Collen Tauke is a quilter, designer, and quilt educator with 50+ years of sewing experience, of those, the last 20+ years have been centered around quilting. Early in her quilting endeavors she was challenged to piece a quilt that seemed daunting - fussy cutting, y-seams, strip piecing, hourglass blocks, a pieced border, and applique - and that was all in ONE quilt - her first bed sized quilt, that would become a quilt shop sample and win a third place ribbon at the Iowa State Fair in the "my first quilt" division. She was hooked! Quilting has become more than a hobby; it is a passion that she enjoys sharing with beginners and seasoned quilters alike.

She joined the staff of Fons &Porter Love of Quilting magazine and PBS television in April of 2013 as the Sewing Specialist. She spent her days assisting the writing staff by testing pattern techniques, preparing teaching materials for Iowa Public Television tapings, answering customer questions and creating color option blocks for the magazine. Later, she was assigned the task of presenting techniques and tools in video format, 300+videos later - when asked about a specific patchwork skill, her answer may be - I have a video for that. She was also honored with the opportunity to be a guest instructor for Love of Quilting on three occasions teaching curved piecing, fussy cutting and y-seams along with a variety of templates. Many of her own quilt designs were published in various Fons & Porter magazines such as Easy Quilts and Quilting Quickly.

Later she worked for a quilt shop in Ames and taught classes while also acting as pattern tester, creating color options and proof reading for American Patchwork and Quilting. She added longarm quilting to her services quilting for a variety of local quilters.

Life is a puzzle - quilting surrounds us with beauty and comfort as we "piece" the shapes together.

Non-members are welcome to attend our meetings Admission $10 per meeting.