Wednesday, February 17, 2010

What if I decided...

NOT to put a binding on the bargello?


It shrank from very horizontal to very vertical after I sewed all the strips. It is just about all solid seams. That'll influence the MQing. :( But as I was rounding up my sheep for fence jumping last night I wondered if I could just use the 'envelope' style of finish. Then I'd not have to worry about light on top, dark on bottom and all the colour nuances up the sides. ??? I'm trying to think out of the box!
But I am also in need of a boxful of ideas.
I see my house as a sampler quilt with each room a different block and the hallways the sashing. The winter quilt(decor) has cranberry as the unifying colour and the blocks (rooms) will be all composed of squares and rectangles. I have the room fabrics pretty much picked and sometimes the cranberry is the smallest accent. But I need some more ideas for blocks. I have rail fence and log cabin completed. Not all will be big quilts. I'm all for place mats and table toppers as well.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh, Ellen, this quilt takes my breath away. However you finish it, if you don't enter it into a show, yer crazy! :D

Kris said...

I love how this is coming together and think it would look great without binding. I saw a good tutorial for how to do that recently, but can't remember where now...

Cheryl Arkison said...

Hmm, good point, binding would totally change the look. You could also fussy cut the binding, changing the colours as you go down the quilt. But that would be a lot of work!

felicity said...

What about fussy-cutting but just two colours - a green and a yellow that more or less blends with the others? OR you could choose the blue. It would really stand out and highlight the blue in the quilt, but it might be a nice frame?

(Beautiful quilt, by the by.)

As for block suggestions - one of my favourite blocks is Churn Dash/Hole in the Barn Door. It is simple but effective.

Andrea said...

What about this art quilt binding from simplyrobin ? http://simplyrobin.blogspot.com/2009/03/binding-technique.html

bettinag1 said...

great inspiring piece of workmanship....i think it doesnt need a binding at the very least a thin strip of butter yellow in my humble opinion but then im not that good with color choices

Katie B said...

I think it would be lovely with no binding. It's so perfect the way it is!

Gina said...

This is beautiful! I think I'd like the no-binding look too.