Turkey Tracks: Season 1 Quilts From The Color Collective

Turkey Tracks:  December 16, 2019

Season 1 Quilts From The Color Collective

I’ve almost finished all the six projects from Season 1 of the online class The Color Collective, hosted by Amy Newbold of Sewtopia.  Tara Faughnan designed each block and curated 12 solid fabrics for each project and Sewtopia mailed the fabrics to participants each month and published the videos that helped us with each project.  With each project, Tara taught us a new quilting method.

The first and second projects can be seen in the quilt below:  a machine applique circle method and a foundation pieced cross block.  I thought the two months’ colorways were compatible, so I combined them in this XOXO quilt.

The third project was this radiating log cabin—these blocks of mine are now sewn together and are being hand quilted with perle cotton.  This quilt will complete Season 1 for me.  I’m going to hang it in a bedroom.  On Tara’s website gallery you can see how complicated this block can be.  For one thing, it can be cut up to create whole new looks.

I went down a Lone Star rabbit hole.  I couldn’t stop making Lone Stars via Tara’s method.  I’ve always been afraid to try this block, but once started I could not stop.  There are two more blocks not pictured in this post.

But my favorite block, inspired by Tara’s larger Lone Star scrappy quilt (again, google her web site to see her gallery and her stunning LARGE Lone Star scrappy quilt), is this scrappy Lone Star—made from leftovers of the completed blocks.

This saw tooth block is made by drawing the design on freezer paper.  I love it!  I will always love this method and this design.  It can be varied by drawing, for instance, fat short triangles.

The final project is this 6-pointed star, all made by hand.  The design is drawn on to the fabric, and one sticks to those lines to keep everything working.  I hung this one in my bedroom, and I remain fascinated by how the design changes in different light.  Darker light makes some designs pop out or recede.

In order to keep up, I sometimes made a pillow of the design first, just to make sure that I understood how to make the block.  And, too, to see if I liked the block.  Thus, these pillows.

The method of the seasonal tree quilts come from Kathy Doughty in the book MATERIAL OBSESSIONS.

The Color Collective Season 1 has been a great ride!  My thanks to Amy and Tara for all the fun.  I’m now doing Season 2, and I’m really enjoying the projects.  I have learned so much over the last year, and it is all good.  It has been especially fun to work with solids as they are so graphic and modern.

Author: louisaenright

I am passionate about whole, nutrient-dense foods, developing local markets, and strengthening communities. View all posts by louisaenright