Drafting A Quilt Block

Remember my September 10 post…I made the following statement:  “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.”

There have been a few questions about drafting a pieced block so thought I would take you through the steps I use.  (I do use the Electric Quilt program on my computer too to draft and print but it is always good to know how to do it with pencil, paper and rulers.)  You can use this technique to draft a small block or in the case of my barn quilt one that is very large.  I feel that photos really help tell the story so this post will be photo heavy so be warned.

The first thing you need to do is find a photo or drawing of the quilt block you want to draft.  In this case I just used the printed block I used for one of the barn quilts I made.  Next draw a square the finished size you want your block to be and in this case you can see I drew a 7” block. (I know an odd size for a quilt block but wanted something that would not be simple one to draw the grid for.) The seam allowances are not included at this point but they are added at the very end so the square you draw is what you want FINISHED.Ok, the outside perimeter is drawn out and next thing to do is study the block picture and see what the basic grid of the block is.  This block is a 4 by 4 equal grid so we will first need to draw grid lines with 4 equal spaces both directions.  It might sound hard to divide 7” into 4 equal spaces but there is a trick to make it easy.First take a ruler and put 0 in one corner….so far not too hard.  The next part is to lay a number on the other side as you see in the photo above and you want to put a number that is divisible by the number of sections you want.  I put the number 8 on the line as you can divide 8 by 4 to get 2”.  Make a dot every 2” along that line….enlarge the photo if you can not see this.  Notice how the width of the block is now divided into 4 equal spaces.

The next step is to draw lines perpendicular to the side edges with the dot as the guide where the line is positioned.  Take a larger ruler and place a line on the ruler on the bottom edge of the block keeping it perfectly lined up then nudge the ruler over until the dot is even with the vertical side of the ruler.  Now is the time to draw a straight line from the top to the bottom.  This will perfectly divide off the first section.  The most important part is keeping the bottom line of the ruler and the bottom line of the block perfectly lined up.  If your ruler is not lined up on that bottom line you will get a section that will be narrower at the top or bottom and you do not want that to happen.Continue to do the same thing with all those dots you made and draw the lines…see now you have the first part of the block drafted.Now the lines need to be drawn the other direction to make our 4 x 4 grid.  It is the same process only instead of putting the 8” mark on the side you put it on the top.  Mark the dots every 2” like before.  Here is a close up photo of the ruler perfectly straight on the bottom of the block and the dot on the right edge of the ruler and all ready for the long line to be drawn.Ta Da….the grid is drawn and ready to put in the block lines.Using a ruler draw in the block divisions.  As you can see I have the main star drawn at this point.As you can also see from the printed block there is a small star in the one section and three stripes in the other three center sections.  They are divided the same way as the larger star so follow along with the photos to see how I did it.For this small star I made my divisions every 1/2”.



For the stripes I used 3/4” marks to make the divisions for the 3 stripes in the single section.  Corner of ruler at 0 and side at 2 1/4” and dots every 3/4”.In the area where the stripes go across 2 sections I made my dots every inch.  It doesn’t matter what number you use so long as it is divisible by the number of sections you are trying to create.  Corner of ruler on 0 and side at 3” and dots every 1”.The block is all drafted and ready.  Since this is an odd sized block at 7” it probably can not be quick pieced or strip cut.    If it is a size that you can strip piece make sure you add 1/4” seam allowances on all sides before you cut.  I would probably make templates and piece this 7” block from the template shapes.  Trace the shape you want from the pattern you just made onto template plastic.  Use your ruler and make another line 1/4” all the way around for seam allowances.  That is it….you have now drafted a block from start to finish.  You can draw any block any size from now on and are not limited to a printed pattern or set of directions for a specific sized block.One thing I do want to mention is I used a large sharpie marker to draw the above block so you could see it but if you are doing this for a real block you would want to use a very sharp pencil or mechanical pencil so you have more accurate lines.

Here is a web page from Quilters Cache with the same kind of drafting I do and a trick or two that are different.  If you are interested in easily drafting other types of blocks just do an internet search as there are lots of good tutorials that are easy to follow the directions.

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Happy Drafting,
Lynn

Beautiful Day for a Trail Ride

A week ago the saddle club we belong too hosted a trail ride for the public.  John rides horses but I don’t so I help with the registration and serving lunch.  We had 100 riders and horses register for the approx.. 15 mile ride.  Here are a few of the riders waiting to start the ride.  It was a little chilly in the morning but warmed up nicely by noon as you can see everyone is pretty bundled up for the start of the ride.

The ride starts in the center of a very small town/village.  The riders come from miles away and range in age from young children to the elderly.  The club members lead the group at a walking pace through pastures and along the river until they get to the place where lunch will be served at noon.  After lunch they all head out on another route back to the town where their trailers were parked in the morning.  The ride starts at 9 am and they returned around 4:30 pm. so this is an all day ride.  The photos below show the riders heading out of town at the start of the ride.

The photos below show the riders enjoying the noon time break and some of the horses tied up for their noon break too.

Our daughters and grandchildren came for the day too – just to watch, eat lunch and play.  The kids enjoyed walking along the river where the noon meal was taking place.  The river is just starting to flow again after drying up over the summer but it is not a big river to start with so now with a little water flowing it is probably only 8” deep at the deepest area.Well, a nice day plus water plus kids equals this….. The girls were ready to ride with their jeans and boots so off came the boots and the jeans got rolled up so they could wade in the river.  The boys had their shoes off rather quickly too.  All four of them had so much fun trying to catch minnows and tiny frogs and later climbing the trees near the river.  I think they could have stayed there all day.  It was such a beautiful day too with temperatures in the upper 70s and no wind.  (Nebraska has a lot of days with wind so having a calm day is wonderful!)

They all got a chance to ride the horses after the trail ride when John moved some cows from one pasture to another.  The girls were thrilled to get to ride the two horses the two miles home by themselves.  The younger granddaughter D was so disappointed that she couldn’t go on the trail ride but her parents didn’t think she was ready to ride that far but she has plans to ride next year if she can convince them.The photo above is of the riders leaving the eating area and starting the ride back to the beginning.  Since the river was so low they all made a trip up river then across it before they headed back in the other direction.

Not much quilting going on here right now that I can post about  – too much company, harvest going on…etc.  Am working on a project that as soon as I get going on it I will be posting the progress.

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Until Later,
Lynn

Hanging The Barn Quilt

This is the painted barn quilt that will be hung on the newly re-sided barn.  I love the simplicity of the block and the bold colors.  John first attached two treated 2”x4’ boards to the barn making sure they were level.  We decided place the boards vertically to mount the barn quilt.  This will allow snow and rain to drain behind the barn quilt and also to not make a spot where the sparrows could nest.  They will nest on any horizontal surface it and hopefully they won’t find a way to nest behind or on top.  Between the two of us we lifted and screwed the barn quit to the 2”x4” boards.  If it would have been any heavier or bigger I sure would not have been much help.  As it was this 4’ square board was heavy enough.  We used white headed screws and only screwed through the white painted areas so they would not show.
Lucky and Sally, two of our horses, have been watching the whole barn refurbishing and barn quilt hanging.  Wonder if they approve?

 

We love the way the barn looks now and already the locals have noticed as the end with the barn quilt faces the highway.  Most people don’t realize we recovered the barn with new white tin siding as they just notice the barn quilt but it is just part of the whole spiffed up appearance so that is OK.

 This post is from the blog, Nebraska Views. If you are not currently reading this via e-mail or an RSS feed, then this post has been stolen or scraped from the Nebraska Views blog.  Stolen content can be reported HERE .”

Until Later,
Lynn

A Barn Quilt

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.

 This post is from the blog, Nebraska Views. If you are not currently reading this via e-mail or an RSS feed, then this post has been stolen or scraped from the Nebraska Views blog.  Stolen content can be reported HERE .”

Lynn

Off With The Old Siding…On With The New

Sides and roof are on as well as the new doors….looks like a brand new building.  Wonder if this siding will last 45 years like the old siding did?

Hmmm….there is something missing from the new barn look.  Can you guess what it is?
Lynn

New Look For The Barn

The barn on our place looked like this until last week.  The old corrugated metal siding was put on the barn when it was built in 1967 so lasted a long time before it needed to be replaced.  I had to look back in my older photos to find some of the barn so these photos were taken in 2004 and 2006.  Don’t know why I didn’t think of taking photos before the siding crew started ripping the old stuff off.


Taking the old siding off has presented a problem for the crew.  Why you ask?  Well take a look at the following photo where the old tin corrugated siding has been pulled off.  Notice all those nails….lots and lots of nails!  My father in law always had the theory that if a little of anything was good a lot was better and that followed through with the nailing up of the siding in 1967.  The nails are about 6” apart and the rows are 8”-10” apart.The number of nails is not the only problem….no, the type of nail is a problem too.  The nails that were used are kind of screw like and don’t pull out of the wood easily.  Sometimes the head comes off when the crew were trying to pull them, then decided it would be easier to pound them into the wood instead.  Still a lot of work but at least they are getting a flat surface prepped for the new siding. A lot of work but the barn is getting a facelift that will make it look like new and won’t have leaks from the roof, etc.  I wonder if the horses and cows will notice?  The horses have been leaning across the fence watching the action so probably know they are getting a remodeled home already and are anxious to take up residence.

Lynn