BEAUTIFUL BARGELLO

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.

Number 2 finished!

It's Memorial Day weekend already!  DH has stocked the refrigerator with steaks, happily marinating in his special sauces, and I have finished, trimmed and sent off Sue B's friend's star quilt, which she wanted quilted just like Sue's that I did several months ago.

Mission accomplished.  Exact same patterns.  And I think it's a great way to start this weekend, because I know this quilt was made with our country's servicemen and women in mind.

It's even pretty on the back!

Now here's another little something for those of you who are feeling patriotic this weekend.  If you think there are an awful lot of planes in this video, it's because it was filmed at an Air Force Base.  USA 

What a week!

This week has been wonderfully productive for me.  First, I finished Sue B's red, white and blue antique looking snowball quilt.  Sue leaves it up to me as to what to do about the quilting most of the time, but this time she wanted the quilting to be the same as in the magazine picture of the same quilt pattern, so...

I cross-hatched every single one of those little 3 1/2" snowballs.  Do you see the tiny little squares between each snowball?  They measure only 1 1/4" in size!  I must say that I think Sue has the patience of a saint to put all these together.  There were 256 snowballs all told.  And now I can say I had the patience of a saint as well, since I had to cross-hatch them all.  The borders are done with piano key quilting, but you can't see it well because I used thread that matched the fabric.

Next came Linda B's second quilt.  The picture of this one does not do it justice.  The fabrics are luscious batiks in teal and a light greyish teal with a bit of chartreuse in the chains for a real punch.  The darker teal fabric has dragonflies in it, so Linda wanted dragonflies and loops in the quilting.  I just happened to have two such patterns, and I used the prettier one for her quilt (see below).

You might have to click on the picture to get a magnified view so that you can see this quilting.

The third quilt this week was from Gerry C, who wanted a throw for cool evenings in the spring/summer.  She had a really cute panel to start with:

Then she added the borders and voila!  An adorable quilt.  The backing is flannel -- her signature touch for her quilts, it seems. 

Here's a closeup of the pattern:  Sweethearts Garden, one of my favorites.  I used this since the panel in her quilt was all about gardening.

Lastly, I finally finished crocheting a baby blanket for my niece's daughter, who will be born in August.  I'm going up to Maryland for a baby shower for her in June, so now all I have to do is to wrap it up and get ready for a fun time.

I have another three quilts in my lurkim, waiting to be done, but it's storming outside today, so my Nolting is shut down to wait out the thunder and lightning.  Meanwhile, a good book is in order...