Introducing: Allison Spence

I met Allison at a training in 2021 and she and I were partners for a day so I got to know her pretty well. She is a fun lady and a fine quilter and teacher. She lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. . . I had to introduce her and I had to practice saying where she lives WAY too many times.

Artist’s Statement

I Saw Stars!

I approach each new project with a “what else can I do” attitude. I learn the rules and once I know what the rules are, I can then do my best to bend, stretch or break the rulers in a creative way. I try to take this into my quilting projects and teaching opportunities. Every project I work on or teach is a learning opportunity for me and for my students. I like to give my students a strong foundation so that they too, can stretch, bend and break the rules and create on their own with confidence. 

This started as a painful challenge as I broke my arm this summer dyeing the green fabric.  I tripped, hit my shoulder against the side of my house and saw stars!!!! Getting my arm working for the piecing and then the quilting with my Handi Quilter Amara and a selection of the Ring rulers was an extra challenge.

I found the Smooth Jazz pattern from Studio 180 Design and decided to use this new to me block for the stars.  The blocks needed extra fabric to put them on point.  I loved quilting these small mandalas and trying a wide variety of ways to show off the quilting with the contrast thread.

The top was quilted with Superior Fantastico #5054 and Superior Bottom Line #649 & #624 with Wonderfil DecoBob #122 in the bobbin. Hobbs Poly/Cotton and Polyester battings were used.

Allison Spence has a long association with crafting in the form of knitting, sewing and quilting. Her introduction to quilting was a tied quilt given to her newborn daughter by her sister-in-law over 30 years ago. Allison enjoys all areas of quilting but prefers simple piecing designs, so she can get to the quilting part!

After quilting many large quilts on a domestic sewing machine, Allison purchased a HQ Sweet Sixteen® stationary machine which was well used for many years. She now owns an HQ Avanté® and loves the freedom of quilting both smaller and larger projects with ease.

Allison has an education degree from the University of Manitoba and many years experience teaching aquatics. She began teaching sewing and quilting while working at a sewing machine dealer in Calgary, Alberta. She owned her own fabric store and sewing school. She now has a studio and classroom in her home and does customer quilts as well as longarm machine rentals and offers a variety of sewing and quilting classes.

Taking great pleasure in teaching the basic and intermediate skills in all areas of quilting, Allison encourages students to go further and see what they can do on their own. She especially loves to quilt and teach feathers!

Allison currently lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and has a very supportive husband. Her daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter and grandson live near by.

CLICK HERE to see more black and white quilts!