Rainbows and “`My Give and Take’ ” Quilt Top

Turkey Tracks: August 5, 2020

Rainbows and “My `Give and Take’ “ Quilt Top

The ”I” tropical storm—who thought up THIS name anyway—more or less missed us here on Mid-Coast Maine. We got some rain and some wind last night, but that’s it. This one headed inland north to the Montreal area, though I am hearing that southern Maine had more trouble with it. We’ll take whatever rain we can get here on the coast. And, thankfully, the storm created some COOL weather, for a bit of time, anyway.

Last week, friend Marsha Smith sent me this pic of a double rainbow, taken from her porch, which is on a hill that looks out over the town and the harbor. Wow.

So, here is my finished quilt top “My `Give and Take’ “—which is the 6th project from season 2 of The Color Collective. Tara Faughnan designed this improv quilt method and curated the analogous color palette to start us off.

I’m thinking hand quilting with 12-weight cotton thread in green shades that are in the quilt. Tara used a grid on her bigger quilt, and I think that works to NOT take away anything from the quilt top itself. It just needs something really plain. I’ll use that dark turquoise on the upper left to bind. I had to cut that binding straight grain rather than on the bias, but this quilt will be a wall hanging and is not large at all so a straight binding will be ok. (I think bias binding is easier to manage and wears better over time.) It finishes at 28 by 47. I planned that size to fit where I’d like to hang it.

Here’s where Tara went with this method:

How fun! I really enjoyed this one, but I’ve enjoyed all the projects from both seasons and will sign up again for season 3 this October.

To see more of Tara’s quilts, go to tarafaughnan.com. It’s worth the visit. And her ongoing work is on Instagram. She’s a good teacher, for sure.

Now, on to the LAST project, which looks…complicated. I’m sure more “stretching” of my abilities will be involved. Denyse Schmidt designed the block for project 7, but Tara chose the fabric palette and made a video showing how best to make the blocks.