Delivery date 'Derailed'!!

Up until this point in time, all of my barn quilts have been delivered to their new owner's without a hitch.  No matter where the barn quilts
were shipped to, they were always delivered on the day that UPS said that they would be delivered.

Photo courtesy of Jeanne Crowell

This Oregon Star barn quilt started out just like all of my barn quilts in the past.  I brought it to my UPS store on Monday, July 16th for shipment.  I was told that it would be delivered on Monday, the 23rd.  As I've done with all of my other shipments, I emailed the new owner and give her the date of arrival and I would provide her with the tracking number.   On Tuesday, the 17th, I checked the tracking and saw that the barn quilt departed Secaucus, NJ.  I checked again on the 18th and 19th, and saw no new info as to it's location.  The tracking site still stated that it had departed Secaucus on the 17th.  I began to wonder how the barn quilt was being shipped!!
I checked the tracking site on the 21st and was shocked to see the following entry: 
Wolf Point, MT  7/20/2012, 8:00am  Train Derailment...............WHAT???????????

I 'googled' Wolf Point, MT train derailment and came up with a newspaper article stating that a BNSF train had collided with a tracker trailer, attempting to cross the tracks, resulting in 20 freight cars derailing!!!!  The article also stated that merchandise, such as, hand bags and cosmetic's were broken open and scattered all over.  Yeah, hand bags, cosmetic's and 1 BARN QUILT!!!!

There were no further updates on the status of the barn quilt.  I emailed the new owner and told her that there was standard insurance on the item and, if need be, I would make her another one.  I then checked UPS Tracking again and say that the barn quilt was rescued from the derailment and it was on it's way to Spokane, WA, with an delivery date to Cove, OR of July 24th.  Hallelujah!!!

As you can see from the photo, the Oregon Star made it without the slightest bit of damage and is now hanging proudly on Jeanne's garage!!!  I must say, this barn quilt looks fantastic!!!!
 

My first barn quilt in Minnesota!!

As I've said in the past, my greatest joy making barn quilts, is when I receive photo's from the new owner's.  Sally Richter, shown with her husband, are standing next to the Mariner's Compass, that arrived at their home today.

This is my first barn quilt to be hung in Minnesota!!!

Photo courtesy of Sally Richter

Oregon Star

I have been quite busy over the last several weeks, working on three barn quilts at the same time!  The first was the Carpenter's Wheel (see it, 2 blogs ago) that was sent to Indiana, the second was the Mariner's Compass (my last blog) that was sent out to Minnesota and now an Oregon Star, being sent to, coincidently, to a lady in Oregon!!  How appropriate is that?!

Jeanne was fun to correspond with.  I was constantly exchanging emails with her regarding what type of pattern and what colors she wanted.  She wanted the Oregon Star put wanted to be sure that it would be easy enough for me to do.  She suggested that I should do the Mariner's Compass instead, being that I've done a number of them in the past.  One point I would like to stress with my readers and future clients of my barn quilts.  I will recreate any pattern that you desire, whether I've done it before or not.  It's not 'what I want', but, 'what YOU want'.  Always remember that!

The Oregon Star pattern was a fun one to do.  Jeanne likes red, so I kept the red tones in the center of the star.  I tried to replicate a bow pattern in the center by segregating the points in quarters, to try to give that affect.  I hope I pulled it off. 
Jeanne also wanted a contrasting color on the points, so I came up with the green shade.  I think it works well with the other colors! 

Almost a look-a-like!!

One of the things that I always try to stress with my clients, is the fact that their barn quilt will be a one-of-kind.  I will NOT make 2 barn quilts exactly the same.  I will change the pattern slightly or I will make subtle changes in colors shades.  My latest effort was a Mariner's Compass that I made for Sally in Sebeka, MN.  She did indicate to me that she wanted a barn quilt, as close to, the one I made for Gail Links in Illinois, shown below:

When you put the two of them next to each other, you can easily pick out the changes that I made:

The orange tones on the compass points are reversed.  The red star points on the first one is a solid red, as compared with a split color tone on the second one.  The orange spears on the first only extend about 6" on the first photo, compared to being stretched to the center edge of the board.  There are other minor changes between the two, to make each one unique.

I keep a photo record of all my barn quilts.  So, if I should get another order for one, like the two above, I will be able to design a pattern and color choices, to make each barn quilt unique.   

 

It started with a picture

Most of the barn quilts that I've created for clients have come from their choice of block patterns, such as, Mariner's Compass, Double Aster and Liberty Star.   I would collaborate with the client on color selections. 
My latest creation came from a photograph that Tracy from Centerville, IN emailed to me showing a Carpenter's Wheel. 

She also sent me a chart of the pattern with specific changes in color.  She wanted the blue changed to burgundy, the yellow blocks and stripes changed to green and the green changed to yellow.  The blue in the center was to be changed to gray and the red in the center changed to burgundy.  She wanted to change the red border surrounding the Carpenter's Wheel changed to black. 
Using the photograph as a guide, I was able to calculate the dimensions of the design and the next picture was the result of the changes made.

The corner medallions, as I like to call them, turned out to be more of a problem to re-create on a 2x2 size.  I told Tracy about it and told her that I would like to enlarge the medallions, so that the taping process would be easier to do.  She agreed.  The next photo is the result of that.



I really enjoyed taking on this project.  It gave me the chance to hone my skills on creating striping and working on very small patterns, such as the medallions.