Experience Level: Beginner (All Ages 16+) 

Learn how to quilt in one class at Quilt-As-You-Go Potholders on Saturday, June 6 from 1 to 5 p.m. in The Studio.  

Instructor Jennie Ingram will introduce students to commonly used quilting terms, helpful tools like rotary cutters and mats, and heat proof materials used in sewing items like potholders. Then, students will use their sewing machines to both piece and quilt their quilt block at the same time. Finally, students will bind their pieces to have a pair of finished potholders by the end of class. 

Students should bring a sewing machine they are comfortable using.* Closed-toe shoes are recommended. 

$80/person. Register here. Registration will close May 30 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final. 

*A limited number of sewing machines are available for rent. Please contact Olivia Bunting to secure a machine. 

Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu. 

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken. 

About the instructor 

Jennie Ingram is a lifelong crafter who has been sewing, costuming, quilting, crocheting, and making jewelry since childhood. She received her MFA in Costume Design from UIUC in 2007 and has worked in costume shops across the country including Idaho Shakespeare Festival and Williamstown Theatre Festival. 

She spent six years as the Costume Shop Manager at Western Kentucky University, where she enjoyed expanding her student’s skill sets by offering workshops in quilting, corsetry and jewelry making. Since leaving academia she has run an Etsy shop selling handmade charm bracelets, and other gifts. 

Jennie is also a moderator and active member of LettuceCraft.com, a forum where members share their handmade creations. Her Halloween sampler quilt, titled Stitch ‘n Witch, was shown at the 20th Annual Festival of Quilts in Urbana.

Experience Level: Beginner

Take wood boards and transform them into a decoration for your garden at a Wooden Planter Workshop on Saturday, June 6 from 1 to 4:30 p.m. in Evergreen Lodge.

Instructor Lou Ann Koebel will help students build a small (20” x 9”) wooden planter from just a few boards of 5/4 treated deck material. The finished project will be suitable to hold pre-planted hanging baskets and designed to coordinate with any garden décor.

$150/person*. Registration will close May 30 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

*Students should bring:
— Safety glasses
— Cordless Drill

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Lou Ann Koebel has had a strong passion for woodworking since high school, and during the summer attends workshops at Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Indiana.

About The Farms

The Farms: An Allerton Folk School, offers classes, workshops, and gatherings focusing on art, health & wellness, history, nature & outdoor education, or science. All experiences value hands-on, experiential teaching and learning, and are facilitated by and for the members of the community.

Experience Level: Beginner

Join the barn quilt movement by creating your own painted quilt block to use on the inside or outside of your home at Barn Quilt Painting on Saturday, June 13 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in The Studio.

Students will begin with one of three options on a pre-primed board with their choice of design already drafted (choose between two star and sunburst designs at registration). Students will tape and paint at their own pace, choosing from a wide variety of colors.

Instructor Jane Cade will share a history of barn quilts, techniques, tips, and discuss how to properly seal your finished piece after the paint has dried for 48 hours. Leave with a 20×20″ wooden ‘quilt block’ to keep for yourself or share your talents and give someone a handmade gift.

$90/person. Registration closes June 6 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Jane Cade is a retired teacher from Clinton Junior High School. She has been painting barn quilts for eight years and sells her work online and at craft festivals. She teaches classes at Parkland Community College and will be teaching classes at her workshop beginning next year.

Experience Level: Beginner (All Ages 13+) 

Learn basic drawing and watercolor techniques at Watercolor Birds on Sunday, June 14 from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Allerton Mansion Dining Room. 

Instructor Shannon Percoco will lead students in a simple drawing technique to create a graphic transfer of a bird. Students will then learn some basic watercolor techniques to give their drawings life. At the end of the class, students will leave with two completed watercolor birds 

Students are encouraged to bring the following items*: 
— a watercolor pallet 
— watercolor brushes in various sizes 
— pencil and ink pens 
— paper or sketchbook suitable for watercolor 

*Students can choose to use Allerton supplies for a $10 use fee at registration. 

$60/person. Register here. Registration closes June 7 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final. 

Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia at owarren@illinois.edu. 

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken. 

About the instructor 

Shannon Percoco is a local art teacher with almost 30 years experience. She is a current UIUC professor who teaches aspiring art teachers. Shannon earned her BFA in Painting from UIUC and has experience painting with watercolors, acrylics, and oils. 

Experience Level: Beginner

Explore the botany, natural history and flavors of several local wild edible plants at Edible Midwest Natives on Tuesday, June 16 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Evergreen Lodge 7.

Heidi Leuszler, the owner and head chef of Berries and Flour in Champaign, will focus on native plants that are harvestable at the time of class. Those could include spicebush, common milkweed, nettles, sweet Cicely, black raspberry, American persimmon, common prickly ash and violets.

Students will learn ethical and sustainable foraging practices, look at different types of harvesting gear, and take a short walk into the woods to find, identify and forage edible parts from selected species. Students will then clean, process and eat what was foraged, and will go home with a handful of recipes, samples and plants (resources permitting).

$65/person*. Register by June 9. All sales are final.

*Students should bring work gloves and snippers/clippers.

Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Heidi Leuszler grew up harvesting and foraging wherever she lived: mangos in Florida, morels and mustang grapes from the back acre in Missouri, wild strawberries and holly grapes in the Colorado mountains and chokecherries in North Dakota. Those passions remained as she added culinary skills in addition to becoming a professor of environmental science, ecology and botany at Parkland College.

She started Berries and Flour in Champaign as the synergy of several passions: culinary, ecology, growing of plants, foraging and teaching people about the plentiful Midwest land. Berries and Flour teaches how to harvest, process and consume regional foods, collaborates with others to promote food accessibility and justice, and produces value-added products from its commercial kitchen.

Experience Level: Beginner (All Ages 13+) 

Learn how a few common garden plants can be used to make simple and effective first aid preparations at Herbal First Aid: Oils & Salves on Tuesday, June 16 at 5 to 8 p.m. in the Evergreen Lodge. 

In this  class, Liz Faermark, an experienced herbalist, will teach students the three key species that are useful as first aid herbs. Then, students will explore ways to use these plants in salves and oils. Students will leave class with a healing salve and oil to use at home for scrapes and cuts. 

$50/person. Registration will close on June 9 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final. 

Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu. 

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken. 

About the Instructor 

Liz Faermark has been studying herbalism for over 10 years, nurturing a passion that started in her early 20s when living in Urbana, IL while contributing to many community projects and small businesses including The Red Herring Restaurant, Delight Flower Farm, Common Ground Food Co-op and many more. 

Faermark moved to Colorado to deepen her herbal studies and attend teh Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism where she completed over 1,000 hours of herbal study. Additionally, she worked for nearly seven years at an herbal apothecary making prducts and creating custom herbal formulas for her community. In 2021, Faermark was invted to become a faculty member at the School of Clinical Herbalism where she currently teaches advanced herbal studies. 

Her business, Talk Wild Herbs, offers accessible, exciting, and useful herbal education for beginner and advanced herbalists alike. She has taught hundreds of students about this incredible realm of study that connects individuals to their natural environment, our ancestors, and skills to help nurture our health sovereignty. 

Experience Level: Beginner (All Ages 13+) 

Learn how a few common garden plants can be used to make simple and effective first aid preparations at Herbal First Aid: Liniments, Washes & Poultices on Wednesday, June 17 at 5 to 8 p.m. in the Evergreen Lodge. 

In this class, Liz Faermark, an experienced herbalist, will teach students the three key species that are useful as first aid herbs. Then, students will explore ways to use these plants in liniments, disinfecting washes, and itch-relieving poultices. Students will leave class with a liniment to reduce bleeding and itch as well as speed up wound recovery time. 

$50/person. Registration will close on June 10 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final. 

Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu. 

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken. 

About the Instructor 

Liz Faermark has been studying herbalism for over 10 years, nurturing a passion that started in her early 20s when living in Urbana, IL while contributing to many community projects and small businesses including The Red Herring Restaurant, Delight Flower Farm, Common Ground Food Co-op and many more. 

Faermark moved to Colorado to deepen her herbal studies and attend teh Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism where she completed over 1,000 hours of herbal study. Additionally, she worked for nearly seven years at an herbal apothecary making prducts and creating custom herbal formulas for her community. In 2021, Faermark was invted to become a faculty member at the School of Clinical Herbalism where she currently teaches advanced herbal studies. 

Her business, Talk Wild Herbs, offers accessible, exciting, and useful herbal education for beginner and advanced herbalists alike. She has taught hundreds of students about this incredible realm of study that connects individuals to their natural environment, our ancestors, and skills to help nurture our health sovereignty. 

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn printmaking processes at Lino Cuts & Prints on Sunday, June 28 from 12 to 5 p.m. in the Mansion Library.

For a very long time, printmakers have transferred images from specially prepared plates to paper, fabric, wood and metal. In this workshop, instructor Billie Theide will help students learn to design, carve, prepare ink and transfer images to make unique works of art. Each student will get a toolkit that will enable them to continue to work at home.

$140/person. Registration will close June 21 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodation to participate, please email Olivia at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Billie Theide is a former chair of the Crafts Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she is Professor Emerita. Theide is a metalsmith, jeweler and ceramicist. Her work is in public art collections around the world including the Smithsonian, Museum of Arts & Design in New York City, Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City and the Racine Art Museum, among others.

She is the recipient of a Visual Arts Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and five Artists Fellowship Grants from the Illinois Arts Council. Theide has been recognized for her excellence in teaching and is a Distinguished Member and Past-President of the Society of North American Goldsmiths.

About The Farms

The Farms: An Allerton Folk School, offers classes, workshops, and gatherings focusing on art, outdoor education, science, storytelling, and wellness. All experiences value hands-on, experiential teaching and learning, and are facilitated by and for the members of the community.