First Draft of the Barn Art Quilt Completed

I spent a good part of the day holed up in my sewing room working on my barn quilt.  There was one spot that I had decided I would just "wing it" on before I ever even cut out the pattern.  That was a mistake.  That two inch square area was what took about 5 hours to stitch, rip, restructure, re-rip, etc.  The rest was easy.  I decided to not mess with the windows on the side of the barn although that would have looked more interesting.  I will save that for a project that I do after I am more proficient. 
Recall that I used this as my model:

And here is the quilt:

The contrast between the blue and the neutral in the sky is more extreme than I want and looks either like mountains or sunrays or an explosion or something.  If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't use the neutrals in the sky - I'd stick with a number of shades of blue.    But I would still use a patchy background rather than something flat.  Actually, there is a blue fabric on the upper righthand side (Stonehenge by Northcott) that  I can see using for all of the sky because it has so much texture in it, on its own. 

This project contains an uneasy mixture of symbolic (the trees), artsy (the sky), and a stab at realistic (the barn). I don't even know what to call the yard other than weird.   The yard needs to be softer where the colors change.   I will probably redo it wth softer colors.  It wouldn't be hard, at all, because I can really just go with a sort of patchy look like the sky (only this time I wouldn't do such extreme mixes).

All in all, I am very happy with it. 

And look at THIS!!!

My darling daughters (two natural, one brought into the family by my wise son) are taking a knitting class, together.  They sent a picture of their home work!   I am not sure why they all used the same color unless the instructor told them to or they were going cheap on yarn.  Going cheap would come naturally for at least two of them.  I am mightily impressed.  One of them sheepishly confessed that she worked on hers in the car on the way to class, which is why it isn't as big.  She, of course, got the requisite mom lecture about doing her homework on time, but I think they are all just spendid.  I hope they teach me! 

Our snow from the Spring Equinox blizzard is all but gone.  I am not sorry to see it go.   I'm glad I had a fun project to work on.  I absolutely love the fabric for the roof. 

Busy week, ahead.  Tuesday, I have an orientation to volunteer at the local low cost spay/neuter clinic.  Wednesday, we close on our Virginia house (we'll be doing it long distance but I need to be here in case they need anything).  I hope the new owners love it as much as we did.  They are really going to luck out on neighbors.  Thursday, I have a quilt guild meeting and on Friday, my best girlfriend and I are planning on spending the day at the Medieval Fair like a couple of teenagers.  It is nice to have something scheduled.  I have really enjoyed my downtime but having something specific to look forward to and/or plan for is nice, too. 

Happy Quilting,

Penny, Evelyn and Pearl