures. So they are not really portraits, but more like mug shots. ;-)

I've made four of them so far. The first one doesn't count because it was a warm up, but by the fourth one I'd streamlined my step by step process, from photograph to finished laid out collage (none of them have been sewn down yet.) I took some photos along the way so you can see the stages I go through.

A snapdragon. I planted a lot of them this year.

I made a pencil sketch from my photo.

From this drawing I went to my favorite enlargement website, Rapid Resizer, and made a pdf file of the drawing at the size I wanted, printed it up, taped it together, and used it as my finished design. I took my individual pattern pieces from that.

Here you can see the taped pattern on my light box. I have already placed my blue background fabric over it and traced it, to help me place my collage fabrics accurately. I use a Flexion pen for this tracing step, because I get a fine sharp line that is instantly erasable with the tip of a hot iron.

Once that tracing is done, I start tracing individual shapes for my collage onto freezer paper.

These shapes are ironed onto the front of the fabric I intend to use.

Since the fabric for this piece is raveley silk, I interface the back of it first, before cutting out my freezer paper shapes. This is fusible knit interfacing, which I buy by the bolt.

This picture shows some shapes that are ready to be laid into place. You can see the traced pattern on the background that will help me with alignment. The great thing about using the Flexion pens is that you don't have to slavishly follow the traced pattern, as the line isn't permanent. What a help that is!

I use a little smear of a glue stick on the back of each of the fabric pieces, just to hold them into place. I really don't like to use fusible web in this situation, because A) I can't reposition fused fabric, especially delicate fabrics like silk and B) I like my collaged fabrics to be not quite so flat against the surface of the background fabric.
Here is my snapdragon, ready to have its stained glass leading put on.

The last step is the outlining, or adding the leading. I've covered that process in my book, Allie Aller's Stained Glass Quilts Reimagined. Click the link to find it on Amazon, or ask for it at your local quilt shop. It is from C & T Publishing.

There are two more...a lily and a rose.
Each is about 8" X 8".

I look forward to making more of these this summer, and hope this gives you some ideas for you to try too.