Bargello Heart Quilt

This quilt was a present for my oldest son Walt and his then girlfriend Cindy. I told them it was a premarital quilt, as it was a wedding quilt in anticipation of the event. Cindy is on the left, I'm in the center, and of course that is Walt on the right.

I used several new techniques on this quilt. First of all, it was my first bargello quilt. I must say that the construction was a bit daunting! However, I am VERY pleased with the final product.

This was also the first time that I followed the design itself for the quilting process.... and EACH round of the heart was quilted. This resulted in a shrinkage of about 4" in the width of the quilt, so the borders had to be larger than originally planned.

This is the back side of the same quilt. For the past few years, I have been unable to resist using prints on the back side of all my quilts, and especially enjoy either co-ordinating them with the front side, or creating a "surprise".

Walt and Cindy are very fond of Egyptian themes, and were planning on having a honeymoon in Hawaii... so I combined Egyptian and Hawaiian prints on the back side. If someone didn't know why I used that combo, they would probably wonder about my taste in fabrics. But then again, maybe they will anyway!

Cindy is on the left, and that is me on the right... with VERY short hair. My sister Peg had been going through chemo and when she started losing her hair she decided to just shave her head. Though I didn't shave mine down to the skin, I did use the clippers and cut it down to about 1/4 inch. It was a "sympathy" haircut, so she wouldn't feel so self conscious. It was kind of nice really! VERY easy. Nice and cool.

Voila! Walt, his son Jacob, and Cindy ... cuddled under their new bargello heart quilt. Walter is an actor and a playwright. Cindy is an actress, seamstress, and costume designer. Jacob is up and coming!

My granddaughter Alyssa Marie was an infant at the time this quilt was presented to Walt and Cindy. Here she is wearing her shamrock outfit, made especially for St. Patrick's Day by yours truly, of course! She is about 3 months old.

We just couldn't resist taking a pic of her lying on Uncle Walt and Aunt Cindy's new quilt when we realized the center of the heart looked like wings!

Now here is . . . the rest of the story:

Walt called me from Hawaii, while on his honeymoon. He was quite distressed. They had been scuba diving that afternoon.

While in the ocean, he had felt something bump against his leg and panicked - thinking it was a shark. He looked down to see his billfold floating to the bottom of the ocean floor. He had been so excited about going scuba diving that he had forgotten to take it out of his swimsuit. Every time I think about this incident the picture it conjures up in my mind makes me chuckle.

Fortunately, the authorities allowed Walt to get on the plane to come home, even though he didn't have his driver's license. I think he and Cindy just went to the police station and made a statement that the billfold had been lost. Needless to say, this was prior to 9/11.

About 2 months later, Walt got a package in the mail from Hawaii. His billfold was inside, complete with all the cash that had been in it and his credit cards. There had been some wedding checks as well; but they were of course no good. He was amazed that the money was undamaged. and of course pleased that someone had found and returned it.