Comet Tails

by Tamara Stunnell

  • Finished Size: 12" x 12"
  • Skill Level: Confident Beginner
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We challenged six MQG members to design a quilt block using the following parameters:

  • Base the design on a basic shape (e.g. square, triangle, circle, hexagon, and others)
  • Have it measure 12 ½” x 12 ½” unfinished
  • Use a specific color palette

Comet Tails, designed by Tamara Stunnell, reimagines the triangle shape. 

“I wasn’t sure where to start when designing this block, but I knew I wanted to use a triangle, my favorite shape, and to include as much color as possible. Initially, I drew triangles using some common blocks like HSTs and HRTs. I found that the more I played around with different block shapes, scale, and color placement, the more ideas I had. The concept of a sliding scale of triangles took hold and became the final design. They looked like comet tails to me, hence the name for my block.”

About the Contributor

Tamara funds her love of fabric with her day job as a Prepress Technician for the company that prints all of Australia’s banknotes and passports. She has worked in the printing industry for over 30 years and has seen many changes, from the manual “hands-on” approach when she was an apprentice to a fully digital software workflow. Both are helping now with creating and making quilts. A red and yellow quilt (“Eggs with Sauce”) on the front cover of an Australian quilting magazine sparked her interest in the craft. Having no friends who quilted at the time, her interest waned when the store where she was taking classes stopped offering them. Years later, new work friends had her pulling out long-forgotten projects to have something to sew when they went on retreat together. Most of those projects are still in the UFO (unfinished objects) pile. When Tamara joined the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild in 2016, she found a wonderful group of like-minded people. The Modern Quilt Guild has shown Tamara so many new techniques and ways to interpret modern quilting that she has ventured into creating her own designs. With encouragement from fellow members, she has also entered quilts into QuiltCon and local quilt shows.