Meeting Recap (April 10th, 2021)

Spring with all it's bright happy colors is here! And what great timing to hear from a color master herself - Tara Faughnan. She joined our meeting this past Saturday to talk all about her quilting journey and some of the things that have brought her to where she is today. 

Tara Faughnan - From Cardboard to Instagram

Tara started out by showing us her first ever quilt - one that she created using cardboard templates to cut her fabric. After quickly chatting with her local quilt shop ladies (thank goodness for them) she was introduced to a rotary cutter, rulers and cutting mats and off to the races she went! She was mostly self taught from books and old quilting magazines her mother had given her and she really started out with a focus on design and technique. 

As she played she started to see how different colors and values could create different effects in her quilts - she would use binoculars backwards to stand and look at a quilt to see everything from 'afar' so she could see how the different pieces of the quilt were interacting. "Color gets all the credit, but value does all the work." She may not have known then the words for what she was exploring but she continued to try different things and explore in her quilts. 

While processing the loss of a dear friend and making a 'grief quilt' Tara says she was inspired by her late friend to use ALL THE COLOR, and found she could do so by pairing colors with neutrals and believes this was a turning point for her that changed everything.

As she continued to make quilts she played around with breaking 'rules' with value and color with interruptive patterning. She began to see that you could create visual points of calm with low contrast colors and sections and points of interest with sections of high contrast.

Tara likes to focus on scale and believes that often what really makes a quilt modern can simply be the scale at which a block is created. Often by taking a 'traditional block' and bumping up the scale once can create a very modern look. Also one color palette can look so different from one pattern block to the next and it's this area that Tara loves to play. 

And play it is. Solids can be serious so make sure to use color palettes that make you happy she suggested. She also stressed not to worry so much about making 'bad' quilts - just keep going, play and you will find your way. 

"Be fearless and make ugly quilts!" - Tara

Guild Items Covered:

• No May Meeting - Since we have Tara teaching Workshops in May - there will be no regular monthly meeting.
  
  
• Informal Park Gatherings - We have missed our members so much and we decided to start doing some informal Park Gatherings!
    - We will have a quilt photographer to help you get those beautiful quilt pics.
    - The free table will be back so bring some goodies and take some goodies
    - Chairty Vet Quilt turn in Spot
    - Swap Spot
    - Share Quilts, Stories & Fist Bumps (hugs have to stay virtual for now)
  
  Kirkwood Park Saturday May 8th, 10am - 12pm.
  Tower Grove Park Sunday June 27th at 10am - 12pm.
  
  It's come and go as you please but we look forward to seeing you!
  
  
• 4x5 Quarterly Bees Round 2- Our first round of Quarterly Block Bees is wrapping up and round two is now open! It's a great chance to get know your fellow guild members so don't hesitate to join the fun. Check your member email for the link to sign up.
  
  
• Monthly Skill Builder - We love the way that Zoom is allowing us to have some personal one-on-one time with folks and share our skills with each other. We announced that this month's new skill will be making digital quilt mockups. While not a technical 'sewing' skill making mockups can always help you plan for your quilts and making them digitally can be a fun way to explore lots of possibilities and try things you might not have thought of before. We will be learning from the guild secretary and graphic designer Christine Boyd on April 21st from 7-8pm. You can always read more on the Monthly Skill Builder blog. As always if you would be willing to teach a skill please let us know! We have a list of skills or if you have something special to share we would love to hear from you. We will also be recording the monthly sessions and sending them out within 48 hours. 
  
  
• Quilt Alongs - 
  - Fairy Garden Quilt @cozycolorquilts 
  - Nightingale Quilt  @loandbeholdstitchery
  - Connector Quilt   @homemadeemilyjane
  - Sunshowers Quilt   @megancollins_a
  - Pacific Sun Quilt   @xoxsew
  
  
• Save the Date for STLMQG Quilt Show 2022 - July 16 – 17, 2022 - Kirkwood Community Center, set up July 15
  
  
• Hand Sew *Home* Happy Hour April 27th 6-9PM come and go as you please - join us to sew or just to chat!
  
  
• Charity Quilt Due to COVID, the construction on the tiny homes is unfortunately running way behind, so we're going to move our deadline back to NOVEMBER. Hopefully, this will allow more people to join in to ensure we reach our goal. We are trying to make 30 Twin XLs and you can learn more on the blog post if you're interested in participating.

Fabric & Pattern Raffle

This month was an exciting giveway - Tara donated two of her patterns to go with two solid bundles provided by Cotton Cuts. Winners were Dottie Vaughn & Heather Dye. 

If you want to get beautiful fabric delivered to your door and support a local STLMQG member and fabric shop check out Cotton Cuts and sign up today!