Bargello History - where I began

I thought it would be nice to share with you a little about my Bargello Quilting history since I have been teaching my beginner's bargello class today, not just in person, but also online through Quilt University.

First a little about Bargello History itself. Bargello quilts have their roots in needlepoint. History shows us that bargello needlepoint designs go back as far as the 16th century. This Bargello technique was known as Florentine, Flame or Hungarian stitch.

Knitters first borrowed the design for afghans in the 1960's. You will see a lot of these designs today as it is still popular with knitters.

In more recent years, it has been adapted as a quilting technique and since we are able to use fabrics that have many different textures and prints, rather than solid colored yarns as required for stitching, there are endless possibilities.

My first bargello started as an embroidered work. I stitched this almost 30 years ago and still have it today. This was introduced to me as Florentine stitch. I had not heard of Bargello in quilting at that time, however I was only just beginning to quilt. This small makeup bag, was a part of an embroidery course I took in my teenage years.


In the early 90's, when I first started quilting as a professional, I designed Bargello Blues. I had admired bargello work for quite some time, and then dove right in, two feet first, to create this advanced piece of bargello. It sold sooner after. It wasn't until 2004 that I wrote this particular bargello design up as an online class. The opening debut proved to be a huge hit with over 100 students. This continues to be a popular class today.

Bargello Blues begins again next weekend at Quilt University. Click here to find out more info...

This is not only a favorite class by many, but also one of my best seller patterns. "Freedom Bargello", another bargello design, also proves to be popular.

My beginner's class "Bargello Seasons" is always a huge success as well, along with "Twisted Bargello". Both are classes at Quilt University and later this year, I am planning on writing a Circular Bargello since many of my students are requesting it.

If you have questions about any of my Bargello designs, please leave your comments, I'll be happy to answer them.

I have patterns available for most of my bargello designs at Arbee Designs

Subscribe to this blog

New Patchwork Quilt Pattern

I wanted to share my very latest pattern here. It's a little different to my normal, but after talking with my marketing manager, decided that we were missing some market by not having some patchwork bed quilt patterns available, so I have developed a new series of patterns. Easy, no accurate seams necessary so great for the beginner plus you can make it look scrappy as well by using the jelly roll packs. This is an all pieced patchwork quilt in various sizes, no applique.

I will be working on a series of these patchwork patterns throughout the year so you will want to check back again or sign up for our newsletter.
Subscribe to our newsletter

Here is our scrappy look made from Hoffman Fabric's Bali Pops.



Oh I had better not forget to give you the link so you can go find out more details because we have a pre-publish special available. As soon as patterns are ready, this special price ends.

Here is the link: Twisted Ribbons - new patchwork pattern


Subscribe to this blog

New Online Class

My newest online class is up online now. This one is for the Mariner's Compass for my Zodiac Quilt - "Circle of Life". This class is two lessons long and I have two options, a beginner's block (at the bottom) and the advanced to the right.

I have always liked star shaped blocks and thought this was perfect for my zodiac quilt. Unfortunately when I made this quilt for teaching online at Quilt University, there was already a Mariner's Compass class so I didn't include it for the course, but many have since asked for the pattern and the class. It is great to have it available at last.


Mariner's Compass beginner's block



Have some fun and join the many who have already enrolled.
To find out more...

Subscribe to this blog

Bargello Blues in Brown

Eva sent me a photo of her project made in my Bargello Blues. I love the story she has attached with it so wanted to share it with you all.

Eva writes "On the outside border I've tried to quilt some kind of leaf motif because I think I will call the work "Lost in the wood". The colors remind me of a forest and the dark blue reminds of a small path. For me, in this case, "lost" is a positive word. - I've really loved doing this quilt and being a part of the Bargello Blues class. You are an excellent teacher!
Eva - PS I love the Bargello Season class too."

Thanks for your kind words Eva!

The dark blue Eva refers to is the top color in the color run, it is a little difficult to see in the photo.

To find out more about my Bargello Blues class check out my website here: Bargello Blues Class info...

Subscribe to this blog

Students comments on Fabric printing supplies

Here are some comments made from my students during my Printing on Fabric class about different fabrics and treatments they have tried. It is very difficult to compare as many different printers give different results as does the quality of the photo, however this will give an indication of the preferred treatments.

Click here to open a pdf file...

For full details about Printing on Fabric feel free to take my class at Quilt University or purchase my e-book by clicking on the following link:
Printing on Fabric Book

Happy Quilting!
Ruth

Subscribe to this blog

Still Life in textures

Check out this Still Life quilt I made for a friend for Christmas. I love doing this stuff!

The pears are made up of different shades of green and pinkish fabrics and then stitched all over to blend the fabrics together. I added a reflection as if they are sitting on a glass table top. It turned out better than I thought and am very pleased with the results. Now all I want to do is make still life quilts!

Actually this is the type of work created in my new quilt art class so if you're interested, sign up. It starts January 17th. You can register buy clicking the button on the right or check out the Academy of Quilting. Come join me, its so much fun.

Ruth
Website: Arbee Designs
Quilt School: Academy of Quilting
Subscribe to this blog

Applique and Quilting - my story

As an established quilter and designer, I often like to read about how others get started in the quilting world, where they began and why they are so passionate about quilting. Many times I am asked this same question - “how did I get started in applique and quilting?” – so I decided to write a post on my blog to share that information with my quilt friends around the world.

When did I first start Quilting? It began way back in 1982 when my mother-in-law wanted to learn to applique so she signed us both up for an applique quilt class. As a young dressmaker I had always worked with fabric, but never thought about making a quilt. This turned out to be a lot of fun and as you can see, I’m still doing it after all these years, but things have changed dramatically from that day and age.

When we went to the workshop we were told to think of a Nursery Rhyme, this being the theme of the quilt we would make. I chose “Little Bo Peep”, not sure why, perhaps it was because I was brought up on a sheep farm as a child or maybe I just liked the idea that a fence would look good in the foreground and was easy to make.

We equipped ourselves with cutting tools (scissors, no rotary cutter in quilting days back then) and fabrics, which included stretch knits, tulle, fleecy fabrics, felt and poly-cottons. Now I know you are laughing because we all know you just do not use these types of fabrics in quilting. In fact, as it was known, I didn’t have one piece of cotton fabric with me that day unless it happened to be a scrap from a skirt or dress I’d made previously.

During the workshop, we built up a small quilt, crib size. I had bright green poly-cotton grassy hills with a brown wooden fence in the foreground. On the hill behind the fence were some decent looking sheep made from wooly fleece fabric and dangly felt legs hanging below. I cannot quite remember if Little Bo Peep was present or not. All the applique shapes were zigzag stitched around, a sort of satin stitch but the zigzag wasn’t closed up enough to call it satin stitch, but it did attach the shapes to the background. There was no fusible webbing back then either. We stabilized all the shapes with iron-on interfacing. The pieces moved all over the place as we stitched (especially those stretch fabric shapes) and we worked around lots of pins, and I mean lots. Today, I use very few pins as I work, I could tell you why but I’ll leave that to your imagination.

That’s about all I can remember of my experience in the first applique class except that I truly did love my little quilt and was so proud of my effort. My daughters did too. Not only did they use it on their cribs (thanks to their mother) but played ‘house’ with it for many years later. Unfortunately, we no longer have this quilt. It was lost along the way somewhere in the many house moves we did. Neither do I have a photo, just a memory still stuck in my mind (of what I consider the most ugliest quilt in the world) that I can only share with words and a good laugh at the thought of how different the quilting world is today.

About the Author: Ruth Blanchet. To read more about Ruth’s progress in the quilting world, be sure to visit her website at
http://www.arbeedesigns.co.nz/about.php?sect=1
or join her at the Academy of quilting for some fun experiences in quilting and applique. http://www.academyofquilting.com

Double Sided Place mats

Christmas is right upon us and I know there is always those last minute things that need to be done. I wanted to share with you, one of my last minute creations. I'd invited friends for dinner on Saturday but had no time to replace the old used table mats so set about making some quickly early Saturday afternoon while giving instructions to my son on how to prepare the pork roast dinner as I sewed.

Of course, I don't do anything by half. All that trouble for a few days of Christmas wasn't for me so I made double sided place mats, Christmas on one side and every day use on the other. Now that's the way to go! You can really do anything and use them for various occasions. They are quick and easy. I had them made in no time at all with the exception of running out of binding fabric and needing to purchase more. No hand stitching on these and my binding technique looks great on both side. No doubt I'll put a pattern out soon!


The first photo is the Christmas side, the second is on the reverse side and the last is the four place mats on the table which is about to be set for dinner.

Bargello Quilting

I just had to share with you this award winning quilt made by one of my students in my Bargello Seasons online class. This quilt is the first project of four in the class, each Bargello increasing in difficulty as you work through the course. Jan won first price for her Spring Bargello at the State Fair in Western NC. Attached to the photo were her comments "Thanks again for a great class. Everyone who sees the quilts are blown away by the bargello style." Well done Jan!

This class is now open for registration. It begins 24th January. To find out more, please visit my website: More about Bargello Seasons...

Photo quilt

Not many posts in the past couple of months, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy. In fact, I made this little quilt for a friend for his birthday. Photos include his daughter with their first grandson. It was fun to make so I wanted to share it with you.

But there's more, I enjoyed the process so much that I decided I would write an e-book on photo printing. It is now on the market and it includes the layout for this quilt with full instructions. You can find it here: How to Print Your Own Photos on Fabric

I hope you'll find it useful!