Rooster Parade!

Brighten up your table with some cheery roosters! 

Colleen Tauke used the Rooster Inn prints to make a fun table topper, which was featured in Fons & Porter's Easy Quilts. We asked Colleen to tell us more about her design. 

"Rooster Parade Table Topper" designed by Colleen Tauke;
featured in Fons & Porter's Easy Quilts Spring 2017

Q. What attracted you to the Rooster Inn collection? 

CT: Our family has in the past had a fun Christmas game. Put in the gift, draw numbers and pick a gift - the kicker is you can steal from someone if you like their gift better. One year a "Rooster" cookie jar was put in the mix. Well, said cookie jar was thought to be the hot potato - it moved around quite a bit during the game. In the end, the person with the rooster found a $50 bill stashed in the lid! It was a memorable game that everyone laughs about years later, and it was a memory that could be commemorated in cloth with these fabrics!

Q. Do you have a favorite print in the collection?

CT: My favorite piece in the line is the chicken wire. It reminds me of the fence piece my dad used to put over the shed windows on the farm - thinking that it would protect the windows from my siblings putting a baseball/softball through them. It never did work very well. :)

 

Q. The shape and design of your table topper is unique—can you talk a little bit about how it came to be?

CT: The shape of the table topper comes from using the Fons & Porter template set. The wedge design has you create eight "crazy pieced" sections that fit together perfectly.

Q. How did you choose the fussy-cut roosters?

CT: The fussy cut roosters are not all identical. I selected those of similar size, but keep in mind - the project is yours and you are free to have some fun with the process.

Q. Any tips for working with template pieces and fussy cutting? 

CT: A tip for fussy cutting - If you are unsure of your cut or how the piece will appear in your project, take the five-sided shape and place it in the middle of a piece of paper. Trace the shape and cut out the shape, leaving the page intact. The "window" will assist you in deciding how to cut the design. Do remember that a 1/4" seam allowance will be used along each side of the window.

Q. Can you talk about your fabric choices?

CT: I chose the black/gray for the center to create a strong center - knowing that a candle, bowl or other items may be displayed on top of the project. The gold was placed as an accent to the black. As for the red binding, I love red bindings and in this project it just "fences" the edge perfectly.

Q. What do you like best about this topper?

CT: I like the unusual shape, the quick method for creating each wedge with the template set and that the fabrics are timeless.

See the entire Rooster Inn collection here.

Find the Fons & Porter Wedge Templates here.

Find the spring 2017 issue of Easy Quilts here.