Bargello Center Complete

about 36" square, sans border

If I glance back at my goals list for the quarter, item ONE was to finish piecing the scrappy bargello wallhanging.  I'm going to call that goal done, even though the flimsy doesn't yet have a border.

Project reminder: pattern is "Ocean Waves" from the book Twist-and-Turn Bargello Quilts, by Eileen Wright.


I worked on this project like a woman possessed.  I had dreams about how best to manage the tail amounts of fabric scrap I was using up.  My brain put its background processes on a loop of "what's the next step? when can I duck out to the sewing cave and get just a tiny bit more done? how long will that next spot take me? should I go on, or just stop after that row there?"

Yep, that was definitely my ADD brain at work there.  

Pretty proud of my use of scraps, although I really don't seem to have made that much of a dent in my blue scrap bin.  My favorite scrap used?

Lighthouse scrap: all gone!

This lighthouse print.  I only had one strip of it, 22" long and just the right width of 1-1/2".  And it ended up looking so nice next to the wave print!

My obsession with using such small scraps meant that I had to change fabrics mid-stream quite a bit.  There was much fussing and futzing, and some light cursing involved.  But I think I actually relish such stuff; it's the proper balance of minute detail and creative problem-solving, with the added benefit of allowing me to be over-the-top thrifty.

Here's how the change-of-fabric shows up in the finished project: as a fresh pattern in the transition between stair-steps.

 My next bit of scrap-using wizardry is to somehow make a border out of fabric that I don't actually have enough of, but really really want to use.  Umm, yeah.  Stay tuned on that front...

It's WIP Wednesday, so I'm linking up with the fabulous Lee and folk at Freshly Pieced.  So much inspiration!  (That could easily have been where I first got the crazed idea to start this scrappy bargello in the first place--I know it was somebody's blog post that lured me down the rabbit hole.)