Friday, April 4, 2025

Beautiful Bargellos

Here are some beautiful Bargello quilts to brighten your day and spark your imagination. The bargello technique can be used to showcase prints, solids, or ombre fabrics, or simply to use up a stash.We hope you enjoy our photos!  (Also, scroll down for the link to dozens of free bargello patterns.)

p.s. Check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on jewelry, patterns, and collectibles ! For continuous free quilt patterns, please follow us on Twitter !    

Night Sky, made by Kris Neifeld & Susie Weaver, quilted by Kris Neifeld


This gorgeous quilt is based on the two-fabric bargello pattern by Susie Weaver. Kris Neifeld says this quilt, made with a dotted ombre fabric, "ended up working out better than I'd hoped." We love it... The dots create the appearance of stars!

Opposing Views, made and quilted by Amy Fitzgerald 

Amy Fitzgerald says, "My husband picked this pattern and helped choose the fabrics. I had never done a Bargello quilt-as-you-go pattern before, and it was very challenging to keep the columns straight and points lined up.  I turned the quilt upside down from the pattern picture."  Opposing Views was based on the published design called Free Fall by Ann Lauer of Grizzly Gulch Gallery


A Little Bit of This and That, made and quilted by Joyce Harrison


This lovely wall quilt or table runner uses original 1" squares in a 7x21 grid pattern.  Joyce Harrison says that she mused, "What to do with 1" squares? Lots of ideas. This is a small attempt to use up my stash. [My] summer time plan seemed to turn out well... I'm happy with it. Thank you to my seam ripper too." We love Joyce's original quilting, shown in the closeup photo below.

Double Rainbow by Susie Weaver, quilted by Kris Neifeld.  


Susie Weaver's original pattern, Pattern Two Fab 2.0, was the basis for this stunning quilt with its gently curving waves of color.  Susie says, "Using strip sets from this bargello project as class demos was taking way too long... I finally decided it was time to get 'er done and I'm glad I did."


Note: For more bargello quilt inspiration, please check out our Free Pattern Day for Bargello Quilts (CLICK HERE!)

 

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 Quilt Arizona show (Opposing Views); the 2025 Tucson Quilters Guild Show (Double Rainbow and Night Sky); and the Tucson Quilters Guild 2024 show (A Little Bit of This and That.)

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

The CIRCLES quilt challenge (2)

We love quilt challenges!  One of the best we've seen recently was the CIRCLES challenge, which has been traveling the country. Put on by the National Association of Certified Quilt Judges (NACQJ), the challenge was to create an original piece (up to 20") using the provided yellow and blue fabric cut into circles. There were so many creative entries. Which are your favorites?

p.s. Check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on jewelry, patterns, and collectible items! For more quilt inspration, please visit us on Twitter

Circular Fusion by Maribeth Schmit (Cedarburg, WI)


Circular Fusion is a fun exploration of traditional and modern quilt design and techniques.  The blue and yellow circles (the theme of the challenge) are used as punctuation, the focus being on the asymmetrial circular design.  The straight-line quilting adds order to the design.

 Double Complements by Andi Perejda (Arroyo Grande, CA)


Complementary colors add interest to artwork, as do fascinating fabrics! Andi Perejda says,  "I decided to add complementary colors to our blue and yellow colors, using fabrics I had printed and/or dyed.  So, violet and orange were used in conjunction with blue and yellow.  Thus, a double-complementary color scheme was born!"

Inspired by Joan Miro by Linda Rasmussen (Monrovia, CA)


Joan Miro was a famous 20th century artist who combined abstract art with Surrealist fantasy.  Linda Rasmussen says, "When I saw the colors that were to be included in this piece and the challenge of a cricle theme, I searched the internet for art that featured circles and bright colors.  Who popped up but Joan Miro?  One of his pieces inspired me to make this quilt.  I loved the color and the abstract nature of his piece... this is my interpretation.)

Circling the Sun by Cindy Seitz-Krug (Luna, NM)

 

Circling the Sun shows the planets in their orbits, with fabric chosen to represent their appearances.  A corner of the sun was placed in the upper left, and thread painting was used to denote heat and flares emanating from the sun.  The names of the planets were quilted next to their image as shown below.


 Dot-Dot-Dot by Phyllis Manley (Plymouth Meeting, PA)


A really interesting clamshell design, where colorful circles punctuate the curves of the black-and-white clamshells. Phyllis Manley says, "Working with circles is not always a challenge. I enjoyed using the "fused interfacing method" to make clamshells, then applique onto the background.  I did not want the quilting to interfere with the design, so outlining the circles was an easy choice."

 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 Quilt Arizona show.

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