Waves of Blue

 

As a general rule, I prefer to only purchase fabric with a purpose in mind. I then keep it, with all associated fabrics and the pattern in an extra large zip lock freezer bag, so that it's all together when I want to make the project. I'm not saying that I don't buy random fabrics - I probably do it more often than I should - but buying random fabrics puts me in the position where, when I finally come to use that fabric, I might not have enough for the pattern I chose. And since it may be several years - or more - since I purchased that fabric, there's little, if any, chance of getting more of the same fabric. I'm not saying that I haven't made some amazing quilts with random fabrics. It's just that I prefer to know what I'm going to use it for and how much I need before buying it. 
Nevertheless, having a stash of random fabrics does occasionally come in handy. I needed a blue quilt and I needed it quickly. I had no blue quilts finished or blue UFOs. But I did have this jelly roll in my stash. 

Determining what to do with it, I decided to do a bargello. Reviewing Jenny Doan's tutorial, I knew that wasn't going to work for what I wanted. I then went to my Eileen Wright book, Twist and Turn Bargello Quilts, and there was nothing in there that would work either. But I at least had a little bit of guidance to do it on my own. Doing some calculations, I determined that I needed a little more fabric to make the size I wanted, and found this blue flowered print in my stash. Cutting it into strips, I then started sewing strips together. 

I kept the order that the fabric strips came in, just adding the print in between. When it came time to decide how the design was going to go, I didn't want something perfectly symmetrical and basically just winged it as I went along. 

the first half of the quilt top

If I ever chose to do this again - without a pattern, that is - I'd like to do the PQRST wave of a normal sinus rhythm. I suppose that one should probably be in red...

While I did eventually have to go to the quilt shop to buy the fabric for the border and backing, I was able to get the majority of the quilt top done before that using the fabrics from my stash. 
I then had to choose a quilting design. I wanted one that showed flow and motion and portrayed water without being overly watery (if that makes sense). I had just recently purchased Waterworld by ClothWerx from Willow Leaf Studio and decided on that. 

I was very happy with the results. And I think the quilt is amazing. As something I designed myself and basically just threw it together on the fly, I'm pretty impressed with how it turned out. It helped to have a really amazing jelly roll that worked very well in the bargello technique. 

I've only ever done one other bargello, Chelsea Rose Bargello. It too used a jelly roll and I followed Jenny Doan's pattern. While I think that quilt is very pretty, it was made using distinct prints, rather than tonal fabrics. so I don't really find it as striking as this one. The prints interrupt the flow. 

As anyone who has been following my blog knows, I'm not that thrilled with fabric pre-cuts. I use them and still have quite a number in my stash, but, for the most part, I don't find them as functional as I would wish. Too often, there's a lot of fabric left over or wasted. This quilt, however, was the exception. I used the full width and length of each strip. There was not a single strip left over, and the only thing I cut off was the selvages. Win-win!