Triple Bear Paw

Over the past several years I've enjoyed viewing barn quilt signs on homes and businesses.  I thought to myself I can easily make a barn quilt sign.  Heck, if I can cut and sew fabric into beautiful quilt blocks painting one should be a piece of cake.  And so the process began.

This fall our quilting group, The Midnight Stitchers, joined up to make barn quilt signs to display on our homes.  

First we drew our blocks out on graph paper.  This would help us decide on the size board we would paint on and also we could color in the blocks to purchase paint.  I decided to do the Triple Bear Paw - in remembrance of the mama black bear and her three cubs that hung around our house for a couple years.  I miss them.  Well, sort of.  It was scary when she would just pop out of the woods during the day with her cubs.  It certainly was great watching them from inside the house, but not being outside with them.

The next hurdle was to find the perfect type of wood that would last in our weather and be smooth on one side to help make crisp painted lines.  One of our members owns a lumberyard and sign board was recommended.  As a group we ordered a large piece of sign board and divided it up amongst us.  The owner of the lumberyard was so awesome, he even cut our individual squares.

We primed our board and drew out our block using our graph paper design as a guide.  And the painting began.   I found that painting with the light colors first and building up to the darker color worked best.  It's easier to cover over light colors vs coloring light over dark.  A painters tape was used to help get sharp lines (I liked the brand Scotch Sharp Lines brand).

With the light colored finished it was exciting to start adding color and watching my design come together.

The whole processes took a few months.  Each layer of paint had to dry completely before the next layer was added.  And most of the time I was unable to get back to the next layer of paint for several days.  And finally here is the finished Barn Quilt Sign - Triple Bear Paw.  

I thought the sign size would be bigger looking on my house, but it looks great.  I wanted it hung higher centered above my windows, but communication between me and my husband didn't pan out.  Regardless I love it, of course.  I even have a barn shaped house and garage to display it on.  I'm very proud to display it outside for people passing by can view it.  If the neighbors knew the meaning of the block I know they would enjoy it more.

Another UFO checks off my list.  Back to creating.