Barn Quilts are Awesome

What the heck is a barn quilt?  Well, it’s a piece of art on a barn.  Honestly, it’s a quilt design hand-painted onto a piece of wood.  The maker then suckers someone into getting on a tall ladder to put up the lovely piece of work.  Afterward, everyone that drives by can see the artwork from the road.  See the bottom of the post for more information.

Somewhere in West Virginia

If you’re riding in a car with me and I see a barn quilt I yell, “BARN QUILT!”  Everyone flinches and wonders what the heck I’m yelling about and pointing to frantically.  It’s a fun game in the car for me.

Over the summer I decided my garage needed some artwork.  P and I went to JoAnn’s to grab the supplies.  He got to pick out the colors.  Surprisingly, he did not pick orange or neon green.  The kid loves orange.  You can use scrap wood or purchase the pre-cut versions at JoAnn’s.  Lowe’s has pre-cut squares available as well.

My version

My inspiration comes from this block on Pinterest.

I marked up my wood square as best I could.

Don’t look too close

I started painting within the lines the best I could.  It took a number of coats to cover up the pencil lines and get everything to look correct.

I swear I can paint within the lines.  Ha!  There were lots of touch ups throughout the painting process.

P’s version

I wanted P to make a version as well.  His square was painted with gray as a background since he loves to paint with racecars and monster trucks.  Who needs paintbrushes when you have cars?  We went outside for P to paint.  I squirted paint onto wax paper and P ran his car or truck through the colors he wanted.  Once the wheels were nice and coated, he moved over to his square.  He created a race track with his painting style.

The cars and P got a good bath after painting.  Once the paintings dried I sprayed them a number of times, front and back, with a clear matte top coat.  To create a way to hang these, holes were drilled in the top corners and twine ran through the holes.  For this next part, splurge on the outdoor Command hooks.  Not just the regular ones, they don’t hold up as well.  Minutes after taking these photos, my barn quilt had fallen into the garden.

I love having these outside and that P created something with me.

Have you made a barn quilt?  You can find inspiration and tutorials on Pinterest to help you create your own.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish It Up Friday and 

Confessions Of A Fabric Addict

 


What Are Barn Quilts?

http://www.accuquilt.com/shop/barnquilt/facts.html