<-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!
Home Sweet Home is one of the books by Blackbird Designs that I bought when the authors, Alma Allen and Barb Adams, were here in Virginia Beach. Alma Allen is in the photo holding up a table runner that she designed and made of wool
. I love it! That project is in the book. I decided to make a small piece of it. I think it turned out really cute! I plan to put a border around it to frame it and also a backing to add support.
<-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)
background is from their new fabric line and is fabulous!
block! At least to my way of thinking. The other blocks contain reproduction fabrics from other favorite designers. You probably recognize some of them. I really enjoy digging through fabric from many sources to see what works in a block. Making scrap quilts in this manner always takes longer, but each block comes forth as a pretty little prize in the end. Someday I will have to work harder at being more spontanious. I think we all evolve in quilting as we go along. We gain confidence and take chances and develope our own style. I am still working on that. In the meantime, I get excited about each new project that I start and try to go like crazy on it before something else catches my eye and I get distracted. Follow through to completion! I have UFOs that are calling to me, but this new project grabbed my attention! More later.....
