John and I decided that if the barn had a new look with the new siding it needed a barn quilt to decorate it too. We are also going to re-side the Quonset too but it will be after harvest when it gets done. It will have a barn quilt mounted on the highway side also.
Since our barn is not real large we decided that a 4’ square barn quilt would be the right size and also a 4’ square for the Quonset too. I purchased one sheet of 3/4” exterior plywood and had it cut in half to make the two 4” squares. I painted all sides with white exterior primer paint then a coat of white exterior paint.
I looked on the internet at other barn quilts and through my quilt books and decided on two blocks to use for the barn quilts. I chose blocks that could be easily drafted on the 4’ boards. It is no different drawing them on this large scale as it is to draw small blocks to piece of fabric.
I decided I wanted a border to surround each of my blocks to separate it from the white barn. The boards were not exactly 4’ square so figured out what number would be easily divisible for the quilt blocks and the left over measurement was divided in half to make the size of the border. Each barn quilt has a slightly different border size because each has a different basic grid. Because of the block design I chose to use red, white and blue paint with gold as an accent for each of the blocks.
I first taped off the area that would be the gold star on each block then painted it. It took two coats of paint to cover and since exterior plywood is a little rough there was some paint leakage under the tape. I decided to wait until I was done to touch up the bleeds.
The areas for the blue paint was taped off next and painted and again I painted the blue with two coats. I used a small roller to apply the paint and that worked really well. Between coats I put the roller in a plastic bag to keep it from drying out.
The red paint was a problem as the first paint I brought home looked more peach than red, returned it to the lumber yard where I bought it and they worked to make it redder. The problem I found out later is that to make a good red you need a red base paint and the local lumber yard didn’t have red base. The second color was more dark orange…definitely not good for patriotic blocks. I did get some red at Wal-Mart a few days later that is the true red I wanted. This red paint was not as thick as the other paint and it took 3 coats to make it solid and not blotchy but it is the true red color I wanted.
I also painted the edges of the barn quilts the color of the border so that the color wraps around the side too.
When I was finished painting all the sections I used a small flat artist brush to sharpen up the edges of the color blocks. I know the bleeding wouldn’t show when they were up on the barn but being a perfectionist I couldn’t leave them like this.
All finished and ready to be hung now. The one with the pseudo flag will be hung now on the barn and the other will hang on point on the Quonset.
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Lynn
I took these two photos in late August of the barn with the barn quilt on it and the other one is of the fall blooming Clematis that happened to have a wasp on one of the blossoms. Those clouds in the east reflecting the setting sun were just beautiful.
