Waves of Gratitude

I am so happy that it is finally time for another Blogger's Quilt Festival!  Hooray!

I think I may have mentioned a couple weeks ago that I am obsessed with bargello quilts.  I made my first early this year.  This is my second and I just love the combination of the smaller pieces and the wave effect of the fabrics as they move through the quilt.  It will not be my last either.

I picked out the majority of the fabrics in one trip to the fabric store.  It makes for a long trip, but for me it is really important to have all the fabrics together as you pick them out so you can more easily eliminate ones that don't belong and make sure one will flow well with the next.

As usual, I did not use a pattern. Basically, bargellos are made by sewing strips of one width together in some order and then cutting the sewn together strips again in the other direction at varying widths. I cut the first set of strips at 2 inches (so the finished width would be 1.5") and then cut those pieces again anywhere from 1" to 4". When you piece the strips together, you just stagger them by one block. For this particular one, I added one more step by having the image turn back out on itself from the center. They're not nearly as complicated as they look - one day I'll write a pattern or tutorial for it, but probably not for a little while.

It took me quite a while to decide on how I would quilt it.  I wanted the quilting to have curves to soften the geometry of the piecing and I also knew I wanted the quilting to follow along the waves.  In the end I decided on feathers.

I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull it off, not having a long arm, but I'm happy with it.  Which is good, because I almost ripped it all out on several occassions.

The quilt measures roughly 67" square and I backed it with flannel to make it extra snuggly. 

I named this quilt "Waves of Gratitude," because I actually made it for Quilts of Valor.  Their mission is "to cover all service members and veterans touched by war with wartime quilts called Quilts of Valor.  This foundation is not about politics.  It's about people."

Throughout the quilting process, even as I was first choosing fabrics, I was thinking about the person that would eventually get to take this quilt home.  I can hardly imagine what they may have seen or done in service of their country, but I thank them for it.  And I probably won't ever meet him or her, but hopefully they will know that they are appreciated.

Now that the quilt is finished and I've taken what feels like 4,000 pictures of it, I'll be taking it to my friend, Rita, who runs our local Quilts of Valor group called LOLQOV. 

I'll also be parading this quilt all through blogland via some of my favorite link parties, including Met Monday!  Check out my link parties page - they're all awesome! 

And I can't wait to check out all of your entries in the Blogger's Quilt Festival!