The Barn Quilt Project

layout and design

a family affair

painter's union

tractor shed gets new look

Another finished project with the grandkids! I think I have this grandmother thing figured out, you just act like one of the kids and have lots of fun!

no strings attached

Grandpa Buddy's workshop taken over by the girls.

Sarah, "I painted the wrong part, what do I do?"

Racheal learns to love the blue tape!



Quilting with fabric is not this easy and fun. No cutting, no strings attached. Diagonals match up perfectly with no stretching or warping. The squares lay nice and flat, no puckering up. If you make a mistake, just let it dry and paint over it tomorrow. Best of all, no seam ripper required!

Making progress on The Barn Quilt Project!

~photos 2 May 2008 at the shop

painting quilts

Looking back, it has been about six months ago when I first had the idea to paint a quilt square on a barn, like these in Tennessee.

I decided it would be a fun project for the grandkids and I to tackle. We scouted out the area (yard) and decided that the tractor shed was the best place for our gallery.



Instead of painting directly onto the shed, it would be easier to paint individual wood squares, so of course all we had to do was ask our resident master carpenter to come up with some wood. He salvaged some very nice pieces from his job, which he brought home, cut to size, and sanded all ready for us. Thanks, Grandpa Buddy!



The girls each picked out a quilt square to paint. Madison picked the pinwheel. Together we figured out how to transfer the pattern to the 36 inch wood square. She used tools from the shop, tape measure and T-square and carpenter's pencil, to measure and draw the lines for squares and angles. She said, "This is like math, isn't it? But that's okay, I like math."



Then came the fun part. Our daughter, Melissa, loves to decorate and redecorate her home, and knows that paint is the fastest and most economical way to do that, so she has lots of pieces of paint cans at her house. We raided her storage room and came up with some good colors.



This project will take more than a few days, but we got a good start on it yesterday! Looking forward to seeing what the other girls come up with, and of course the final Barn Shed gallery.

~photos of Madison 28 April 2008 at the shop

~photo barn quilt from Sac County, Iowa: Smidt Barn, 3581 Union Ave., Lake View, Road to Paradise, Painted by Sac City art students