Argyle Bargello!
After agonizing literally months - I went ahead, bit the bullet and quilted this one.
I had it sandwiched for over a month and really didn’t want it sitting with the safety pins any longer than that.
Plus, like everything else lately, the uncertainty with mom meant that I didn’t want to delay getting this one finished.
Things could change any moment as to my ability to sew here (I’m heading to the states if they need me to help with mom - so I need to be ready at a moment’s notice). I do have a machine there which I could set up just outside her room. (It’s a second-hand BabyLock- got it on Craig’s List for $200 - looks like a twin to my Janome 1600 QC.)
So, I swallowed hard - I really thought that quilting this along the lines of the design would simply be too hard. I thought the design was too complicated and would mean twisting and turning the quilt too much under the throat so that I physically could not do it.
I debated doing an all over design on it - but then didn’t really want to just put stippling on such a quilt.
It just didn’t seem nice enough.
Or loops. I could have put loops but once again - I didn’t want anything that would mess with the design. I didn’t want distortion.
I went ahead and came to the computer to check out what others have done with bargello quilts. Yes, some do all over quilting designs, but I tend to favor those that follow the design itself.
So….once again, I had a talk with myself, “Becky…yes, it will be slow, and maybe even difficult in places…but you CAN do it!”
So, I just decided to try my best to just go for it.
It was pretty fiddly. I did it over parts of two days. I’m glad baseball is back as it helped pass the time I spent on it! (I watch/listen to both Toronto Blue Jays AND the Tampa Bay Rays.)
After binding it with one of the darker pinks in the center - I washed it and let it dry on the table.
Who would think that this set of fabrics
would result in this quilt?
I am honestly, if I may say so myself, gobsmacked - to use a British term - at how beautiful this quilt turned out.
The fabrics that Eileen Wright (author of the pattern) calls zingers really turned out well.
I admit freely - I had never considered using pink and orange together until my sis showed me some photos of a wedding where the bride used both colors - and it was glamorous and gorgeous. At that point, I changed my mind.
What my experience with using orange and pink together did was make me NOT afraid to use my pinks - all of them - both “warm pinks” and “cool pinks” in the same quilt. Those “warm pinks” are what makes it look like I’m using orange in this quilt.
And I love it. It is interesting and beautiful!
I’m also partial to pink. (Grin)
I also did not worry about the colors not being exactly perfect.
I had seen another person’s bargello where they kind of flipped two of the colors so the shades weren’t in perfect order of light to dark and it made it even more interesting. I was hoping a bit for something like that here.
And I got it. I’m glad I didn’t stress too much about the exact order of the fabrics. Don’t get me wrong - I worked on their order - as you are supposed to put them in order light to dark - but when you change from warm to cool pinks, things can get a bit confusing.
I did write about the top here. You can see even more pictures there.
The quilt roll is here:
The quilt pattern is by Eileen Wright and is from the book More Twist and Turn Bargello Quilts. (affiliate link). I already had the book when I saw this pattern worked up, and fell in love with their colors (pinks) on Facebook in a group somewhere (I don’t remember where, sorry).
That picture pushed me over the hump to get me to make it!
I really didn’t have a “reason” to make this quilt other than I wanted to try. I’ve made others by Eileen Wright in her other book (Twist and Turn Bargello) (affiliate link) - the Surf Song mostly - I think I’ve made that one about 7x - and one other one from that book.
I just made it because I wanted to.
That’s the ONLY reason.
Not for charity.
Not as a gift.
Not as anything except because I wanted to see how it would look.
I hate to admit that my heart kind of skips a beat when I see this one!
I don’t find Eileen Wight’s bargellos difficult to make even if they look complicated. If you doubt whether or not you can make one - as long as you have decent reading comprehension skills and can get access to the book, you can do it!
Just follow her instructions!
Can you read a cook book? If so, I’m sure you can do this!
You are reading here - so I’m sure you can!
I sometimes see people saying things like “It’s too hard.” Or “I could never do that” after seeing a quilt and wonder why they say that. (It’s quite a different matter to say, “I’m not interested in making that pattern”!)
The reason we tend to think that about anything is that somehow we’ve forgotten that “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. Things are built - quilts even - step by step, seam by seam. If you follow step 1 and then step 2, and then step 3 and keep going to the end, assuming the directions are correct, you will end up with what you you were trying to make!
Is that a good enough pep talk?
If you are reading this blog - you can make this quilt following her directions. I’m positive.
And there you go. That’s it for today!
Have a great day wherever you are reading this! Thanks for coming along on my journey!
Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store here!
Here’s one of the beauties we have!
