Quilting in Nova Scotia

Here's some quilty pix from my recent trip to Nova Scotia:

This looks like a quilt, but its a graphic printed on vinyl at

Pier 21, the Canadian Immigration Museum in Halifax.

And I met up with Valerie, a fellow member of the Secret Society of Barn Builders,

near Peggy's Cover, NS.

I took my barn quilt to show her, so we posed for a group picture.

I had seen her quilt in person at the AQS show in Des Moines, Iowa in 2016,

and it was nice to meet her.

Len (at right) loves the vintage VW vans -- in red,

so I gave him a pouch made from the original tent from my VW van.

My heart is in Tennessee but my body is in Winnipeg

I had planned for months to spend the day with Julie Sefton,

who is pictured here with my Words fail me quilt.

I met Julie through her blog

and over the years we've become friends.

Over email and the blog she helped me design this quilt

and I was thrilled to show it to her in person

at AQS Grand Rapids in 2013.

About a year later she invited me to build a barn 

as part of her Build-a-Barn book.

About a dozen of us took up that challenge,

and the smallish quilts were to be part of the book.

In the end, they didn't make the cut

but the gallery of barn quilts is on display today

at AQS Chattanooga.

Several of us signed up to take a course with Gwen Marston,

famous quilt teacher and someone who has influenced me through her books.

But Gwen had surgery and couldn't come

and I began to rethink my trip to Tennessee.

It's a long way from Winnipeg (not really, only about 22 hours by road)

but expensive to fly.

So I didn't go, choosing to save my travel money for another upcoming trip.

I'm sorry I couldn't be there today for the class, 

now taught by another teacher,

as well as missing Julie and other friends I only know through this space.

I am planning to drive to Des Moines, Iowa in early October

where the barn quilts will be hanging again.

Anyone else planning to be in Iowa then?

Let me know.

Read more about the story behind my barn, quilted by Chris Ballard.

And if you're in Chattanooga this week, send me a picture!

More barns and giveaway winner

Thanks to everyone for your kind words about my barn.

The winner of Julie's Build A Barn book is:

 Lisa in Port Hope said...

I went to school at the university of Waterloo in Ontario, which is Mennonite country, but I don't remember seeing a house barn. I saw a barn raising once though, which was very cool, to see how everyone working together could so quickly build a structure to last a hundred years. 

Head over to visit Nancy Near Philadelphia

for another chance to win the book

and to see another barn from the Secret Society of Barn Builders.

Building barns part 2

I've been building houses a long time,

so I didn't hesitate when Julie asked me to join

the Secret Society of Barn Builders

to test out the instructions in her new book, Build-A-Barn.

I'm starting with scraps in this quick tutorial,

using up a collection of pink bits.

Here I've sewn house fabric around the windows

and installed the front door.

I added background fabric to the sides of the house

and cut two triangles ( a square cut in half)

for the sky around the roof.

You can see I decided to flatten the roof to keep it 

from overwhelming the house.

But it doesn't have to be complicated.

Here's a 2.5 inch square and a coordinating triangle from the scrap bin.

I put a larger piece of blue sky fabric on the cutting mat

placed the roof triangle centred on the bottom,

and cut around it.

That leaves a sky fabric triangle for the scrap bin

and ensures the edges of the block are not on the bias.

I sewed chunks of sky fabric beside the orange square,

joined the roof section to the house base,

and found a bit of green scrap

to ground the house.

These are basic steps and you can get as fancy as you like 

in putting in architectural details.

My giveaway of Julie's barn book is still open for another day here.

Barn building with Julie

Welcome the first Canadian stop on the Build-A-Barn tour for Julie Sefton's new book.

I've met Julie through her blog, some online classes we've done together,

and in person at the 2013 AQS show in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Today's barn is located in Reinland, Manitoba, Canada,

just a few kilometres north of the Manitoba-North Dakota border

in a Mennonite village featuring European house barns. 

This is the homestead where my mother lived for the first years of her  life

and was owned by my extended family for decades.

It's now a heritage site open to the public from May to September.

Inspired by the pictures here, 

I decided to portray the back of the barn

which is patched up with plywood over the original cedar siding.

I used a variety of hand dyed fabrics, many dyed by my mother,

to give the quilt a soft, painterly feel.

Close up of summer kitchen wing of house before quilting

I planted one tree, and placed it in a sky of stars and moons.

That fabric was originally a white on white print, then dyed blue.

Here the barn is under construction.

I pieced together the reds/orange/browns and I'm testing out the roof line.

Here's another shot of the process,

with the photo for reference

Originally I planned a patchwork sky and foreground

but realized the hand dyed fabrics provided enough variation

on their own.

The prairies of Manitoba have big skies and lots of  fertile, flat fields great for crops.

This barn and house are located on a long narrow plot stretching back from the road.

This is a view that would only be seen by the family working in the barnyard or the fields.

This view also provided the name: The back of the back 40.

Now I haven't seen this quilt for more than a year.

I sent it off to Julie  in Tennessee to be finished by her long-armer Chris Ballard.

But from the pictures, I can see the quilting details brought the quilt to life.

Check out this picture gallery of my quilt on the SSOBB site.

Still with me?

In honour (with a U!) of the first Canadian stop on the book's blog tour,

I'm offering the book to one of my Canadian readers.

Later this week I'll post about making barns and houses

and how to cut those sky pieces so the edges are not on the bias.

Please leave a comment below with your email address and where you live

and I'll pick a winner on May 7.

Tell me if you've ever seen a Mennonite house-barn in person,

or just leave any comment.

I'm linking up with The Needle and Thread Network.