"Firebird" is what I thought when my jaw dropped to the floor in complete awe at the magnitude of your "monster bargello".

Congratulations

Jean

You can quilt it yourself with a wonderful method called fluff & stuff by Paula Reed. You don't roll or clip. I made an oversized king quilt for my daughter, called Shellie's windows. I quilted different leaves and vines all over it. I have my table up against the wall so the quilt wont go over the back, then I put another table along side me so I can have the bulk up and don't have to lift it. I used my BSR which made doing the leaves real easy. The fluff & stuff method is just what it sounds like, fluff it in your lap and stuff it in your sewing machine. It works great. Ricky also does some fast easy quilting with washaway thread to stableize the quilt before doing the real quilting. Sew down the middle both directions then again a few more times each way. This thread washes out but makes sure your quilt stays in place while quilting. Good luck, it is beautiful.

I just looked at the picture. Magnificant!!!! I have a name for you too - Firebird.

Thanx Gloria!

Sherry, your quilt is totally awesome

I posted a pic of my bargello top in my profile. It's on my personal photos cuz it's not quilted yet.

Drum Roll Please.......I finished piecing my top!!! Holy crap! Thought I was going to cry. It's taken me two years and one month. Sewed the last strip last night. Next step--buy the backing fabric. Next decision...to batt or not to batt. It already is quite heavy. I'm thinking of using just another layer of fabric. Any body have any thoughts? The top is well over six feet long and a little over five and a half feet wide. :shock:

I'm going to machine quilt it on a Pfaff 360. I just got it back from the shop and it is in great shape and ready to get to work. If I can catch DS#3 I'll get him to take a pic of the top so I can post it.

I was glad to see you are working on a bargello! I love them. I have two wonderful bargello's that are hand quilted (not by me) The quilting is done diagonally through the center of the pieces. It really adds to the design and movement of the quits. Dont give up! I will post pics if you would like.

'Stitchin',
Your bargello is beautiful...and I wish I knew you when I was starting my bargello. We have a quilt challenge going on at my guild. We are each designing monochromatic quilts from color cards we were given blind. I got 'blue/greens' ...and I would have loved to raid your stash! LOL

No, my quilt isn't particularly big....(big! bargello! 1/4" strips!....just shoot me now.) Before any borders it's about 2 1/2' long and 2' wide. I used the method where one quilts the strips right to the batting and backing...and I found some batting that had a grid printed on it...BIG HELP! Even so, a couple of the 1/4" in strips (of which there were as few as I could get away with) kinda didn't get sewn in all the way and there are a couple of places where the batting peeks thru....which sounds like a call to do some beading embellishment to me because I'm sure as heck not trying to take it apart and fix the boo boos.
Kind regards to all,
Rose

Cathy, you did a great job on your quilt, I like the way to quilted it.

thanks for sharing.

Margarita
stitchnstroke wrote:

Hi Rose! I'm looking forward to seeing your quilt also. Is it big? I learned a lesson about enlarging the pattern! I enlarged it cuz the strips originally finished out at 1/4 inch wide. I didn't think my accuracy skills were up to it so now they finish out at 1/2 inch. I had no idea how it would affect the overall size of the quilt. Gettin' a clue now though! :shock:

stitchnstroke-Hi there! Your bargello is lovely and the quilting looks great. I think I've decided to try quilting mine on my "Heavy Metal Machine"-a 40 yr old Pfaff. I've got it at the shop getting a good cleaning and a tune-up in preperation. I've got about 20 strips left to piece (out of 168) so hopefully it won't be too many more weeks till I'm ready to layer and baste!

I just put a pic in my profile of my bargello that finished on a longarm. I did it freehand. New to a longarm so it's not perfect but I'm happy with it coz it's mine! I get to keep a quilt for a change!

I want to thank everyone who participated here. I too am in the middle of 'wrestling' a bargello quilt and the suggestions have been so helpful. I'm eagerly awaiting a picture of "IP"s fininished quilt, have begging that another quilt be posted, and enjoyed the one that was posted.
It was also nice to go to the profile page and 'meet' you (especially enjoyed putting a face to some of the names).
I'll post mine when it's finally finished as well.
Regards to all,
Rose (13roses)

Another question: I'm about 3/4 done with the bargello top. The back has a go-zillion long raw edges. Because of all the handling and wrestling with it so long the back is full of unraveled threads. Is there an easy way to remove them? Should I even worry about it? BTW, the "background" fabric is black.--Sherry