Updated barn quilt photo's

About four months ago, I was asked by a co-worker to make her a barn quilt for their summer cottage in New Hampshire.  She liked the Mariner's Compass.  When I purchased the board to make her barn quilt, I didn't realize that I picked up Oak plywood, rather than my usual Birch plywood.  There was an apparent switch of boards in the rack at the lumber store and I didn't realize that I purchased an Oak board. 
I noticed that after I applied the primer/sealer, in two coats, the oak bled thru the primer.  I applied a third coat and it was still the same, but, not as much.  I figured that once I applied the white background paint, the bleeding would cease.............Not so!  It still bled thru somewhat.  I wasn't pleased.  I let her know about it and she wasn't concerned.  This is a photo that shows the bleeding.  It's rather subtle, but, if you look carefully you can see it, particularly on the left.

 

When I brought her barn quilt in to work, she loved the effect that the bleeding gave.  Here is a photo of her barn quilt hanging on their cottage in Unity, NH.

 

The next photo is of the Union Jack and Puerto Rican Flag barn quilt that I blogged on a while back.  These are photo's of the barn quilt hanging on the garden shed.  This one is located in Newington, CT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Perfect Fit!!!!

It's always an adrenaline rush for me when I see my barn quilts proudly hung on the new owner's house and/or garden shed.   A 2' x 2' barn quilt is appropriate for that.  However, to see my first 4' x 4' barn quilt being hung on a large farm structure, took my breath away!!  It was 'A Perfect Fit'!!!!

I recently received these photo's from Pam B, who commissioned me to make this 4' x 4' barn quilt, in the Christmas Star pattern, to be hung on her mother's storage building!!  I must say that I was taken aback by how well this barn quilt looked!  Pam's mother, Caryl K, was thrilled to have received it and see it hung. 

This next photo is of Pam (on the left) and her mother Caryl (on the right) standing under the barn quilt.  I am so proud of this one.  It's as if it was made to be placed where it is!!

An order from across the pond!!

Several weeks ago I received on email through my website from a lady who wanted to order a 2' x 2' barn quilt in the Bear Paw pattern.  She wanted it made, as a surprise, for a quilting friend of her's who she was to visit in October.  Her friend lives in Washington State.   She wanted it in the Bear Paw pattern and the colors were to be primarily blue.  She was going to leave it  up to me, as to the shades of blue to be used and their arrangement on the board.   In closer inspection of her email, I noticed 'uk' at the end of her email address.  This lady was from Great Britain!!!!!  How cool was that!!  She wanted to know if I could coordinate the delivery date for the period that she was going to visit her friend.  I said not a problem!!

As I do with all of my clients, I take progress photo's and email the photo's to them.  On this particular barn quilt, I took photo's of the entire process and have included the photo's in this blog.

The first photo shows the line drawing of the bear paw pattern.  I decided to do a group of four in each quarter section of the board. 

The next photo shows the bear paws taped off so I can apply the back ground color, which was a light blue.  All of my barn quilts have been painted using a paint brush.  In the case of this project, I elected to use a small foam paint roller to apply the back ground color.  This proved easier as there were a lot of angled areas to paint and I wanted to make sure there was even coverage.

 

 

Once the back ground color was applied, I taped off the area's around the claw part of the bear paw and the small squares to prepare them for painting.  This was a very tedious undertaking, as there were a lot of angled area's to tape off.  This is the photo of that.

This next photo is of the barn quilt with the tape removed.

I then taped off the white squares to ready that for painting.

 

 

The final photo is of the completed barn quilt, in the bear paw pattern.  To dress up the barn quilt I applied texture to the squares.  It was a very scientific process in applying the texture.  Are you ready for this?!  I used a shower poof that most women use in place of a wash cloth!!!!

 

 

This barn quilt is now ready for shipment to it's new owner.  I'm looking forward to the reaction when it arrives!!!

 

Honoring a fireman!

Traditionally, barn quilts are created using existing quilt block patterns going back many generations.  Those patterns may have slight changes in their design, but, you can easily recognize the basic pattern.
On occasion new patterns are created. They may represent a family heritage and, in some cases, they may honor career's of family members. This barn quilt was created by my friend Linda M, from Guyton, GA.  She wanted to make this to honor her son-in-law who is a member of the Effingham County, GA Fire Rescue.  Linda successfully recreated the colors of the patch that she used as a reference guide to make the barn quilt.
I applaud Linda for her originality and creativity in making a barn quilt that is personal to her. 

Helping out!

One thing that I've enjoyed about making barn quilts, is the online friendships that I've made with those that I've made barn quilts for and other's who contacted me to ask questions about how to make them.
I received an email from Linda M who lives in Guyton, GA asking me about barn quilt patterns and whether they are copyrighted designs.  I don't ever recall that any particular design was copyrighted.  I jokingly told her that she could replicate any pattern except MINE!!!! 
We had a nice exchange of emails.  She complemented me on my abilities and thought that my barn quilts were beautiful.  Linda said that she made several barn quilts for family and friends and wants to to more.  However, I got the sense that she thought she was that talented to do them.   I asked her to send me some photos of her work.  She sent three photos.  I found them very interesting.
One thing that I've learned about quilt patterns and paint combinations, is that they all look great.  Each one is unique to the others.
I asked Linda for permission to post him here for all to see.  I think she did very well and should be proud of them.

The first one she made was to honor her husband's 23 years in the Army. 

                                          Photo courtesy of Linda M, Guyton, GA

The second one was made to honor her brother in law from Northwoods, IA who got her into barn quilt painting.  This one is called 'Double Canoe's'

                                          Photo courtesy of Linda M, Guyton, GA

This next one was made for her best friend who enjoys gardening and likes the many shades of red.
This one is called 'Double Aster'.

                                          Photo courtesy of Linda M, Guyton, GA

I applaud Linda for her creativity with the designs, using her own color combinations to create a unique barn quilt.  I told her to stay in touch and to share her future work with me.                                          

A second for West Virginia!!

My latest barn quilt was replicated from one that I did several years ago.  As a matter of fact, it was the second one that I did when I first started.  I had done it on regulat BC grade plywood, the lines weren't the straightest and there was a lot of touch up work to do, due to paint leeching into the other colors.  At that time I hadn't perfected my taping abilities.  This is a picture of the first one.  It has hung on my workshop for about 2 1/2 years.

It still looks remarkably good.  There are no signs of aging due to peeling or cracking paint and the white is still a bright white.
The client for the latest one, which she wanted the same as this one with just minor changes in shade of red and blue.  This is the one that I recently made for the client in West Virginia.


I really liked the way this one came out.  I jokingly tell people that the lines are much straighter on this one, due to having cataracts removed from my eyes several weeks ago!!!

This was 'slated' to be done!!!!

I guess this proves that you can paint a quilt pattern on anything!

 

A friend at work, who I made a 2x2 barn quilt for her New Hampshire cottage, in the Mariner's Compass pattern, brought in an old piece of roofing slate and asked if I could possibly paint a quilt pattern on it.   I have never painted on slate before and told that I would give it a try, but, I would promise anything.  I wasn't sure if the paint would adhere to the surface well and I was a bit apprehensive about taping off the different area's.  After I painted the white background, I applied a small piece of painter's tape to see what happened.  As I had expected, the tape pulled off the paint.   I ended up painting the 'card trick' pattern free-hand.  I used a nice square cut artist's brush.  The results came out very nice, if I do say so myself!  You can just make out the border that I painted, which is 'Hunter Green'.  After it was finished, I applied several coats of a clear sealant.  By doing so, I hope to prevent any unnecessary chipping in the future.