Piecemakers Barn Quilt

Mom and I went to a quilt show in Denver the first Sat. in May. We took MyGirl with us too and had a great morning. 

We saw one quilt twice. It was this one below. Up close it was spectacular, with all of the beautiful barns, but what it made it really special was all the details on each block. One of  them was a prizewinner at the show.

These are not just pieced together. There is all kinds of embellishment with ribbon and regular embroidery. 

Mom knew that she had this pattern at home. Its made by Piecemakers, her favorite quilt shop in Costa Mesa, California. Each year they publish a calendar and the patterns to make it. This is the calendar from 2003.

As soon as we got home, Mom got started. I said I loved it, and somehow I became part of this project though its way beyond my skill set or my patience level. If Mom wasn't actually doing all the tracing and sewing and ironing the pieces together I wouldn't do it. But I am helping with all the fabric selection and I have done some tracing and I am doing the thread embroidery. I did the ribbon embroidery on one tree. Mom's much better than I am.

Mom's been going great guns. I squeeze in a couple of hours a week. 

This is the July block picture on the calendar.

This is our block below. We don't have the exact same fabrics, but that's what makes it ours. And we've decided we're not hand appliqueing this . . . that would take Forever! We use a lot of wonder under. This is not a quilt you put on your bed. It hangs on the wall so we're not worried about it falling apart in the wash. A lady in our quilt guild made another Piecemaker's quilt and it took her 6 years and $6,000. We're not doing that. Mostly we use Mom's stash, though I found a couple of fat quarters of grey we needed on one of my trips to a quilt store next to a doctor's office. Our goal was to do one a month, but Mom is too excited so here it is June and she's starting Sept. and Oct. right now. 

When she gets the main pieces sewn on I start the hand embroidery. You can see below the outlines of the clouds and the stitching on the barn.

Here is Mom's beautiful ribbon embroidery for the flowers. LOVE these!

 This is the August block. Mom's got it ready to go. I have to start my part next.

 Here are the corn stalks she started. The black pieces are birds. When I'm done with the embroidery they will stand out more.

 I finished the embroidery on the June one we did below. Mom's now working on the ribbon embroidery.

 Mom's got May's over at her house. This one we did in reverse. . . issues with the pattern we realized afterwards, but its all good, and its all done! Can't wait to show you the whole thing when all the blocks are finished. It reminds us of my mom's mother, my Grandma Hatch, who loved old barns, so we're making it in her honor. Quilting really is a generational hobby and one my grandmother loved to do too.