Bargello Class Project Completed - Well Mostly

It's Wednesday, and that means we still have half of the week left (trying to optimistic here).  This morning I finished the final lesson of my quilt class, Bargello Seasons, from quiltuniversity.com.  The instructor gave us four different bargello designs done in colors of the four seasons; spring, summer, autumn, and winter. They all measure approximately 26" X 22", but no two are exactly the same. My next challenge is to combine all four into a larger quilt.  I have a few ideas but will start playing with the layout later today.  Here is a picture of the winter bargello that I finished this morning:

The first class was the spring bargello. I selected greens into yellows. This is the one time of the year we actually get to see a lot of green here. Usually everything is browns and tans (that's what happens when your days are in the 95 to 105 degree temps).  It involved offsetting each row by half the width of the square, not too challenging other than making sure you sewed each row in opposite directions so that the whole thing didn't end up leaning in one direction.

Spring Bargello

The second class was the summer bargello. Nothing but sunshine here. Sometimes so bright it's almost blinding, especially if you spend most of your days inside in the comfort of the good old AC.  The main challenge here was making sure your seams would join easily by the direction you press them down.

Summer Bargello

The third class was autumn, all browns and tans.  This sampler involved the use of fractures.  That is the lighter, thinner band of fabric placed between each row of bargello. An interesting effect but my least favorite.

Autumn Bargello

(the stripes really aren't that curvy, it's not laying flat in this picture)

The final class, and the sampler I finished this morning, was the winter bargello.  I selected blues to almost white to represent cold.  This one would have been a lot simpler if I had read through the entire directions before beginning.  But, I didn't, so it was a challenge to combine the bottom half to the top half with uneven rows. But I persevered and am happy with the results.

Winter Bargello

I think the most difficult part of this class was selecting the colors for the different samplers.  I learned a lot about 'color value'.  One way to check the value is to scan the fabrics and print them out in gray scale.  This allows you to see which fabric is actually darker than another, thus the "value".

Now I'm ready to start my next class "Make Your Own Pineapple Quilt" being taught by Nancy Chong.  This has some design aspects and is mostly hand sewn and quilted.  Lucky for me, the classes only happen every two weeks giving me two weeks to complete each lesson.  There are five lessons for this class and I will take pictures of my progress at different times during the course.

I discovered that one of my favorite cooking blogs is hosting a giveaway!  Stop by http://mrsbettierocker.blogspot.com/ She is giving away a $40 CSN Stores gift card!  This place has it all: furniture, cooking tools, clothes, fun stuff for the house.

And talk about giveaways - check this one too - http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/.  They are having a great giveaway of a fat quarter bundle ($35 value).  And, while you are there, check out all of the links that she provides for more giveaways.

One more giveaway to check out is at  http://vandcogiveaways.blogspot.com/ They are giving away Silhouette SD!  The Giveaway includes:


A Silhouette Machine
(a $299.99 value)

And it includes...
* Silhouette machine

* Software for Windows XP/Vista

* Power cable, USB cable

* 2 Cutting mats (one for thick media, one for thin media)

* One cutting blade

* $10 gift card to the Silhouette Online Store

It's amazing what all you can do with the machine!

And one more great giveaway at http://jonquilsladybugs.blogspot.com/. She is giving away a large ziplock bag of fabric from her stash.  Just tell her your favorite color combination in her comments to enter her giveaway.

Well, I've shown you what I've been doing and given you some blogs/giveaways to check out.  Share my blog with your friends please.  I will be hosting my own giveaway some time in the near future.  Stay cool and have a great day!!!