Bargello done!

Calling this one Rhapsody in B.....for bargello, Brandi and Brent.  It's quite cloudy today, but the photos still turned out pretty good. 

    

 This photo shows the pattern well.....it is a bargello style variation of the quick quarter trip  that Eleanor Burns uses for her Trip Around the World.  You are working with rectangles rather than squares, and that translates to no exact matching seams!  Each row just drops 1/2 of the rectangle in the previous row.  The width cuts vary from 3 1/2" to 1 1/2".   I am doing another one of these very soon!   Stay tuned and I will blog the process.

  Overall size is 62" by 73".  I used 11 fabrics, repeating 4 of them, so that I had a strata of 14 bands.

Sir Old Man  was helping me decide on the borders.  I had the first narrow brown strip on already, but  had

a red strip next, and it just didn't work.  His suggestion of the gold was just right!

One other thing to note in this photo is the color placement.  I did repeat 4 of the fabrics in the overall fabric scheme.  When placing the fabrics in order for sewing, decide what fabrics you want to go across the quilt---like the main red, brown, and dark batik combo here.  Where you place them in the sewing order will determine whether they are in the center or mainly in the corners.  Originally  these 3 fabrics were in the lower left and I wanted them to carry across the center area.  I ended up adding rows to the left hand side to raise their position on the quilt.  This is probably clear as mud.....but it is important in the design. 

 I free motion quilted it with meandering loops in the center and swirls in the wide border---using gold thread.  Sorry, it's the best photo I got.   I didn't have isacord in gold, but I tried Poly X 40.  It worked well with no breaks, so now I have another option for quilting thread.   
  I am  ready for a break.....or a cup of coffee.....or maybe some chocolate reward!

   Happy stitching.