My Egg-cellent Idea

You know the BARGELLO EGG I showed you a while ago? Well, today I thought I'd share with you how that design came about. I don't know if you're like me, but I'm always fascinated with HOW designs come into being. The creation of a new project always seems like such a delightful mystery, even when the step-by-step path of illumination seems obvious at times.

Anyway, a few years ago I decided to design my first bargello piece, which I called BARGELLO & ROSES:


I envisioned this design being made into a long, rectangular pillow that would show off the bullion-knot roses that run along the center of the piece. See?


I also thought that only a PART of the design could be stitched (there are notations on the pattern's main graph to that effect, if you want to try it yourself), and then inserted in a long pillow with two panels of tapestry fabric placed on either side. My Mom agreed to stitch up the bargello part of the model (while I did the bullion roses), and I thought it would be fun to see it done in yellows, like this:


(Have I sewn any of these projects into pillows yet? No. Maybe someday...)But I did hang the yellow BARGELLO & ROSES in my office and stare at it off and on for months.

Then one day, when I way looking at it from across the room, it struck me that it looked sorta like an Easter egg. Wow. Inspiration Struck. How fun would it be to make a bargello Easter egg and fill the center openings with favorite Easter treats like a bunny and flowers?

Well, I couldn't rest until I had the perfect egg shape (which, by the way, is devilishly hard to draw symmetrically by hand, but much easier to do using a computer!) and then I started filling it in with a softly rounded bargello pattern. And TA DA -- my springy BARGELLO EGG was born!