A Bargello Experiment

To make a quilted Halloween treat bag for Kat I decided to experiment with an idea I had. I wanted to make a bargello patchwork that looks more intricate than it really is (and also hides my inability to match seams) but I'd never seen anyone try this variation of mine. I didn't know if it would work, either, but I had the fabric, so I thought what the heck. I started with these 5 Halloween fat quarters.

I cut all the fat quarters into 3" X 7" rectangles.

I sewed the rectangles into ten strips, staggering the placements diagonally.

I then sewed the strips together -- at which point you can clearly see how I suck at matching seams.

I took the block of patchwork and sewed the long ends together to make a bargello tube.

I cut the tube into fourteen random-width strips, just avoiding the vertical seams that were there from piecing the original rectangles. I then unpicked a seam on each strip counting up or down one seam from the last strip, which creates the bargello effect.

Here's the end result after I sewed those strips together. Turned out even better than I thought it would.

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Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Love Means This

Invested in a couple of hand-dyed bundles from one of my favorite fabric artists. This one said "Make me into something for Valentine's Day." So I went for a quilted and embellished tote. I kept thinking about what love means to me as I worked on it. Here's the finished tote. Although I was tempted to embellish with beads and pins, I got sick and only felt well enough to do a little stitching every night. As I worked I thought about how often love seems disappointing to us, especially when it fails to live up to our expectations. But now that I've experienced love in many forms, I can say that it's made me a better person than I might have been without it. Love is a precious thing, and should be appreciated in all its forms. I am very grateful for the love of my guy, my child and my friends who have stuck with me all these years. That's you two, in case you're wondering. :) Also finally found something to do with a ve...

Store Closing Haul

The mega Books-A-Million store over in Sanford is closing, and offered an extra 20% off on their current stock -- all sales final -- so I went over to do some shopping. Safely but sadly there was no one in the store but me the entire time I was there. The Holly Jackson novel is for Katherine, the Halloween board book is for Oliver, and the copy of Garden Spells is to keep on hand because I give that book to everyone. The rest of the books are for me. I love Anne Cleeves, and the Galbraith novel sounded interesting (the first couple weren't, but I'm willing to take another chance.) The Escape Room is by a new-to-me author, plus it was cheap. The GreenCraft mag is just a guilty pleasure. Hopefully the smaller BAM nearer to me won't close. I don't buy many books from brick-and-mortar stores these days, but that's really the last one within reasonable driving distance.

Valerean

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