Rainbow Bargello

A bargello quilt has been on my bucket list for awhile.  In March 2016, Patty over at Elm Street Quilts started a Bargello Quilt-along (QAL).  There were two sizes to choose from:  large (aka Queen B) finishing 36" square, and mini (aka Baby B) finishing 16" square.  I couldn't decide which one to make, so I made both.  There were prizes, which was the perfect motivator for me.

I stitched up the tops for both before the QAL ended in April 2016.  I had the Baby B completely done in April.

Baby Bargello

16" x 16"

It took me a lot longer to get the larger one quilted, but I finished it in February 2017.  I tried several quilting patterns but didn't get the look I wanted (so there was a lot of  'unsewing' involved).  I finally got it quilted, bound and hanging sleeve attached.  I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out!

Rainbow Bargello

36" x 36"

Here's a close up of the quilting:

Turns out I didn't win anything in the Elm Street Quilts QAL, but I did get two great quilts out of the experience!  And I found that bargello quilts are not really as hard as I had thought.

This is the first UFO I've finished this year.  Judy at Patchwork Times has a UFO challenge on her blog:  make a list of 12 UFOs (unfinished quilts), and each month she picks a number, and we work on that number each month.  This quilt technically was not either number she's chosen this year, but since I had this one and another larger quilt pin-basted, I needed to get one of these two done to free up pins for other projects.  And I figure as long as I'm working on SOMETHING, that's a good thing!  After all, I hear it takes a long time to finish a quilt you're not working on.

Now it's time to get the pins out of the other quilt.  For the record, I did start quilting that one in January.  So this is where I will be today: