Monday, May 23, 2016

Barn Blog Hop AND A Giveaway

I am part of the Blog Hop for Julie Sefton's book Build A Barn.  And today is my day!  Actually, this is my WEEK!

If you build a real barn you do need a pattern of sorts, but you on these you just need an idea. Or a photo.  A photo helps a lot.

When I first came upon Julie she was working on her own barn quilt.  Before the book, before the idea, before the quilt show ribbons, it was just Julie working on her barns.  I was enthralled with the barns she was making and I began following her.  Every once in a while, I would ask if she was going to write  a book or do patterns.  She would always say, no.


I am so glad she finally changed her mind!

When she started writing the process work for the book, she asked several of her quilt friends (by then I had bugged her enough to be noticed!) to come together as the Secret Society of Barn Builders, affectionately called SSOBB.   And we had to keep it all a secret.  Ohhhhh.  Hard.

She would write and send us the notes  We made barns and proofed the notes.

Eventually, we all had barns.  And for some odd reason, I had two.  I thought we were supposed to do a barn for each of the process sessions she was sending.  Obviously I was mistaken because I was the ONLY one who ended up with TWO barns!

Duh!

Julie walks you through step by step, which I am woefully inadequate at doing on my own.  But it did make it easier to build my barns in the long run.

It also helps to have a picture or sketch.  Most of the SSOBBs had great photos of barns.  We don't have many great barns here in the south, especially in the city.  So I just worked from my mind and what I thought a barn should be.





My barn grew starting from doors, to roofs, to fields of green.





Here I was testing the roof line.



Barns definitely need those windmills and a pond to water the cows who live inside.

This is the final product.  Julie's amazing quilter Chris quilted the 13 little barns for us.

Our barns are now traveling to AQS quilt shows across the US right now. 


Did I mention there was a giveaway?

If you leave a comment talking about a barn you have a picture of, either in your mind or your photos, I will give you one entry to the winner's circle and one of Julie's autographed books.

  I will announce the winner on on Friday.

AND.........

If you stop in again this week and see the second barn I made, I will give you a SECOND entry!

And I have one more post for the Blog Hop this week where i will talk about other ways you can use the book.  Like my Cajun Camps.  You can get ANOTHER chance!

It is improvisation, you know!

Oh, and I expect all my friends to enter, I am watching you!!!!!




24 comments:

  1. What a great project to be part of. Barns are a common site here in Ohio. I never thought to stop and take a picture of any. I think your Cajun Camps is such a genius segway.

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  2. This one reminds me of the one on the farm where I grew up!

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  3. I was raised in Colorado on a ranch. Several barns to pick from!

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  4. There is (was) a barn in Michigan that grabbed my imagination many years ago and told me it wanted to be a quilt. Julie's Build-a-Barn movement may be the impetus I need to get it done. (FYI, don't enter me in your give-away, Julie kindly sent me a review copy of the book–I hope to get to my barn and my review this week!)

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  5. Great Post Glen!
    Your barn is so colorful and fun, especially your windmill!
    Of course I'm a charter member of the SSOBB so I'll not be included in the drawing.

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  6. Completely from what you thought a good barn should look like?!?! Goodness :) I love the windmill....it's so inspiring to see what other quilters do. No entry for me ;-)

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  7. Terrific post, Glen!

    p.s. And as it turned out, you weren't the only one -- Valerie also made two barns (even though that wasn't her original plan) and so did Lynne (again, not her original plan).

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  8. I love looking at all the barns Julie inspired!
    I live on a farm, so all I have to do is go outside and I can see several barns! Do you suppose I should make a quilt?

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  9. It sounds like barn building is an addictive process. I have already won a copy of Julie's wonderful book from the other Julie so you don't need to enter my name in the giveaway . Having said that I am enjoying reading the posts and watching the process. I am a big fan of Julie's blog and have followed her work for a long time now. Barns are a big part of Alberta where I live. The Canadian prairies and my farming roots have given me the opportunity to grow up around barns and see them in all states of beauty. There are red ones of course but some of the most beautiful are the ones that are in a less than pristine condition. Thanks for participating and hosting a giveaway. I am sure your winner is going to love Julie's book.
    Warmest regards,
    Anna

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  10. I love your work on the Cajun Fish camp, and the pictures I saw on the SSOBB site leave me in breatless anticipation of your next block.

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  11. Made several with different blocks on them for a quilt

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  12. ssobb lol

    my barn would have a sign, See Rock City
    that may be an east coast reference
    LeeAnna

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    1. The book's cover quilt is named See Rock City --- there's info in the book on Rock City and the advertising phrase we hear and see. In fact, the February barn (top row center) does have a See Rock City sign on it!

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  13. I have a real barn, and my sewn one would have a barn quilt on it! I keep hoping that the hubby will gift me a real one, but not so far. My friend just got one that is mounted inside a steel wagon wheel from her husband's grandfather's farm. Memories!

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  14. Have been following along with all the "barn builders" and as my daughter married into a family of dairy farmers I would love to try and make a barn like the one at the farm.

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  15. There is a big white aging barn that I see almost every day on the way to work - I love it, and after seeing Julies book I keep looking even more at it!

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  16. Glen, your barn is wonderful! I love how you included sweet details like the pond and the windmill. I've pulled similar colors for my soon-to-come barn making adventure too. (I have Julie's exciting book already , so don't enter me in the giveaway.)

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  17. I love barns. I guess it's from growing up near so many barns and perhaps from knowing my grandfather was a farmer. I never knew him and the farm had been sold by the time I was born but my grandmother lived on another farm and I recall visiting her many, many times and she'd always have homemade bread or cookies for me. I have a picture of my sister's barn and I made quilt blocks for a block exchange several years ago. My barn block was drawn out on graph paper so I think this type of barn making would be much better. I hope to try it. I'll be looking for more barns.

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  18. Years ago I used to take photos of barns. The plan was to make a book of them. Many, many years later I am enjoying
    JUlie's and all her helpers making barns. Your barns are beautiful (as are all of them).

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  19. I have agreat pocture of the barn at my sister's through the flower garden.

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  20. I like barns that have exceeded their life spans. Those leaning, teetering, falling down wrecks you see on backroads and byways. I have quite a few photos of those.

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  21. I have several barns I want to sew but the first one will be from my parents' farm in southeastern Ohio.

    🙂 Linda

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  22. I grew up on a farm with a big old barn and an old fashioned mill. I don't think I have any pictures of the barn but I do of the mill. I would love to try this technique and capture the memory of the mill. ecdonges@gmail.com

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  23. For years I visited my buddy in Liberty, Pennsylvania. He had the neatest weathered barn only it was in dire need of repair.

    I wasn't able to visit him for many years, and when I finally did, the barn had practically collapsed. He really wanted to build a bigger, better barn, but because of zoning laws, he couldn't knock it down. He had to patch it here and there, which was becoming too costly so he just let it fall down. It broke his heart to see it like that, so he let my husband take the center beam - probably 25 feet or so long. We put it on the roof of the car and carried it back to Philadelphia where my husband built an addition for his Mom's house and used "The Beam" as the center joist. Thirty years later it still holds up...and we always think of Charlie's Barn.

    Thanks for reminding me of a good memory....

    Loretta McGinn
    tlkids65ll@aol.com

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