This bargello quilt was made for two reasons. The first reason was that the York Heritage Quilters' Guild was having a quilt show. This was in 2006. I had no new quilts on the go and needed inspiration. That was the year that my daughter Maili's boyfriend, Casey, decided that he would enter the AIDS Lifecycle 5 which is a 7-day bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The bike tour includes up to 2,500 bicyclist and more than 500 support crew participants who cycle or crew to raise funds for services and awareness of HIV/AIDS. I have no idea how I came up with the idea of a bargello quilt but here it is. The colours, of course, represent the water (blue), sand (gold), road (white and grey), and of course the trees (brown and green).
I actually made the quilt sideways. After sewing all the pieces together, I turned the whole quilt on it's side so that it was in the position you see here. I stencilled the bike riders on it. It was finished and quilted in time for the show. There was no set plan for the quilting and so I just went with the flow and put in what I thought it needed in each of the colours.
Casey received the quilt just after Christmas that year when Maili brought it to him after her visit home for the holidays. I do believe the label reads "From San Fran to LA."
Note: the AIDS Lifecycle bike tour is an annual event that takes place in late May or early June and earlier this year Casey did it again. This time Maili took part as one of the roadies.
For more info: http://www.aidslifecycle.org/
