BLACKBIRD DESIGNS WORKSHOP

<-This is what I accomplished at the all day workshop given by Alma Allen and Barb Adams of Blackbird Designs! I have never been known as an over achiever! The workshop was fabulous and I learned a lot and had so much fun mingling with other quilters. We all really loved Barb and Alma. They are so talented, it just blows you away! But more than that, they were such a pleasure to be around. They are kind and generous and enjoyable. I will pay good money for friends like that any day! :0)


The project that we worked on is called Candy Canes and Holly. It is about 28" square. While this project is not in their new book, Birds of a Feather, parts of it are. They explained how easy it is to remove blocks from a large design to create something smaller. They have various pieces of the main quilt made up in wool applique, hooked rug, a stenciled bench, etc.
Barb especially like to use dye remover to fade her new fabrics, then she over dyes them with tan dye for a really old, faded look. Directions to do that are in this book. The toile background is from their new fabric line and is fabulous!
Remember the previous background they designed using samplers? They actually photo copied two samplers made by little girls in the 19th century, cut them up and combined them, and Moda ran them on fabric! It is wonderful! I 'm telling you, these ladies have so much talent. I think it is so neat that they can work together and enjoy each others company and combine their gifts and then share them with us. It is interesting how inspired I feel for having spent time with them. Today it is supposed to be stormy and guess who doesn't care? I have more applique prep to do! Then I can stitch in front of the TV tonight. The stitching is the easy part -- all that prep work is why I never get to the stitching part!