Tara Faughnan Lecture Notes

Tara Faughnan came to the guild on Saturday and gave a lecture.

Tara was a gardener before she began quiltmaking. she works at Michael Miller after completeing at textile design program in Berkeley.

She uses Photoshop and Illustrator in her work. She had a Pfaff for a long time, but recently got a Janome. She uses her mom's machines when she wants to do something special.

Tara started out with Ruby McKim's 101 Patchwork Patterns. She also pored over back issues of Quilters' Newsletter Magazine to learn. She did not have a good internet connection at the time, so searching the web was not an option. She used templates to make her first quilt.

Her third quilt was an art quilt with a dragon on it. It was quilted with metallic threads and she decided that it would be her last representational quilt. This quilt is not shown on her website.

At some point, a clerk at Joann told her about rotary cutting.

Initially Tara was terrified of color. She took two colors and made one little block to kind of deal with color combinations. As a result, she got really excited about color combinations. Tara works, primarily, with solids since she works with prints all day long. She finds that dark colors help other bright colors pop. She likes the place where two colors meet and wants to continue to explore / figure out the fluidity of color. She finds that brown bridges the gap between green and purple.

She now makes iterations of quilts. She likes to take one block and see where it can go. Alexandra's Quilt is a grief quilt. The next quilt had many more neutrals, which are her safety net.

Tara doesn't like improv cutting or piecing, but likes improv layout. She always designs on the wall - (using a design wall). She ends up with a lot of extra blocks, extra shards , extra leftovers when she makes a quilt.

Her DWR quilt was inspired by the Roderick Kiracofe Unconventional Quilts Show held in Sonoma. It is hand pieced and it made her feel like she hit her stride in 2015-2016-2017. She began to feel like color was her focus.

She made one DWR quilt that was just like one she saw. She thinks you should make what you like and that you can learn a lot from making derivative quilts. There is a blog post on the MQG site about derivative quilts [your editor was not able to find it quickly, but will find it later and link  to it]

The Pine Burr quilt was a huge step in the direction of figuring out how colors flow together.

Tara loves discord in quilts - things that are unexpected that can't be resolved. She gets a lot of inspiration from the Quilt Complex.

The Easter Egg quilt (not its real name) had an Easter Egg color palette. She added neutrals, greys, browns and ochres to make it more palatable - less sweet.

Quilts have hard lines and we just have to deal with that.

She does not make garments

She works on one quilt at a time.

She doesn't get stuck. She just makes a decision and sticks with it. She thinks she will get stuck on a  quilt if she doesn't finish it.

She will be a QuiltCon judge in 2017. Quiltcon judges are not required to be NCQC certified. She doesn't think that quilts made from patterns should be entered into shows alongside original works, but that there should be a separate category for quilts made from patterns.

Tara will be teaching a workshop for the guild on 8/12.

July Meeting Minutes

Saturday's meeting was fun and wonderful, as usual. A great time was had by all! Thanks to the Board for their hard work on making the meeting happen. If you haven't been to a meeting try and make one.We would love to see you!

Upcoming Events:
7/22 - Fibershots Gala, 6-9pm at the San Jose Quilt Museum
Sew Day August 5 in Palo Alto
8/12 Tara Faughnan workshop
8/19/2017 August BAMaQG Guild meeting
9/16 - September Meeting
9/16 - Hexie mini swap items due
9/23 - Karen Foster - Improv Abstraction workshop
9/29-Oct 1 Retreat
11/11 - Sarah Goer - Planned Improv workshop

Question of the Day: What is your favorite fabric company and why?

• Alexander Henry because it is printed in Japan and the colors are really bright. Also a brother / sister team designs their fabrics.
• Joy-Lily - she makes and uses her own hand-dyed fabrics
• Kaffe Fassett - bright
• Cloud 9 - organic
• Kaufman solids - so many colors....
• across the board
• Liberty of London
• do I have to pick just one???
• Hoffman - mom keeps sending me subscriptions
• whatever's in the shop and strikes me
• Marimekko because it is bright
• Robert Kaufman novelties - love the novelties
• dots by anyone
• Essex Linen, because it is shiny
• Art Gallery, Michael Miller solids
• fabrics from my stash
• Cotton & Steele - their story and the fact that they are all female designers
• Moda just seems to end up in my collection
• Scraps
• Birch, because they are organic
• Art Gallery
• whatever is on sale
• same as everyone else
• Modaluna - cute and organic
• Quilting Treasures
• Rowan
• Westminster
• Rifle Paper Co.
• Michael Miller
• What all y'all said

It was great to hear what everyone likes and how diverse our group is!

Tara Faughnan was the speaker. Look for a separate post about that talk.

Membership

• Remember to fill out the form and select your hexies
• Pet Beds - deliver pet beds and get a special hexie
• Library was available. See LeAnn
• Charity: 
• Kits for postage stamps are available
• Kits for chevrons are available
• Peggy & Michele have quilts to be quilted

Retreat

• 4 spots left
• Roommates will be assigned in August for people who don't have a roommate

Social Justice Sewing Academy Donations

• They are fostering change through art. 
• They have a list of items they need on their website.

Hexie Mini Swap (Swap #2)

• The modern hexie mini swap was introduced at the meeting by the fabulous Cheryl.
• Make something with a hexie on it. It does not have to be hexagonal
• Due at the September 16 meeting
• Cheryl will not me micromanaging hexiness. 
• Wrap your item up in paper or fabric or something

Meet Your Neighbor - Alison S

Maria interviewed Alison in a very Terry Gross kind of way. Alison is married with a  stepson, a cat and a mom that has been to our meetings and Sew Days. She was a costume designer for many years in Hollywood, then went to work as a technical editor at C&T. She is now a freelancer who works on various patterns/books

Alison became a part of the MQG when she signed up as soon as the website went live and was the third member of the LAMQG. She went out for coffee with Alisa Haight Carlton and became friends.

She is proud to have had a quilt displayed at the 2011 MQG exhibit in Houston sponsored by Moda.

Alison likes to travel. She has driven across the country and backpacked across Europe, but hasn't gotten much travel in during the last 10 years. They now have a travel trailer and are enjoying it on the weekends.

One of her craziest experiences was when Minnie Driver threw Spanx at her right before a very emotional scene.

Thanks, Alison! the next neighbor is Nicki M!

Giveaway

• Shoshana was this month's winner

Color My Quilt

• Michelle S received her shards
• Amy M gave out her sheets and inspirational fabric slices

See you at the next meeting on August 19!