Barn Quilts by Sherry

This one is Kay's.

Recently Lorri, Kay and I met at our parents house to paint a few barn quilts.  Lorri had already painted the small ones pictured here. All I did was take the pictures.  We painted three big ones that day, one for our parents, one for the neighbors and one for our machine quilter. 
Lorri finished it the next day.  The big ones are 4'by 4'.  The little ones are 2'by 2'.  We had lots of fun. 

Lorri is painting the one we made for our friend and machine quilter Joan Westoff

This is Lorri's;  Flying geese

This one is for our Aunt Kay Huning.

Here is a shot of the one we made for my parents barn. The pattern is Flying Geese.

 I worked on my small one and a small one for my friend, Debbie Potter. I finished them last wee.   I'll show them on my next post.

Barn Quilts October 13, 2013 Posted by Lorri

Barn quilts are quilt blocks or patterns painted on wood.  Usually they are on a solid piece of wood, and then are mounted onto the side of a barn.  I saw some really pretty ones driving through the Iowa countryside to get some bacon.  Which is another story in itself.

Sherry gave our mom a really nifty book about barn quilts.  So, our mom wants one to put on her barn.  Which we promptly volunteered to paint it for her (and Daddy, of course).  We decided to practice making a few smaller ones first, to work out the kinks.

Here's how it went:

You can purchase pre-cut 2 foot by 2 foot plywood squares at the home improvement center.  I lightly sanded them, and then rolled on three coats for exterior white paint/primer.

After I choose which block I wanted to paint, I used colored pencils to test drive which colors to use.

Quilting grid rulers work really well for marking the lines.  I used a regular pencil for this. 

I used blue painters tape.  There was a little bleed through under the tape despite making sure the tape was adhered. etc.  I think it is because the plywood is not completely smooth.  I decided to live with a little bleed through under the edges of the tape as I figured no one will notice but me.  Probably.  And these blocks will be mounted on buildings outside.

I read on someone else's blog that you should do three coats of each color. I found this to be good advice.  Even though I bought good quality exterior paint/primer, it looked best after the third coat.  Takes awhile though, when you have to wait two to four hours between coats.  

This is actually a different block, but similar.  I found it was easiest to use foam brushes for this project.  Clean up is easy with the foam brushes also.

Two completed barn quilts.  The one on the left is the Sawtooth Star block and is going to Kay's house.  The block on the right is the Variable Star block and is staying in my backyard.

And here it is, on our barn in our backyard.  Ok, it's really a garden shed that looks like a little barn.  I was pretty pleased with how this turned out. We are headed to the farm in a couple of weeks, so we can work on the big barn quilt.  Should be a fun time.  

Summer musings 2013 by Lorri

A mug rug for my friend Kate

Sunflower wall hangings for Kay and Sherry's birthdays.  Because sometimes we make stuff for each other.  And, the red barnwood frames were made by our dad.

Pillows for my little granddaughters, the kitty for Charlotte and the puppy for Vada

And, the little girlies with their pillows

I started this quilt two years ago (I think).  I took a class from Dava Carrell, a lady from our church that teaches quilt classes.  I'd love to take another class from her someday.  She has a wealth of knowledge.  This was a pattern of hers, but I can't remember the name.  It was quilted by Joan Westhoff, who lives around Walnut Kansas.  It is queen sized.  Like many quilters, I give away most of the quilts that I make, but I am actually keeping this one.  I just liked the bright colors.

 

And now, school has started again, so back to work.   We teach CPR and First Aid for for whole week to the coaches, bus drivers, secretaries, etc. before the students return to school.

Little Balkans Quilt Show Pictures

Here are some random quilt show pictures from the Little Balkans Quilt Show.  Some of these are ours and some of these are other peoples.  I wished that I had taken more pictures but you know how that goes.

I hope you enjoyed these.  I don't know what happened but I had trouble getting my pictures where I wanted them.  I have more pictures so I might post more next later.  Enjoy!

Quilt Guild Challenge

Here are some quilts from the Little Balkans Quilt Guild challenge.  The challenge was to use something vintage in a quilted project.  The challenge was judged by Anna Mae Brown of Girard.  I did not get everyone's name for these projects and I'm sorry for that.  The First place went to Sherry Jagels who made a quilt from her vintage textiles collection.  She made baskets which she decorated with vintage textiles and crazy quilt blocks to make this quilt.  Second place went to Debbie Potter who made a pillow  with vintage textiles from family and friends.  Third place was a quilt made from vintage textiles but it has a modern feel to it also because the vintage textile was cut up and then sewed in a modern setting.  She also used the textile on the back.  It was really interesting that the projects were all different as different people  put their own spin on their project.  The star flower quilt with the grey background was made by Pegg Smith . It also  has a modern feel to it even though vintage textiles were used to make it.  Martha Tompkins made hers with material from her mother's wedding dress.  All of them were terrific and it everyone did a fantastic job on them.. If you want to see them in person-Come to to the Little Balkans Quilt Show this weekend at Memorial Hall in Pittsburg!  I think some on them have been entered in the quilt show!

Quilt guild challenge

Kay's Vintage Flower Basket Quilt

I made this small quilted wall hanging for our Little Balkins Quilt Guild challenge.  The challenge was to make something with something vintage in it.  I used a square dresser scarf that I bought at a local flea market.  It was stained where it had been folded for years but otherwise than that it was in excellent shape.  I bought some 30's reproduction quilt fat quarters at Bittersweets quilts and at The Blue Top quilt shop to use for the basket, borders, and binding.  I hand quilted it which is something I don't do very often.  I made some flowers on my sewing machine to put in the basket.  I didn't think I would get it done in time.  The challenge project is due Monday night at guild meeting, but my sister, Sherry kept telling me "You WILL finish it." , so I worked on it all week and got it done early with a few days to spare!  Now I have some quilt binding to finish by August 24 so that I can enter a quilt in the Little Balkins Quilt Show labor day weekend.  No rest for me yet - I've  got to get busy or I won't get finished!

MoDot Woman (who I thought was MoDot Man) and other happenings

Summer is a time when many of us travel.  We got back today from a long weekend in Iowa.  Mark and Derek played in a golf tournament, while Kristy and the kiddos and I did some fun things.  More about that later.
On our way back home, I had my phone ready to snap a photo of MoDot man.  We'd seen him before on our way home, but I wanted to get a photo this time.  Guess what I learned?

When I cropped and enlarged this photo, turns out he is a she. Notice the lovely lips, earrings and well, cleavage?  Someone with the Missouri Department of Transportation has quite a good sense of humor.  We like to think of MoDot woman as my brother in law Jeff's buddy.  He recently retired from KDOT.

Here we are enjoying some water time at the aquatic park in Ames, Iowa.  And yes, Atticus still really enjoys getting his picture taken, as you can see.

I thought this photo of Adelaide and Caedmon was so cute.

I lost track of how many times they went flying down this slide. 

One of the many day lilies that we now have in our yard.  Mark's niece has kindly shared a number of different colored lilies.

And, since no blog post is complete without some photo of a quilt, here is our latest project.  I call it the coal bucket quilt.  Since we recently finished decorating our fiberglass coal bucket for the Southeast Kansas Art Fest, we had some extra quilt blocks left over.  Kay embroidered coal mining items in the solid blocks, and Sherry pieced it all together.  I'm pretty sure the orphan blocks came from Sherry and Kay.  The red farm truck made a delivery here to Winfield, so I could quilt this bad boy.  The quilting is done, the binding is on, and it is now back in SEK again.  I believe that this quilt will be auctioned off at the Art Fest Gala at the Little Balkans Festival over Labor Day weekend.  I am hoping some corporate sponsor buys it and donates it to the newly opened Mining Museum in Franklin, Kansas.

In other news, we recently attend a Pitt State Alumni Dinner at the Winfield Country Club.  My husband is a Shocker, but was a good sport and willing to hang out with us Gorillas.  A common conversation at an event like this is to name your favorite chicken place.  I said Chicken Annie's, the Dean of Technology said Gebhart's, another alumni said Chicken Mary's.  Everyone turned to Mark, who said "Jim's Steak House".  He quickly added - Chicken Annie's.  What can I say, the man likes a good steak.

The kids were home the weekend after July 4th to attend a friend's baby shower.  We snapped this photo at our house.

Stephanie on the left, Kristy on the right.  It's no wonder I have trouble calling them by their correct name.  If I didn't know better, I'd say that they chose similar colored shirts just to confuse their mother.

Grandma Camp 2013 (posted by Lorri)

First day of Grandma Camp, we went to the Poovey Ranch.  The Pooveys are long time friends.

Kristy and Adelaide picking strawberries.  I cannot begin to tell you how yummy these tasted.

Adelaide petting Lola, the bucket calf.

Giving Lola a bottle.

Caedmon "driving" the tractor.  Not to worry, the tractor was not running while children were in the drivers seat.

Atticus was doing his best to try and figure out how to make this tractor go.

Liza introducing Adelaide to the horses.

Thanks to the Poovey family for letting us explore your garden, tractors, bucket calf, horses, strawberry patch and everything else.  Liza was a great tour guide.

The next day we went to the Winfield Aquatic Center.  Here is Caedmon on the dragon slide in the preschool pool.

Mark with Caedmon and Adelaide on the alligator.

Hot dogs and s'mores over the firepit in the backyard.  You can just get a glimpse of Caedmon pursuing Ed (our cat) in the background.

The next day we went to Exploration Place in Wichita.  They always enjoy the water table.

Vada and Charlotte joined us for this day.  Here Vada is playing dress up in the preschool area.

Charlotte and Vada playing on the slide.

The whole gang.  Note to self - take the group shot when you get to Exploration Place, not when you are getting ready to leave.  Everyone had a great time.  The next stop, Panera's for lunch.

Then a quick run through Sam's before heading back to Winfield.  Well, as quick as you can with four adults and five children.

Then, everybody left and I took a nap.  I really enjoy seeing all the kids interacting together.