BENTLEY BARN - 4 LOG CABIN

This is a follow up post to the one I did back on July 2nd about the barn quilt that hangs on the end of my parents barn.

Log Cabin quilts come in quite a variety of different names. It just all depends on how you lay them out. The blocks are usually all made the same, but can be put together in many different designs. The little pink square is where it is all started and is the "hearth of the home".

Mom was working on her very first large quilt (king-sized) and decided beings dad was raising the barn, she would use that design for her quilt and was the most appropriate. Dad made and painted this barn quilt with the 4 Log Cabin blocks, with a bit of help from one of his grandsons, Corey Wood.

The pictures show the barn quilt mounting which was done the end of June 2008. I think it was probably one of the first, if not the first, barn quilts in Scott County. Corey's dad Marty helped out with getting it installed.

I was going to add some pictures of the barn when it was being built but have yet to find them. Once they're found I'll post about the history and building of the barn.

Thanks for looking and have a blessed day!

THE PENCE FARM - IH 54-40 OR FIGHT

My son-in-law Justin and I mounted the barn quilt on his grandfather's utility shed a few days ago. It is on display at the Don and Shelby Pence farm located between Winchester and Manchester, IL. Don and Justin both have old Farmall tractors that they put in parades at times.

It looks really nice from the road.

















Here's a picture of Justin, Landon and Don, with their tractors in the Whitehall 4th of July parade.

IH 54-40 OR FIGHT

This is a barn quilt that one of my son-in-laws wanted me to make for his grandfather’s birthday. It was fitting because both Justin, and his grandfather Don, both have antique IH Farmall tractors. I found this barn quilt design on line that someone else had made. I alternated my variation just a little.

I didn’t know the history behind the “54-40 or Fight” pattern so looked it up on the net. Here’s what I found out from Wikipedia.

“The Oregon Dispute became important in geopolitical diplomacy between the British Empire and the new American Republic. In 1844 the U.S. Democratic Party, appealing to expansionist sentiment and the popular theme of manifest destiny, asserted that the U.S. had a valid claim to the entire Oregon Country up to Russian America at parallel 54°40′ north. Democratic presidential candidate James K. Polk won the1844 election, but then sought a compromise boundary along the 49th parallel, the same boundary proposed by previous U.S. administrations. Negotiations between the U.S. and the British broke down, however, and tensions grew as American expansionists like U.S. Senator Edward A. Hannegan of Indiana, or Congressman Leonard Henly Sims, Missouri, which urged Polk to annex the entire Oregon Country north to the parallel 54°40′ north, as the Democrats had called for in the election. The turmoil gave rise to slogans like "Fifty-four Forty or Fight!" and the catchphrase "Manifest Destiny".”

Not sure who chose the name for this pattern but I really like the design. This barn quilt is now hung at Don’s farm and I’ll post pictures soon. Thanks for looking.

THE SEIFERT BARN - STARS AND SQUARES

Here are some pictures of the Stars and Squares barn quilt mounted on my son-in-laws parents mini-barn. It is a 24" block and I think the size really goes well with the proportions of their little barn. This one is located just north of Jacksonville, Il.

The chicken coop really adds a nice touch to the country look as well.

STARS AND SQUARES

This is a nice 2' barn quilt I just finished that my daughter Heather, her husband Caleb, and their son Aiden gave to Calebs mother Mary Jo & father Steve for their birthdays. The 61 small stars were quite a challenge but I think it came out nice. They really liked it.

Above is a picture of the barn quilt next to the pattern they picked out from a comforter on one of our beds.

This may end up being a popular design for me to make.

THE MEYER BARN - HARVEST STAR 4

I was asked to make this barn quilt as a wedding anniversary gift from Vicke Meyer to her husband Steve. It was to be placed on one of their barns as a surprise but Vicke said that Steve caught their boys installing it. He was surprised though and liked it.

I recently took my wife, daughter and grandson out to see it. The barn sits about a quarter mile or so to the west of the town of Concord Illinois.

From the information that I’ve gathered, the farm was owned by the William Alvin Martin family and was bought by them back in the late 1940’s. It was purchased in early 2005 from the Martin Family Estate by Bob Freesen thru the Alice Freesen Trust fund. He owned it until sometime in 2010 and sold it to the Meyer family. The barn was originally used to house horses and livestock but was later configured for grain storage.

I think the barn quilt looks really nice on the barn and people entering Concord from the west can very clearly view it. Though I try and use the best paint and materials on each barn quilt I make, the weather in Illinois is harsh and barn quilts won’t last forever. This will be a good example for me to monitor over the next few years to see just how well they will do, especially since this barn quilt faces the west.

I hope to add many more pictures and some brief histories of structures where my barn quilt creations are displayed.

Thanks for looking.

Mark

FLIP SIDE

Here are a few pictures of my mom and dad's barn after I flipped the two barn quilts I made them. Contrary Wife is the left and Father's Choice is on the right. I think it would be a neat for someone to have a couple reversible ones made that were the Four Seasons pattern and rotated them out with each new season.

I'll be posting some history and some pictures of the building of this barn soon. Also, some pics of the mounting of the Log Cabin Barn Raising barn quilt on the end.

Don't forget to click on the images to see them bigger. Thanks for looking.

SUNFLOWERS

I just finished this 1' x 1' barn quilt that is called "Sunflowers". I'm not really impressed with the colors I used for the flower but will probably make it again using yellow and brown for the bloom. I'll try and make it look more like a sunflower than what this does.

This is one of those designs that you have the option of hanging horizontally or on the point.

Thanks for looking.

ILLINOIS

This is a barn quilt that I just finished called "Illinois". It's made on 1/2" MDO plywood and is 2' square. Can you see a pattern developing here? I plan to pop the top on some different colored paint for the next one. I'm starting to see John Deere green and yellow in my sleep.

Thanks for looking.

READY FOR HARVEST

Here, where I live in West Central Illinois county of Scott, our cash crops are corn and beans.

This barn quilt I painted in the Corn and Bean pattern was supposedly designed by a Ladies Art Council around 1895 and was their 100th pattern. I think it came out well and would really look nice on a farmers barn or at an agriculture oriented business in our area. A farmer that has John Deere equipment should really like it.

This barn quilt is now ready for harvest! Thanks for looking.

GETTIN' THERE

I got the green unmasked Sunday afternoon. Dave Snow's tip on using the Sharpie cap tip to seal the masking tape really paid off. Thanks Dave! I could only find two minor places that will need touched up. I love it.

Look at how sharp those edges are!

Ready to apply the black.

First coat of black.

Hopefully, next post will show you the final result. Thanks for looking.

MASKING AND MORE MASKING

This morning I took the tape off from around the yellow. This is how it came out. I tried the 3M brand blue tape this time instead of the other, cheaper stuff I used before. Still was not happy about how it came off.

But, I had just enough time to mask off for the green paint this morning before I left for work and I'm trying a trick that I read about on another barn quilt builders blog. He uses the end of the cap off a Sharpie pen to press down on the edge of the tape to seal it. I tried that with this latest masking and we'll see how it turns out once I have the green paint applied. It was pretty simple to do so, being simple minded, I think I did it correctly. Time will tell. I sure hate having to go back and do a bunch of touch up.

Waitin' on the green.

CORN AND BEANS

I’m not going to make a habit of posting the start to finish process of each barn quilt I make, but this one I knew when I started laying out the pencil lines that I’d like working on it. So, I’ll probably go ahead and make an exception and post the development of this one for now. Whoever came up with this design did a great job. Even masking off the lines was fun.

I used Eleanor Burns book “Quilt Block on American Barns” as a guide. I have found a number of color variations of Corn and Beans but I liked the one shown on the barn on the left page the best. Plus, I already had all the paint colors I needed to do it without buying anything else. It only took me about an hour, maybe, to lay out the pencil pattern.

Here I show the first two coats of yellow and it only takes about 20 minutes per coat to apply. I’ll add at least two more then proceed to the green color. This will also be the first barn quilt that I will add a border around.

So, far this one has turned into a really fun project. It will be great if they can all be that way. As I was laying out the pattern, masking it off and applying the first coats of yellow, I was thinking about how it’s not always about the satisfaction we receive with the end product or destination, but how gratifying and challenging the journey is in getting there.

On the other hand, as Christians, we have the hope of Heaven someday, and seeing our Savior face to face. I long to hear His words, “Well done thy good and faithful servant”. But, as we journey thru our lives, we are to be doing His will and telling others of the Gospel. We’ve been commissioned to do that. We are to be striving for perfection in Christ and doing things according to His Word.

While working on barn quilts, or anything for that matter, even though I know I’ll make mistakes and mess up once in a while, I try and strive for perfection. We should try and always remember what Colossians 3:23 says, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men”.

Thanks again for following along and may God bless your day.

CONSTRUCTION ZONE

Thought I’d show everyone my wood shop/man cave. Our house is about 150+ years old and we started doing some major remodeling last spring. One thing led to another, and another, and so on. Since we don’t have a carriage house or barn, and there was a small, unused space on the back part of the house, we decided to add on a work/storage area. It’s only about 16’ x 12’ but we felt it would be a cheap and much needed area, at the least, for storage.

My dad helped with doing the framing and electrical work. My son-in-laws brother and their dad did the siding (they sided the rest of the house as well). The interior only measures about 14’ wide by 11-1/2’ deep. I had just enough room to add a loft across the span that is about 4’ deep for storage. I know it will fill up fast!

I just got the lighting finished and the loft boards planed and installed this past weekend. The lumber is Ash boards cut from my dad’s timber and on his band mill. They turned out well. I planned on painting the underside white to help with lighting but am tempted to leave them unfinished because of how pretty they turned out. We’ll see.

The back wall will be covered with more planed Ash boards, but vertical, like barn siding. The side walls will be covered with drywall on the lower half and white peg board on top. I’ll have two different work benches under the barn lights, one about 8’ long and one 10’ long 90 degrees of each other. They will be built at two different height levels. There will also be a small closet added along the back wall in the corner.

There’s still a lot to get done finishing the shop out and I actually enjoy working on it, even though things are progressing slowly. Money and time has a lot to do with that. But, on these hot summer days, it’s quite nice to open up the doors and windows, sit back in a lawn chair with the fan oscillating on high, and slowly sip a large glass of tea. Fine times for a weary body, for sure. One bonus is that I can also drag my BBQ grill in there when cooking out and it decides to rain.

It’s a tight fit in there right now but it’s a good space for working on 4’ x 4’ barn quilt blocks. My hope is that I can make an 8’ x 8’ one in there as well. It will REALLY be tight then! I may have to work on half of it at a time. I try and get out in the shop by 5:30 each morning and work for about an hour before I head to my job. It’s cooler then but I can’t use a lot of loud power tools to wake my family or the neighbors. Not that I CAN’T, but, it’s probably not the smartest thing to do.

The 4’ x 4’ board in the picture will be painted in the “Corn and Beans” design and, hopefully, be sold at a local business. This is the last piece of hardwood birch I have and will start using MDO boards in the future. I’ll show you the finished product soon.

To add a little variety to my blog, I’ll post things, like this shop construction, that are not always about barn quilts. I plan to visit local farms and post something about their history and their barns. I think my previous post about the Logsdon farm will be a good example of this even though it’s situated two counties away. A barn quilt’s worth seeing and knowing about where ever it’s at, right?

A future plan is to try and enlist help to eventually establish a Barn Quilt Trail in my county of Scott. This will take a lot of work but I know it will be beneficial to our area in many ways. That will be a good winter time project. More on that later.

Thanks for looking and may God richly bless your day.

Mark

LOGSDON BARN QUILTS

I had the opportunity to visit the farm of Jim and Judy Logsdon not long ago. They are located just south of Ripley, IL.

They bought the house and 5 acres in 1995 from the Stout Family. The farm has been owned by the Stout’s since back in the 1860’s and the barn was built by them. It is a gambrel roof design that was used at one time as a milking parlor. It is still used for hay storage and a place for beef cattle.

Judy says the four 4’ x 4’ barn quilts are of a Four Seasons pattern and were made by Connie Markley. Jim hung the signs and put a nice wooden frame around them. I think they look fantastic!

Judy also has a quilt shop that is very nice. You can see from the pictures she does a fantastic job and she showed me a wonderful baby quilt she had just finished. If you ever get in their area, the barn quilts and quilt shop are worth a look see.

Thanks Jim and Judy!

BARN RAISING

One of the things I want to do on this blog is to highlight some local barn quilts with their names, who owns them and any stories that might be attached to them. I've already showed you pictures of the two reversible blocks that I made for my parents for Christmas in 2008.

Here is a picture of the first barn quilt that mom made as dad was working on raising his barn. Mom says it's from a Log Cabin series of designs and called "Barn Raising". I know there are some pictures of it being attached to the barn and I'll post them once I find them. It's on a 4' x 4' board. You can click on the images to enlarge.

CAN YOU SAY, "JOHN DEERE"?

The painting and touch up is done. Turned out pretty good I think. I'll find a better back drop soon.

HOW I DO IT.

Thought I'd show anyone who cared how that I am making my barn quilts. There is certainly nothing hard about making one but I think it takes a steady hand and eye....and enough patience to allow the paint to dry. There are some websites that show you how they make the barn quilts and not everyone does it the same or goes thru the same process. What I'll show you is just how I do it until I learn a better or more economical way. Feel free to contact me if you can help me improve.

Here are some pictures of a barn quilt that I am currently making. It's actually the first one that I'm getting paid to do. It's always a real treat getting paid to do something you enjoy. It makes me happy, happy, happy! :-)

Anyway, I start off with a sheet of 1/2" Hardwood Birch. I know this is cabinet grade stuff but, unless I went to 3/4" exterior plywood, there was nothing else worth getting at my local lumber yard. This stuff is strait and smooth and easy to work with. A little pricey but all lumber seems to be nowadays. I had the lumber yard cut it into two 4' x 4' pieces so I didn't have to. Their vertical saw is great.

Next, I cut some strips about 1-1/2" wide of either Pine or whatever else kind of wood I have and make a frame on the back. I glue and nail these to help with strength and also make it easier to hang.

Then, I paint two coats of primer/sealer on the front and back.

Then I lay out my design, masked off the areas that will be painted with the lightest color first. I then apply, at a minimum, three coats of semi-gloss exterior latex enamel. This design is called Harvest Star 4 and the customer wanted three specific colors.

This is what it looks like after I remove the masking tape with the first color done.

I then masked off for my next color. The customer wanted John Deere green, yellow plus black and told me where they wanted the colors to be. Because the background was going to be green, and because I did not want to be bumping up against the edge while painting the inside, I painted the black before the green.

Here's the result after removing the tape around the black. I also started taping around the circle as the black was drying.

I then started on the inner green color.

I then finished up with the first coat with the outside green. This was as far as a got this morning before heading to work. I'll show you the finished product next post.

Thanks for looking.