getting started

My friend Gracie has asked me to make three doll quilts for her granddaughters and I am especially pleased that they will go with the handcrafted doll beds made by Dennis, the proud grandpapa, for three American Girl dolls?  (hint: I'd love my own American Girl doll one day ....).  

Gracie and I selected fabrics for the quilts (she had told me to use any color scheme! yikes! far too many choices, so I made her narrow the field).  We combined our shopping trip in early December with an afternoon watching her granddaughters dancing in the Nutcracker Ballet - a marvelous performance!

 

Even with the fabrics to play with, I remained stumped for several weeks deciding on a design for the long narrow quilts.  I pieced one in diagonal rows, similar to the first step of the scrappy trip around the world method taught by Bonnie Hunter on Quiltville (be sure to look at her website: http://quiltville.blogspot.com/). Here is the first quilt top.

Even before I finished piecing this top, I realized I wanted to try a bargello pattern! Bargello directions are similar: piece strips together, stitch into a tube, then slice and restitch.  This was a spur of the moment decision made after the tube was stitched (which I like to call a tube-strata).  Here is my quasi-bargello quilt top:

Both quilts are long and skinny to match the dimensions given by Gracie, and neither really look or feel very bargello-y.  Stay tuned, I plan to try making a 'real' bargello quilt soon -- and I will take time to plan the fabric layout more carefully!