The Free Pieced Barn Project "Smash Book" Journal

Over the past month, in between other things, I have been working on my See Rock City/Build a Barn journal.

You can read the initial post for the project HERE (scroll about half way through the post).

The photo above shows the tag I added inside the front of the book.

I included an updated photo of the aging barn we pass every time we head out to the big box stores.

December 2014 . . . it seems like yesterday when the SSOBB began.

The timeline includes lots of little things as well as the big dates.  

The journal can absolutely be read without it, but having it in the journal makes me happy.

The publisher's 96 pages definitely grew thicker.

I'm very pleased with the results and I learned a few more things during the process.

Is it perfect?  

No, but it is perfectly imperfect and that is just fine with me.

It is also finished.

* * *

If you'd like to see the rest of the page photos, click HERE to visit the journal's Google Photos album.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Art is chaos taking shape."

Pablo Picasso

Another Fascination of Mine

Nancy Near Philadelphia sent me this photo last week along with the website where she encountered it.

(You may remember that Nancy is a member of the Secret Society of Barn Builders - aka the SSOBB - the quilters who made the gallery quilts for my Build a Barn book)

Here is A LINK to this remarkable story on Collosal.com 

You can see multiple photos of this amazing barn by visiting Catie Newell's website HERE and indexing through her images of Secret Sky.

And HERE IS A LINK to the organization 53 North that has been active in this unique form of barn preservation.  

Click on the images of each of the three barns (or use the direct links below) to learn more about each of the projects:

Secret Sky (shown above)

Celestial Ship of the North

Art in the Public Realm - which includes a link to a most interesting PBS Newshour video.

* * *

And while I am not actively making free pieced barn quilts these days, my appreciation for these venerable structures has not diminished.  

In fact, while visiting Lynne in NH, we deliberately drove many of the "back roads" in order to enjoy viewing countless New England barns.  

Quiltdivajulie

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“Magic lies in challenging what seems impossible.”

Carol Moseley Braun

Cherie's Broken Dishes - The Quilt

In September 2016, Cherie gave me

a 2-lb. blueberry box filled with pieces and parts

from her fabulous shirtings project stash.

Within just a few weeks

I had turned them into a scrappy quilt top.

Since then the top has been waiting patiently . . .

At long last,

Cherie's Broken Dishes was quilted and bound 

during the last week of December

which technically makes it a 2018 finish.

42" wide x 50" long

Quilted with liberated free motion fans and petals

using Glide's Khaki thread.

The quilt is backed with a long-stashed Melody Ross print.

And since this photo was taken,

the label has been stitched in place.

Cherie - THANK YOU

for sharing your scrappy leftovers.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."
G.K. Chesterton

Glen's Liberated Bird Quilt

This is Glen's liberated bird quilt

made using Lynne's liberated birds tutorial.

Glen set her bird blocks by filling in with 

loads and loads of scrappy HSTs -

I love it!!

(you can read most of her posts

about making the birds and the quilt

by clicking HERE.)

And if you are wondering why Glen's quilt is  here with me,

it's because she has loaned it to me so I can share it

with the students in my St. Louis liberated birds class

on Sat. July 14th.

(I love the enduring connections shared

between those of us who were part of

BUILD A BARN's Secret Society of Barn Builders)

Younger son was my assistant

as we've had lots of heavy rains

and the skies were still threatening . . . 

I didn't want to chance Glen's quilt falling

onto the damp ground or having it land in a puddle.

Our photo shoot location was the

Veteran's Plaza at Overton Park.

(all photos should supersize if double clicked

so you can read the information on the plaques)

The light was good for showing off the quilt's quilted texture.

As I was laying the quilt on the dry stone base

of the Doughboy statue,

a passing bike rider joking asked if the rock was cold.

These patriotic birds are in the upper corner and

it just seemed appropriate that they pose with the statue.

We found a nice grassy area with no damp grass -

this is the best all over photo we were able to get.

Hoping you can see how very fun Glen's quilt is!

A little further along on the plaza

we found this memorial for The Memphis Belle -

the real woman for whom the plane was named

and the plane and its crew.

This is the lower left corner of the quilt.

This is the lower right corner.

This is the upper right corner.

And this is the upper left corner.

Turning back around,

you can see both the Memphis Belle and the Doughboy statue

along with some of the name-bearing plaques

in honor of those who served but did not return home.

And near where we parked the car,

we found this single empty chair 

under one of the large trees.

Evocative and poignant, to say the least.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Only the weak are cruel. 
Gentleness can only be expected from the strong."
Leo Buscaglia

Sharing Sad News

just-Spring by Katherine R. French

I am so very sorry to share news of 

the passing of one of our SSOBB Charter Members.

Collage - just-Spring by Katherine R. French

Kathy French passed away on November first

after being diagnosed with Stage Four lung cancer.

Kathy was an enthusiastic member of the SSOBB,

sharing many thoughts during the editing process

that made BUILD A BARN's process notes better.

She also shared barn photos from her 2016 trip to the UK.

She posted about this stone barn here.

She also shared a post about this stone barn in North Wales.

* * *

And, if you've never seen 

Kathy's amazing free pieced quilt 

named Roses for Rosita,

be sure to click here and scroll through the posts

she shared during the quilt's making.

Thank you Kathy for sharing your gifts with us - 

We will miss you!

Quiltdivajulie

Check It Out!!!!!!!!

Be on the lookout for the September issue

of American Quilter magazine.

WHY??

The Secret Society of Barn Builders'

amazingly wonderful gallery barn quilts

are featured in this issue!

When you get your copy,

be sure to read pages 80-83.

Then visit the BUILD A BARN blog

to read the stories behind those barns.

And to celebrate,

please take a fun photo of the page 

with your favorite SSOBB barn

and post it on Instagram 

using the hashtag

#freepiecedbarnproject

Let's make some noise for 

the charter members 

of the SSOBB!!

(selfies and on-location shots are encouraged)

Quiltdivajulie

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today

the first copies of my book

arrived at our house.

Chris (the mom) was elated 

when her copy was delivered.

And SSOBB Charter Member Julie P.

grabbed a quilt to snuggle under

while she checked out the book.

* * *

You can read all about BUILD A BARN,

the Secret Society of Barn Builders

and their amazing Gallery Quilts,

plus so much more by clicking HERE

and exploring the many tabbed pages

on the book's website.

Thank you, thank you, thank you

 to everyone who has been a part of this journey.

Let the adventure continue!

Quiltdivajulie

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"Gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." 
(G. K. Chesterton)

Barn News and Notes

I will be sharing quilts and stories

from The Free Pieced Barn Project at the

Uncommon Threads Quilt Guild meeting

in Germantown, Tennessee

on Tuesday, January 24.

The guild meets at Germantown UMC,

2331 South Germantown Road.

Their meeting starts at 6:30 and ends by 9:00.

For those who are local,

I hope you can make it.

* * *

In other BUILD A BARN news . . .

The Seasonal Sampler (L) at AQS Chattanooga 2016
(quilt on right by Gwen Marston from her book Free Range Triangles)

Last week I learned 

The Seasonal Sampler 

WILL be traveling to all six

of this year's AQS shows

as part of the Author's Showcase:

Daytona Beach, FL (Mar. 1 – 4)

 Lancaster, PA (Mar. 29 – Apr. 1)

Spring Paducah, KY (Apr. 26 – 29) 

Grand Rapids, MI (Aug. 16 – 19) 

Fall Paducah, KY (Sep. 13 – 16) 

and

Des Moines, IA (Oct. 4 – 7)

If any of you make it to any of the shows,

I'd love to have a photo of you with the quilt.

(email address is in 

my profile in the sidebar)

I'm also excited to share

that I will be teaching a week-long class 

in April at the John C. Campbell Folk School

in Brasstown, North Carolina.

CLICK HERE for class details.

(there's also a link in my sidebar)

Those of you who have followed my blog

for very long know that DH and I have spent

quite a few vacation weeks taking classes at JCCFS.

This link will take you to their home page.

From that starting point, you can learn about 

the history of the place,

the philosophy of their programming,

and details for schedules, housing, and more.

I hope you'll take a look

and that you will consider joining 

the Build a Barn class!

Quiltdivajulie

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Don't cry because it's over.  Smile because it happened.  (Dr. Seuss)

Chattanooga Part 2 - Abstract Quilts in Solids Class

 

Lynn Harris taught our

Abstract Quilts in Solids class.

We covered all sorts of 

liberated quilt making topics

from fabric choices to design ideas.

We learned about floating squares,

Spikey Business (elongated triangles),

the "ish" factor,

curved and wedge-like inserts,

and SO much more.

Everyone in this hands-on class

learned something new from Lynn about

Gwen Marston's liberated techniques.

(Lynn has been a student of Gwen's

for over 20 years now) 

Later in the day, 

Lynn pulled out her 

liberated log cabin blocks 

and a WIP log cabin quilt

to illustrate different ways

of combining our small compositions.

I love that I was able to capture 

her hands in this photo.

(Lynn's quilt in the background 

is featured in my one of my favorite

quilt photo ops of all time)

This class was extra special for several reasons.

ONE 

I finally broke the barrier and

 worked played with solids.

Mine are Bella Solids by Moda.

TWO 

I met long-time online blogging friend Lynn Harris.

Lynn takes the most gorgeous photographs

and makes absolutely beautiful scrap quilts.

She also contributed photos for

BUILD A BARN - like the one

that is featured on the two page spread

at the very beginning of the book.

Lynn also signed my copy of her book.

THREE 

I met up with long-time online blogging friend Cherie Moore.

We have taken 2 different classes together in St. Louis -

Lynne Tyler in 2013 and Sujata Shah in 2015.

We've also met up with each other at

the 2014 and 2016 Paducah shows.

(strawberry shortcake for lunch - yum!)

FOUR 

I met long-time online blogging friend Heidi Burkhardt.

Heidi and I have corresponded for years.

(we both discovered Gwen Marston 

through Tonya's Lazy Gal blog)

but we never anticipated meeting face to face

since Heidi lives in Germany.

(Have I mentioned lately 

how much I love

our long distance 

blogging community?)

and

FIVE

Heidi, Cherie, and I are all 

Charter Members of 

the Secret Society of Barn Builders 

and it was 

SO MUCH FUN 

to spend a day together

playing with fabrics and sharing scraps.

(quilt in the background is another of Lynn's)

During a break,

Cherie shared one of her long-term quilts

that was just back from the longarmer.

SCRAP SALAD is fabulously liberated

and full of gloriously happy colors.

This was my piece when the class ended at 4:00.

The neutral strips came from Cherie.

The magenta strip pieced

between the neutral segments

came from Heidi.

I love that I have bits of their fabrics

worked into my project.

L to R:  Lynn, Heidi, Cherie, Julie

Thanks to Valora

("The Janome Lady")

for taking this photo of us.

And many, MANY thanks to Lynn

for leading a great class!

* * *

One last note:

Be sure to visit the 

BUILD A BARN blog

for more Chattanooga photos 

including a few from the

SSOBB Gallery Quilt Special Exhibit.

Quiltdivajulie