July was quite a busy month stitching Bargello patterns from three needlepoint designers. Florentine Embroidery by Barbara Muller started the month followed by Bargello Magic by Pauline Fischer and Anabel Lasker. The Bargello Collection Series by Shirley Delph ended the month in style.
Just in case you missed some of the Bargello designs, I’ve displayed them here for your review. Just click on the picture or the day number to get a detailed description.
July Designs
Christine, I’m having loads of stitchin’ fun! Althea
Thanks for the great insight, Sara. Althea
I like the discipline of counting stitches! But the best parts of Bargello are the development of the patterns and the movement of colours plus the extraordinary 3D effects that emerge. These are entirely individual to the needlepointer and no pre-prepared kit can come near the sense of achievement that Bargello provides. Bye for now, Sara
I’m sure it has taken you a lot of time. We all appreciate the effort! But I’m also sure it would have taken you a LOT longer to stitch those squares if you’d been using cross stitch!
Thanks BFromM, I must admit that it does take a lot of time to stitch these Bargello designs. Depending on the pattern, it could be as many as 5 hours of stitching each day; however, on average I’ve spent about 3.5 hours per day thus far in the Bargello Challenge. I’m enjoying every minute of it! Althea
I’m truly amazed by your stamina and perseverance. I’m even more amazed by all your lovely results. I love your month in review pages, too, because it’s so much fun to see all the designs together.
I also agree that Bargello counting is much easier that cross stitch counting, because you are replicating a pattern.
It’s very inspiring and energizing to see all the designs that you are stitching.
I’m looking forward to the next 6 months!
Hello Christine,
I agree with you. In fact, I find that counting Bargello needlepoint designs helps to keep the left side of my brain sharp. Althea
I actually find the counting required by Bargello work to be far less onerous than the counting in many cross stitch patterns. Once the outline is established for the Bargello pattern, it is usually (I know, not always) relatively simple to foll0w from there.
Hello Jane,
Thanks so much for your encouraging words. It’s really been an incredible journey so far. I’ve gotten to know myself better from stitching these samples, and have spent long nostalgic hours with my sisters and family sharing stories about our dad and how proud he was of my needle art accomplishments. I’ve also learned a great deal about Bargello needlepoint and all its intricacies. Thanks again. Althea
With the end of July, you are about half way through your challenge. Congratulations! It is an incredible amount of work and very interesting even to folks like me who don’t really like bargello because the counting is such a chore for me.
Thanks.