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Allerton Park & Retreat Center

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The Farms: An Allerton Folk School

Barn Quilt Painting (Nov 15)

$90

with Jane Cade

Calendar Nov 15, 2025 at 8 am

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, Nov. 15 or Dec. 6 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in The Studio.

Students will begin with one of two options on a pre-primed board with a design already drafted. 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 one week before each course begins or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

— Nov. 15
— Dec. 6

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

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.

Barn Quilt Painting (Dec 6)

$90

with Jane Cade

Calendar Dec 6, 2025 at 8 am

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, Nov. 15 or Dec. 6 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in The Studio.

Students will begin with one of two options on a pre-primed board with a design already drafted. 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 one week before each course begins or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

— Nov. 15
— Dec. 6

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

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.

Winter Botany

$40

with Fran Harty

Calendar Dec 13, 2025 at 10 am, runs for 2 weeks

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn more about the plants at Allerton at Winter Botany on Saturday, Dec. 13 and 20 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in The Studio and outdoors.

Instructor Fran Harty will begin each class in The Studio and share information about twig characteristics, fruits and how to use an identification key. The remainder of the time will be spent in the woods to apply what has been learned.

$40/person. Register by Dec. 5All sales are final.

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

Fran Harty has taught dendrology at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and similar classes for Allerton Park Corps of Discovery in 2009 and the Illinois Audubon Society in 2015. Fran currently works with the Land Conservation Foundation.

Beginner Jam Sessions (Dec 13th)

$5

with Lou Ann Koebel

Calendar Dec 13, 2025 at 12:30 pm

Experience Level: Beginner 

Learn how to jam with other musicians at Beginner Jam Sessions on Saturdays, Sept. 13, Oct. 11, Nov. 8 and Dec. 13 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in The Studio. Learn to play as a group and learn new songs at a gentle pace in a friendly environment. 

Jams sessions are open to beginning mountain dulcimer players and other instrumentalists. 

$5/person. Registration closes one day before each course begins or when capacity is reached. All sales are final. 

— Sept. 13 
— Oct. 11 
— Nov. 8 
— Dec. 13 

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 

Lou Ann Koebel currently leads a weekly dulcimer jam for the East Central Dulcimer Illinois Dulcimer Club at Lincoln Square. She also plays in a local band that visits and performs at local assisted living facilities. 

Koebel has taught beginning dulcimer classes for The Farms, where she has had a wonderful time teaching the group and realized her love of teaching and passing on the tradition of playing a mountain dulcimer. Lou Ann also plays at area music festivals. 

Button Making Workshop

$105

with Billie Theide

Calendar Dec 14, 2025 at 1 pm

Experience Level: Beginner 

Take your sewing to another level at Button Making on Sunday, Dec. 14 from 1 to 4 p.m. in The Studio. 

In this hands-on course, instructor Billie Theide will teach students how to create their own custom buttons using a variety of colorful fabrics and textures. Use your new buttons on clothing, bags, or any other accessories. 

$105/person. Registration will close Dec. 7 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final. 

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 

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. 

Payment plan available: $52.50 deposit plus 2 payments of $26.25, paid every four weeks.




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