Completed December 2002
51" x 43"
The “BarJOlo” Story

Both Mom and I have been fascinated by Bargello quilts since we first saw them. So when I began quilting it was appropriate that one of the first gifts Mom gave me was a book entitled Bargello Quilts by Marge Edie. Upon receiving this book, I decided Mom had to be the recipient of my first real Bargello quilt. I ordered Electric Quilt 5, especially because of its new feature allowing users to design Bargello quilts. When I had shown Mom some pictures of Bargellos, she commented on the ones that had a swag effect, so I decided to design hers to model them.

In the times we were out shopping for fabric together, Mom was always drawn to fabrics that combined blues and yellows, but she had not purchased or used any yet. Since she had just redecorated the guest bedroom using a yellow and blue flowery bedspread, I decided I should use those colors in a Bargello wallhanging for her to display above the bed.

I purchased most of the fabric at Angie’s Nine Patch in Effingham, with the help of Valerie James and the store clerk. (I had a hard time making decisions without Mom’s opinion, but I wanted it to be a complete surprise!) Later I went to Hobby Lobby and found two additional fabrics to include. I eventually decided to remove two fabrics I had originally purchased from the color run, saving one for the binding. I was excited that every fabric (except the binding) was a flower print!
Thanksgiving weekend 2002 I began making the Bargello Quilt. I used the quilt-as-you-go method described in Marge Edie’s book, so the first thing I had to get ready was the batting and backing. Edie suggests drawing vertical lines on the batting to use as a guide as vertical strips are sewn. I didn’t trust myself to draw parallel lines, so instead I purchased a 1-inch grid interfacing used for watercolor quilts. I also purchased fusible batting to avoid having to pin it all together. So after school on Wednesday I used the large table in my classroom to iron together the backing, batting, and grid interfacing.

The first thing I had to do Thanksgiving morning was cut the fabric into strips. Next I had to decide the order of the fabrics in the color run. There were many suggestions in the book, and I tried all of them. The final choice was suggested by Carlin. (Ironically, it created a watercolor quilt effect going from yellow to blue; watercolor quilts is another type of quilting that fascinates both Mom and me.)
Carlin also assisted me by scanning all of the fabrics I had purchased. As he edited the scans and saved them, he named them barJOlo1, barJOlo2, etc.– he replace a syllable of “Bargello” with “Jo” so I would remember these fabrics were for Mom’s Bargello quilt. I thought it was clever, and decided to use it as the name of the quilt! I used these scans in EQ5 to get a good feel for what the quilt would look like:

I sewed the strips together to form color run tubes, and then cut the Bargello strips from that.

Friday morning I began sewing the Bargello strips onto the foundation I had ironed together. Pinning each successive strip on was laborious (it is difficult to use straight pins in the middle of a large project). I worked diligently and sewed every strip on before the end of the day. Two weeks later I returned to the quilt after deciding how to finish it off; EQ5 was helpful in this process! I chose a 1-inch border of the blue fabric to set a definite boundary to the center. Then I used a 2-inch border of the fabric that matches the bedspread perfectly. I used a dark blue for the binding.

I am thrilled with how it turned out. Carlin asked me if I was going to be able to give it away. I think Mom is the only person I can give it to without a twinge of regret!