Our Barn Quilt Story

On one of our journeys from Washington to Idaho, somewhere middle of Washington, on the other side of the mountains and trees, we noticed large painted quilts hanging on barns. In what might be regular-old farming or pasture land, the quilts gave the area so much more personality. The view heading westbound was different from eastbound, and it was fun and interesting to keep an eye-out for newly posted quilts. Kittitas County, WA modeled itself after Iowa quilts and organized its very own quilt trail. I wanted to join-in, but unfortunately there just doesn’t appear to be a comparable trail in King County.

Lemoyne Star

Fast-forward several years, and many evenings while outside, our large brown barn seemed oh-so boring. So, one Memorial Day weekend I spent crafting this first simplistic quilt and it really improved the look of our barn.

Since the space is so big, I wanted a simple block pattern. The Lemoyne star in Red-White-Blue seemed appropriate to salute our Memorial Day project.

Cowlitz Indian Tribe

As a next project, I wanted a little more personal, and less structured quilt. So, as inspiration, I looked to my husband, a proud Cowlitz. I had thought this quilt would go onto the back of the barn, but my husband liked it so much, it was “promoted” to our house. What makes it a quilt is that it is painted on 4, 2×2-foot squares.

Maple Leaf

Next, I thought I’d take on a four-quilt series, all centered around the seasons. My intention was to showcase important plants/flowers for honey bees.  I started with autumn since I knew I had a paint stash representing fall colors. Interestingly, though, maple is one of our earliest blooms here in the area, and important for our local bees (FYI: at the time California sees its almond blooms, we see the maple). So while I think of the Maple tree as a staple for autumn beauty, it easily could have been listed as our spring bloom.

Sunflower

The end of summer is the signal for our sunflowers to bloom. The bees slow down a little but they are still foraging for pollen. As long as our eagle is around to scare off the squirrels, our sunflowers bloom for a good 60 days and provide lots of good vittles for the bees to do final winter preparation.

This quilt is hung in the top of the stall where we store the bee equipment. The black center is topped with glitter, dazzling when the sunlight streams-in from the skylights above.

Perhaps I’ll find some type of inspiration over the next few months to celebrate spring and winter flowers. Until then, in honor of our farm-country Kittitas neighbors, I’m sending good thoughts from west to east. Thanks for the inspiration! Happy quilting and happy beekeeping.