Tag: Tara Faughnan’s Wedding Ring Quilt

“Joyful” Is Finished

Turkey Tracks: November 1, 2021

“Joyful” Is Finished

She’s done!

And, oh my goodness, what a visual impact this one has.

To remind, this is Tara Faughnan’s wedding ring quilt pattern, and Tara Faughnan is also the designer for 7-month The Color Collective online class hosted by Amy Newbold at Sewtopia. Indeed, season 4 starts TODAY, and, LOL, my fabrics are washed and ironed for the first project, but the design wall is FULL of the log cabin quilt at the moment.

I quilted with a light grey thread by using the 40-inch Innova ruler equipment on the new Innova longarm. There is a basting line crease in this photo that is gone now as I express washed and dried Joyful to remove the basting lines.

Here are some close-ups. The quilting is not 100% perfect all over the quilt as this ruler was a learning curve. Now that the quilt is bound, washed, and dried, one would not notice the kinds of things I note about the quilting. It’s all good, and I’m happy with the results.

After Joyful was dried and while she was all warm from the dryer, I brought her up to my bedroom where she is going to live for this winter at least. I almost took a little nap to bask in the warmth, but thought better of it.

Joyful is a treasure. For sure.

When I checked the rain gauge yesterday, it showed FIVE INCHES of rain from the wild storm.

No wonder there was such flooding.

I Lost My Mojo For This Quilt

Turkey Tracks: September 12, 2021

I Lost My Mojo For This Quilt

I started this EPP project in 2018.

It’s the “36-Ring Circus” designed by Joanne Lewis. The pattern and template kit are at Paper Pieces.

I am using Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society fabrics for the centers, pastel solids for the rings, and darker solids for the rest.

I now have three rows done after three years—three more to go.

But it seems I put off working on it to do other handwork on a regular basis.

It is an elegant pattern, for sure.

But it is hard and in many ways, seems tedious to me. Sewing the rings to the centers is…hard. I’ve found taping from the front and using a flat stitch on the back helps.

I have all the solid pieces cut and glued, so I will finish it someday.

I hope it doesn’t take another three years—one for each row!!!

I did organize all the centers for the 4th row, so that’s something. The first center is done, but not the rings.

Meanwhile, I seem to be more than a little interested in wedding ring quilt versions.

Here’s the funky one whose top is now done: from Freddie Moran and Gwen Marston’s book FREDDY AND GWEN COLLABORATE AGAIN: FRIENDS.

And Tara Faughnan’s Wedding Ring Quilt:

I’m ready to start sewing together the last and final row.

It’s September

Turkey Tracks: September 10, 2021

It’s September 2021

How did that happen?

And it is already the 10th!!

We’ve had cooler weather, with temps dropping down significantly at night, which makes for great sleeping.

And for rising desires for warmer foods, like this beef stew I made in the Instant Pot. I cook the carrots and new potatoes separately—and the fresh green beans separately too.

The beautiful beef cubes were a gift from friend Margaret whose freezer went belly up earlier this summer. The carrots, new potatoes, and fresh green beans came from Farmer Tom’s Hope’s Edge weekly market out at the farm—which is a trip to which I look forward each week.

The Instant Pot cooks the beef in 35 minutes!!!! For my Histamine Intolerance, that’s wonderful as long cooking times create more histamine in foods. I saute the beef in the pot in some tallow or ghee. If I’m not in a hurry, I’ll remove the meat and throw in the chopped onions and garlic and saute those for a bit, but not this time. I added two cups of liquid, onions, garlic, herbs, salt and called it a day. I also added a limited amount of ketchup, whichI can eat in small quantities sometimes—and it added such flavor. When the meat is done I put the beef in a large bowl and add the warm, cooked vegetables and spooned out what I wanted to eat. The rest I saved for other meals.

This Dahlia is now three years old. Isn’t it gorgeous!

The first year I just saved the tuber after the first killing frost. But when I planted it in the spring, it took it all summer to get big enough to start blooming. Last year I put the dug tuber into a small pail with its dirt and roots intact and put it into the dry/dark/cool storage hold upstairs, and when the days started getting longer in early March, I put the whole pail in a sunny window. The Dahlia sprouted and started growing. Finally it was warm enough to put it out in the garden again, which it liked. It’s been blooming like crazy since early August, so I will put it back in the pail again this fall.

And here’s Tara Faughnan’s Wedding Ring quilt with THREE rows finished. I moved it up the design wall so I could get to the bottom row more easily. This quilt clearly wants to be called “Joyful!”

I will be making this quilt again very soon (this winter) as I’m obsessed with it. I want to try a more controlled palette with dark brown/black/dark grey/khaki/cream centers and rings that have a lot of the dark brown/black and cream rings—studded with pastels and a few pops of color here and there. Tara has a version that sparked my imagination, but I hesitate to show it here due to copyright issues.

Late August 2021

Turkey Tracks: August 26, 2021

Late August 2021

The rainy days have finally stopped, and the very long lawn grass dried out enough for me to mow on Tuesday.

It was rough going as my little electric mulching mower was not happy with the long and damp grass, but we persevered, and the job is done.

There is so much moisture in the system though, from all the rain, so the hotter days (mostly 80s) are creating a lot of humidity. Fortunately, the nights are cool. I’ve been running the dehumidifier downstairs for many weeks now, and that has helped a lot.

It’s been a busy week, but today and Friday are “open,” so AC and I will get out into the yard for much-need shrub pruning and weeding of one bed maybe. Other than the suddenly overgrown shrubs (they liked all the rain), the weeding is not out of control. The deer are though. They love my hostas.

Debbie Jeske, A Quilter’s Table blog, has been posting the sampler blocks she’s making. They are all done now but for the big center block that will come along now with this project.

I really like her blocks and her color choices. Take a look?

https://aquilterstable.blogspot.com/2021/08/summer-sampler-2021-providence.html?m=1

I really like all of Debbie’s work, actually. She is an inspiration.

And here is where I am with Tara Faughnan’s Wedding Ring pattern. This quilt is so much fun! And it is not hard. I will want to make it again with a different color palette.

The top two rows are done, and I’m working on the rings for the third-row centers. I think all the centers are now placed where they will stay now. This quilt is chewing up solid fabric scraps in the most pleasant way.

Enjoy this back end of summer before we head into fall. The seasonal wheel is turning here—the light has already changed a lot.

Mid-August 2021

Turkey Tracks: August 14, 2021

Mid-August 2021

Hello, hello!

After 9 days of his visit here, I took this guy back to the Portland airport for his journey home:

I started missing him before he even left!

He is heading into his 18th birthday and his senior year in high school, which includes all the stressful college applications and worry about “what next.”

It was delicious to have 9 days to one-on-one time with him as I had not seen him (or any of the other family members in Charleston, SC, for two years).

While he worked on summer school assignments, due very soon now, I did get in some sewing. And what a fun, fun project this wedding ring quilt by Tara Faughnan is!

I am sewing together the the last block on the right in the upper row later today and will join it to the others. Each is 20 inches finished—so the quilt will eventually be 80 by 80 inches. Of course I am moving around colors—nothing is set in stone until I actually sew it, and the color ideas have already changed from this picture.

The garden is at that late August messy stage. EVERYTHING needs mowing or dead heading. But it is so hot and so humid that one gets drenched with sweat in short order outside. I did mow yesterday, but that was enough for one day.

Some of the trees are starting their fall colors. And the hummingbirds will be leaving very soon now. And the light has already changed rather a lot as the seasonal wheel starts to turn.

Funky Wedding Ring Quilt Top

Turkey Tracks: August 2, 2021

Funky Wedding Ring Quilt Top

What a fun scrappy quilt!

It is so lively and so full of good energy. And I have not named it yet.

This is just a quick and dirty picture—and the quilt is hanging over another quilt in progress, so things look lumpy.

A reminder that this block comes from Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston and is in their book FREDDY AND GWEN COLLABORATE AGAIN: FRIENDS. I mixed printed and solid scraps in the blocks and am happy with how that evolved.

And here is what is going on BEHIND this quilt:

This quilt is designer Tara Faughnan’s “Wedding Ring” quilt.

It is so fun to make!

I have a busy day but can’t wait to spend some time today making more of the scrappy rings.

Design Wall, July 2021

Turkey Tracks: July 18, 2021

Design Wall, July 2021

My quilt room looks like a bomb went off in it as there are color-coordinated piles of fabric everywhere as apparently I am working on four projects at the same time.

(1) Here are the strips for the log cabin, all cut—with two blocks organized on the right. I am using the Creative Grids 12-inch log cabin ruler for this project—which makes log cabin blocks super easy and fast to make.

I fell in love with Tara Faughnan’s Wedding Ring quilt the moment I laid eyes on it a few years ago. [Let’s face it: I’ve fallen in love with so many of Tara’s patterns now, having been introduced to her in The Color Collective (Sewtopia, Amy Newbold) three years ago.] This past spring I got as far as buying her pattern, and last week I photo copied the 10-inch versions on to freezer paper and thought I’d “just make a trial block.” Yeah. All of you quilters know how THAT goes. Here’s where I was by last night:

I’m finding it takes a lot of cutting to get started on this project—but that it is gobbling up solid scraps like mad.

The “funky” wedding ring quilt top—now a leader/ender project—is coming along. I will make it 4 blocks wide by 5 blocks (14-inch blocks) so it comes out 56 by 70. That will be a nice lap size. Previous posts cover the origin of this project for me. The block is by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston and is in their book FREDDY AND GWEN COLLABORATE AGAIN: FRIENDS. And I am indebted to Debbie Jeske (A Quilters Table blog) for making the block without sashing which makes it much more modern.

And here’s how Maria Shell’s “Rattlesnake” zig-zag pattern gets formed with light and dark isosceles triangles. I used Tri Rec rulers to make mine, but Maria Shell shows how to free-hand cut these triangles in her book IMPROV PATCHWORK. I love the scrappy nature of this project.

I’ve cut a lot of strips while going through solid scraps, but have put this one on hold until I get the “funky” wedding ring top off the design wall.

It’s a totally rainy day today, so it will be a lovely sewing day for me—with breaks to console AC doggie.