Quilt Retreats, Studio

The Tale of Tango Stripe

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Continuing my series of posts about the annual May quilting retreat I attended with my Quilting Sisters in Vancouver, WA May 17 – 20. To read my previous posts about quilting retreats I’ve attended, see my post category – Retreats.

In the post The Pillow Project I mentioned that for this May’s annual quilting retreat I pulled out some old unfinished objects/projects (UFOs); or as my blogging buddy Shirley @ handmadehabit calls them – “stranded” projects.

Well another “stranded” project that I brought to the quilt retreat was the Tango Stripe (pattern by Jean Wells of the Stitchin‘ Post) project.

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This quilt is made with Kaffe Fassett stripes fabric and coordinating solids. I’ve wanted to make this quilt for years after falling in love with the store sample when visiting the Stitchin’ Post.

I’ve nearly started it a couple times as evidenced by these posts:

Diving into a quilt (and other stuff) (January 2017) and Quilt Seating! (December 2016)

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A couple of months ago at the monthly art quilter group I attend, our group leader brought in her completed Tango Stripe quilt, set in olive green fabric instead of denim colored fabric, and it was fantastic. This reminded me how much I want to make my own.

So I brought my collection of Kaffe Fassett striped fabrics and solids to the retreat and finally started cutting the blocks with the templates from the pattern:

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I got this far in my progress on the quilt top during the quilting retreat:

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I know it does not seem like a lot but there is a lot of template work to create the effect of the quilt. You do not cut the whole quilt out at once per instructions but you design as you go.

I did not finish it as you can see but I made a lot more progress than I had in the 5+ years since buying the pattern!

For now it is put away as I need my large design wall to finish it up and currently my large design wall has a quilt in progress for a future WCQN exhibit that I cannot yet share. But once I finish that piece, Tango Stripe is going up on the design wall and is going to be finished!

It is a tale whose story needs to end (with a completed quilt!)

Postscript

During the retreat, one of my quilting sisters gave me a sweet Moda fabrics Frivols quilt kit for my birthday:

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This section of the insert inside the tin made me smile as I think it describes many of us well:

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Hope you have a great week of “making” if you are a “Maker“!

More stories from the May quilt retreat are coming. 

Published by tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Quilter, crafter, obsessive tea drinker and lover of all furry creatures (especially dogs and cats) - join me on my tierneycreates blog as I share stories from "A Crafter's Life".

35 thoughts on “The Tale of Tango Stripe”

  4. The Tango is one of my favorite dances to watch, and now, the Tango Stripe Quilt is tops on my list of favorite quilt designs. I love the Kaffe Fassett fabric.

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    1. I think you can get the pattern still on the Stitchin Post website online, or you can call them and they will do a phone order. But warning – it is a wee bit complex with the templates and has Y-seams in each block (it took me about 5 blocks to get better at those Y seams!)

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  7. So very good for you! There are so many patterns and fabrics I love, I never know where to begin…especially for a quilt to keep! Love the stripes and the organization you always have! Keep having fun!!!

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  9. Just looking at all those pieces and knowing they’re only the beginning is a good reminder of why I will leave the quilting to my mom and will be keeping my sewing world to my shirts and dresses that only require a few pieces! Excellent start, though .Can’t wait to see it completed.

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  13. You are officially on a roll! 🙂 It’s great to read that the annual retreat saw lots of opportunities to return to some familiar and beloved projects. It must feel nice to reunite with those gems, and rediscover what brought you to them in the first place. Ooh to the tango stripes – they very much look like a blanket-knitting technique called mitered squares, too. Maybe this is not a coincidence given Kaffe Fassett’s knitting/quilting talents! And what a wonderful statement on makers! I hope you had a grrrreeeeat birthday, Tierney! Many happy returns!

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    1. Thank you and it does feel good to move forward on stuff and to “unstrand” those projects! Mitered squares – I will put that in my dream knitting skills catalog, ha! 🙂

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