Renie on the Farm: Barn Quilt!

I have been fascinated by Barn Quilts since I saw 2 hung at the Pennsylvania Farm show 2 years ago. I've seen pictures popping up online and got the idea. I have a barn, why not build a barn quilt?. Maybe I can start a trend in my small town.

Wouldn't a Barn Quilt look nice centered on my barn?

After doing some research, I found that a small barn quilt trail had been started at my adjacent county Perry County, the quilts were designed by HS students. With further research I found a great web site that even went into detailed instructions on how to prepare and build a barn quilt.

https://www.extension.iastate.edu/Documents/MCMS/flPlymouthCountyISUBarnQuiltDirections.pdf

There it was. Easy right??!!
The hard part was picking a design and then the colors. Jinny Beyers had a great selection of traditional quilt blocks on her web site which I found very helpful

https://www.jinnybeyer.com/quilting-with-jinny/design-board/browse.cfm?page=5&sort=newest&limit=48

My barn was built in the late 1800's and it sits behind my traditional 1800 Limestone Farmhouse. I needed a traditional block with traditional colors to fit into my setting. There were way too many choices, but I narrowed it down to these blocks. The final decision went to The Grandma's Star.

I went to paint store and got paint samples. I cut the actual samples up in tiny pieces, ha the outline was a 2x2 inch block. I taped my VERY rough pieces on the outline to test my colors.

With the barn quilt being outside I wanted to make sure it would survive harsh weather. I would hate to go through so much work and the pain fade, or peel.
I got an oil based primer, I bought Zinser brand, and put on 3 coats to the bare wood. I also primed the base/frame pieces.

I bought outdoor latex paint for colors. I used Behr brand from Home Depot, I've used Behr Brand paint before and have been happy with the results.

I'm lucky as I have a big barn to set up in. I can leave the pieces to dry and get back to them and they are out of the way.

Plus I have my handy blue tooth speaker to provide me entertainment as I work through this project! Thanks to my lovely daughter and her husband for the nice gift that I continue to use!

My Bluetooth Speaker Entertainment

3 coats of Primer on boards

base boards primed

As I continue I will add pictures and updates on how my barn quilt progresses.

Update 8/13/2017:
Yesterday I measured and marked out my quilt blocks on the primed boards. I used pencil and yardsticks. Below a picture, but it is difficult to see.

Sketch with measurements

You can see the corner 4 patch

So I began to paint last night! I started by taping around the blocks I was painting. I'm starting with my lighter colors and then will move to the dark colors. Since Im using tape to get sharp points, It is necessary to wait before putting tape on top of the previously painted areas. Per the instructions on the tape. It must have been dried over 24 hours : ( Can I be that patient?

White and light Teal is painted

I will put 2 coats of each paint so in the morning the second coat goes on.

More updates later!

8/18/17

So my Barn Quilt project is going well. I began my last color yesterday. I have little patience and the waiting hours between coats of paint has been extremely difficult for me!

I placed 2 coats of each paint color, before moving onto next color. I waited approximately 10 hours between each coat. The paint has seemed to be pretty set and dry at this point and I have not had any problems with paint coming off when I removed the tape.

Today I'm removing the last of the tape, adding a coat of paint to the frame pieces (2x4's).And then start constructing the frame for the back of the quilt, (With the help of my handy husband and his power tools!)

8/29/17

She's up!! The barn quilt that is. Ill catch up now on the rest of my process

With my husbands help we framed the plywood boards to give it stability and to hold the 2 4x8 pieces together. we fiirst placed gorilla glue and then drove screws through the 2x4 just into the plywood, avoiding puncturing the front of the quilt itself. My husband used 1 3/4 wood screws. #8X.

We also placed a center frame to keep the center from warping and to pull the sides close

We added a strip of tin T top for water protection.We bent it around the entire top and stapled down.

She's done, and now we have to move her. She was extremely heavy at this point.

Then getting her up. We own a bucket truck and my husband created a harness to help hoist her up.

On the bottom we placed L brackets. After determining placement, We drilled the L Brackets f into the barn and they assisted in keeping the quilt level while the top brackets were drilled in. Almost like a shelf, and then these were screwed to bottom base 2x4.

We placed flat long metal brackets on back of the top 2x4 and screwed those through front of the barn where there was a beam behind the boards.(Almost like drilling into the stud)

And now she is up all I have to do is a little touch up to cover the brackets and some nicks from hanging...