Janice S paid me the compliment of sending me one of her superb quilts -- a stunning bargello made from batiks with rich fall colors in them. I mused over it for a day and realized that there is no appropriate pattern for a bargello that isn't linear, like stitch-in-the-ditch. So I decided to use a wispy, wave-like pantograph in the center of the quilt.
This pattern didn't interfere with the impact of the bargello strips at all and allowed your eye to travel from one luscious curve to the dip and the next curve without hanging up on the quilting design. So now I had to figure out what to do about the borders.
The borders were bold in their separation from the body of the quilt. Janice had chosen a cream with gold swirls through it for the inner border, so I used a magnified version of the swirls to "end" the pantograph. The outer border was black with gold curlicues and just needed a little texture to be able to give the quilt the final touch. The pattern in the black portion is called Hazel Spice 2, and has a slightly formal appearance to it. However, you can't see it well against the black-- just the texture, which is what I wanted anyway.
While my IQ was chugging away at Janice's quilt center pantograph, I was able to trim my own king size quilt and put the binding on it. My quilt is just a giant Disappearing 9 Patch, which I happen to like very much when sashing is added. It's nestling on my bed, even as we speak. In case you're wondering, this huge quilt measures 110 x 120, and although it doesn't need shams or extra pillows, I have some leftover fabric that I think I will use for pillow cases. Won't that be cute?
This has been a good day's work. Janice's quilt is in the mail, and the next quilt is on the frame. Off to the lurkim.
Donna, you did a great job with that Bargello, the perfect design for that quilt and the border swirl is wonderful on that quilt. Good Job.
ReplyDeleteLove the Disappearing 9 patch also. Love the colors.