The making of a barn quilt

Have you seen the beautiful barn quilts across America? A barn quilt is a painting made to look like a quilt. A wonderful piece of art made for your barn. The idea was started in 2001 in Ohio. There are trails of barn quilts that you can follow, they were created to entice travelers to see country roads and towns. I recently gained inspiration to make my barn quilt when the neighbor demolished a grand old barn, it was red, the old type, well cared for and in fabulous shape, for 42 years it was a friend of mine, my barn quilt is in its honor. 

I made my barn quilt with my good friend Junior, she knows how to saw stuff up, I know how to paint, a great team. If you want to create your own barn quilt, some instructions are below,

Use a good quality ply-board, I used one that had one side sanded. We painted the board with a primer, they recommend using a "kills" type of primer, and then paint your board with a very good quality outdoor paint. We used white, once it was dry I took a large ruler and made a grid, finding the middle first, and working my way out, with both horizontal and vertical, even lines. Now its time to start your pattern. We got on the internet for inspiration, and then modified their ideas into our own. Once I had it drawn, I roughed in the colors to create the design. When we were happy with the colors and pattern, I taped it off with good quality tape, (use frog tape or the original blue tape) and started to paint it all in. Remember to pull the tape up while the paint is still wet. Another time saver is to tape off and paint one color at a time. My handy friend cut the 2 x 4 boards for the frame and they were attached to the back with screws. My handy man attached it to the barn, with large eye bolts and hooks. Remember it is a heavy piece so use something pretty stout to hang it up, lest you kill a cow with a falling barn quilt. 

We hope you give it a try and have as much fun as we did!