Barn Blocks - Lady of the Lake

Planning stage - I'm GOING to paint quilt blocks on our Barn/Garage.  We call the garage "the barn" as both of us have some country background.

This design is 4 blocks of "Lady of the Lake" - many years ago, I sailed a LOT!  

2 quarts of quality Latex semi-gloss house paint and a large roll of Painter's tape = $44.00!~  Yikes! Oh Well, I'm on a ROLLLLLL!  I started Saturday, finished on Wednesday morning.  

Here is my first, and only mistake.  I admit - I did NOT listen to DH.  But I also didn't want to make holes in the barn/garage, and decided to paint my blocks on the siding -- not the best idea. 

Background is blue/periwinkle - don't you just love that word?  

You use more tape than you think - have a friend or husband hand you the tape pieces.  I needed 2 coats of each color.  You cannot tape it all at one time, but must stagger some of the lines.  The painting didn't take much time - but there were many trips back and forth.

It was impossible to paint with the sun glare. I had to paint very early and then later in the day

I needed a small makeshift scaffold to paint the higher parts.   The chair is used after weeding or watering petunias!  LOL

OK, (below) here is what happens when painting on siding.  No matter how hard I pressed the painters tape, some ooched out under it.  I tried pouncing the paint with a sponge brush instead of strokes, but it didn't help.  Oh great - my enthusiasm is waning!  I should/coulda/woulda painted it on a smooth piece of plywood and hung the sign, and made holes in the barn/garage siding.  Too late now.

 

I missed taping a few triangles (easier than you think!), and had to re-do several times, but the most time-consuming was "fixing" the paint ooching.  I should also have purchased a bit of barn/garage paint, as it ooched under  the taped edge, and onto the siding where I didn't want it.  Uh ohhh, none of that paint left.  DH gave me a good chisel brush, very fine, for fixing the final touch-ups. Since he was my official tape dispenser, he decided to get in the act!  Smarty pants!

 All done.  This is the view as we come and go, in and out of the barn/garage.  Happy DAY!

Rocky Road to Kansas, and a Table Topper to be won

Here is my Blue Rocky Road to Kansas - 10 blocks of 30 needed.  Each block finishes at 12 inches.  I've put bits of dark red and limey green to keep it bright.  Will I EVER use up my BLUE scraps?  This is the second quilt I've made using this design - the other one (below) used mostly authentic thirties scraps and is hand quilted.  

(Below) - these are NOT my blue scraps - these scraps belong to my Quilt Guild.  I offered the skills of my local quilting friends to make the 2013 Serendipity (Raffle) quilt to be awarded in July.  This smaller table topper incentive is for ... not sure on this - it goes to the one who sold the most tickets, or to whose name is pulled from "the hat".  

This started as 9 blocks, then one brilliant person suggested we make it a table topper, and let's redesign the corners to turn it into an octagon - GREAT idea.  Then when I was trying to balance the blocks and colors, and exchanged places with some of the blocks, look what appeared --- a friendship star in the middle!  What a lovely surprise!   Then I added a narrow red strip and another blue strip, log cabin style.  I am leaning towards reducing the width of the last blue strip - not sure yet.  Sydney quilted the center block using her long-arm machine skills and I will machine quilt (DSM) the rest of it, following her style in the center.  For now, I'm not planning on using a traditional binding, maybe turning the front into the backing.  I'd love to win this myself.

This is our version of Lady of the Lake, one name of many similar.

"Prairie Schooner"

I can FINALLY show off this quilt called "Prairie Schooner" which will be raffled off July 2013.  This design was featured in Quiltmaker, May/June 2011, by my favorite quilter, Bonnie Hunter who, when I asked if I could copy hers, said "Go for it!"  Her version was called "Lady of Lake Erie."

The local quilting group in my town (4-12, depending) worked on it over the past year, and it was quilted by a local long-arm quilter.  I requested NO feathers, only leaves, grass, prairie flowers, etc.  The label is a joy in itself -- gotta find  my photo!  Ever since I moved to Nebraska, I've been smitten by the history of the early pioneers, their perseverance, and the enormous blue skies and hoped that spirit would show in this quilt.  I aimed for gender neutral and UN- FUSSY.  8-))  Tickets are not yet made up - I think they are ready for our September meeting.  There is a definite layout to the blocks.

Now, the Guild Quilt Mom has it and it will travel to various locations over the next year.  I'm glad to have had a part in this project, but REALLY glad to have it on it's way and DONE.  It's perfectly square and straight - must be hanging crooked! 

There is a row of piping between the quilt and border, and another row of piping between the outer border and binding.  Size is 91 in. x 101" after quilting and washing.  BTW, I washed this quilt with my homemade laundry detergent and it came out just lovely! 

Lady of the Lake, More Blocks for Raffle/Serendipity Quilt

Six more blocks completed, Lady of the Lake. However, we live out here in Sandhills Country - no good lakes in this vicinity, so we'll have to come up with a better name for this quilt. I aimed for less fussy fabrics, dusty blues, no florals, so maybe even guys will like it and purchase tickets. "Dry Lakes", "Sandhill Lakes" "Blue Sky Lakes" how about "Sandhill Blues", "Dusty Blues" ? -- I'd better lose the word "Lakes".

I'm posting these blocks mostly for my mini-group in case they want to see what mine turned out like. I purchased 7-8 lights and 7-8 darks, so we planned to mix them up a bit.

Inspiration came from Bonnie Hunter's quilt (Quiltville.com) in Quiltmaker magazine, the latest issue.

Because of the heat I moved my sewing equipment that is altogether for quilt classes, to the basement where it's not so hot. Then between sewing blocks, I did laundry, played on computer, took a nap, cleaned bathroom, etc. Frankly, I kinda like it down here - DH??? not so much. I tried to stay upstairs this morning, but was "hit" by some kind of bug - probably related to heat - I don't do well in heat, and forget to drink, resulting in being unpleasantly ill for a while, but when I went back downstairs, recovered quickly.

New quilt - for 2012-2013

10 blocks made - this is our Raffle/Serendipity Quilt for 2012-2013. I believe the block is called Lady of the Lake. Blocks are 8 inches finished and I saw a lovely photo of a quilt made by Bonnie Hunter, in one of my magazines. Our Guild has many excellent quilters and this one will be made by our local small mini-group. I wanted a quilt that was quiet, gentle, not too girly, and user friendly! Maybe something even the men would like.