The Works of Tara Faughnan (1)

Tara Faughnan was the featured artist at the 2025 QuiltCon show, presented by the Modern Quilt Guild. Tara is a quilter, teacher and pattern designer who began quilting in 2001. For many years she worked for Michael Miller Fabrics, Pottery Barn Kids and Riley Blake creating textile designs. It was fascinating to see her work in person! We hope you enjoy these photos.

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Double Wedding Ring (2014-15), 78" square, by Tara Faughnan

This quilt was made entirely from scraps including cottons, linen blends, poly blends. It was pieced and quilted by hand. Tara Faughnan says, "I was inspired by a pair of amazing double wedding ring quilts by an unknown maker, in the collections of Bill Volckening and Roderick Kiracofe.  I wanted to hand piece this quilt as an homage to this woman, and in the process I fell in love with hand sewing, and the life that all the little imperfections bring to this quilt."  

Tara continues, "To say the making of this quilt transformed my practice is an understatement - I learned new ways to look at colors, and began my hand sewing and quilting journey here."

Bars (2015), 63" x 70", by Tara Faughnan

Simple in principle, but it's the choices and arrangment of colors and values that make this quilt so interesting.  Tara says, "My focus with this quilt was to play with the interaction of colors within a structured grid.  I was curious how shape and proportion informs color interaction."  Bars was machine pieced, hand and machine quilted. The hand quilting stitches add subtle interest to the composition.

Big Log Cabin 2 (2024), 66" square, by Tara Faughnan

 

Tara says, "This quilt is a dive into imbalance and color relationships.  I love to create quilts that keep the eye roving, trying and failing to find a pattern to follow.  The wonderful thing about log cabin quilts is there is a never-ending number of variations to play with!  Big Log Cabin 2 was machine pieced and hand quilted.

Here's the full description of the exhibit at the show.

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 QuiltCon show in Phoenix, Arizona.

Modern Quilt Month 2017 #1

We're keeping it simple for summer at Quilt Inspiration and featuring a showcase of modern quilts.  These original design quilts have a bold impact and straight or flowing lines, but the quilting is anything but simple, as you will see from the closeup photos.  We hope you enjoy these quilts as much as we did!
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Dandelion Dream, 70 x 40”, by Sharon H. Pedersen (Santa Maria, California)

Instantly recognizable as a dandelion, this quilt won a blue ribbon for Best Sewing Machine Workmanship in the Mid Century Mod Modern Quilt Competition at the 2016 PIQF. Sharon Pederson says, “Georgia O’Keefe’s representational water color paintings of nature inspired me to try and create my own interpretation. Her larger than life subjects have haunted me in my dreams until one morning I awoke with a desire to create a vision I had of a dandelion. “

Sharon says Dandelion Dreams is her first modern quilt and hopefully the first in a series. It was hand appliqued and sewing machine quilted.

Ferris Wheels Gone Awry, 46 x 46”, by Carolyn S. Davis (Oxford, Alabama); longarm quilted by Becky Everett

Carolyn S. Davis says, “This is my first attempt at a modern quilt. I wanted to combine the old (30’s repro fabric) Dresden plate with the basic stripped fabric. I saw somewhere where someone had added a slightly different shade in a striped pattern. This combo pleased me with the beautiful quilting (by Becky Everett) in the negative space" (shown below).

Seeds of Life, 78 x 78”, by Virginia Hammon and Coleen Barnhardt

We love this giant version a Snail's Trail block, enlarged to over 6 feet. It reminds us of an underwater scene with cool blues and greens. The artists say, "This quilt speaks to the importance of life’s foundation: healthy seeds, water and the interconnection of all life on earth. Inspired by a quilt belong to collector, Bill Volckening – a simple and traditional blue and white Snail’s Trail that a family friend made decades back. This is a contemporary update of the spirit, colors and movement of that quilt. It was a fun challenge to get the big swatches of fabric to flow together."

As you can see in the photo above, prairie points were used to create points at each corner of the design. An architectural print fabric was used in the background, creating lots of interesting texture. This is just a portion of the fabulous quilting on this quilt.  Seeds of Life was machine pieced, hand appliqued, and long arm quilted.

Bertha, 48 x 49”, by Melissa Miller Curley (Las Vegas, Nevada)

The dramatic contrasts and saturated colors drew us to this quilt. Melissa Miller Curley says, "This quilt was inspired by my quilt guild’s half rectangle triangle challenge. I know that the design could have used strips but I wanted to keep the original HRT going, for this quilt would not have been if it weren’t for that challenge. I chose to use soft organic line quilting to contrast a bit with the crisp lines of the pattern.

Pink, 39 x 48”, by Ruth Galpin (Australia)

Gorgeous hand-printed fabrics make this contemporary quilt a work of art.  Ruth Galpin says, "With its origins in Nature, “Pink” is an exploration of color and texture and my delight in the effects achieved by various processes. Mono-printed color over color gives visual depth and texture to the image. I am fascinated by the beauty I discover in the juxtaposition of small fragments of patterned fabrics pieced together."

Raspberry Medley, 50 x 50”, by Vicki Ruebel (Las Vegas, Nevada)

Vicki Ruebel took the humble half-square triangle concept to a new level with her longarm quilting.  She says, "The color inspiration for my quilt was my new hot pink recliner. I wanted to create a quilt using multiple shades of hot pink and mustard yellows. The simple pieced top is enhanced with various grid-based quilting designs."

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2016 Pacific International Quilt Festival (Santa Clara, California).