Back to the Barn

I had a great afternoon working on my barn quilt today.  I added a few background trees and started stitching.  While I enjoyed figuring out where to put the pieces of fabric, the stitching is way more fun.  Already the quilt is beginning to take shape and each new section of stitching adds dimension and detail.

   
Although the fabrics are fused, moving the top around tends to loosen them a bit, so I started off by going around every fabric piece that matches the thread. Since I try to overlap my fabrics, that alone helped quite a bit because it means that I caught two fabrics at one time.  Adding a few lines on the "boards" also helped.

This is the right side of the barn, under the eave.  There's a tree trunk showing from behind the barn and lots of stuff either under the eave or on the side of the tree.  In the photo (and at the real barn) the tree is so close that the trunk touches the roof.  I'm not sure I got it right, but I'm hopeful.

This photo shows the left side also under the eave.  I wanted this side to look like it has wood and other items that have been piled up and sitting there for a long time.  It is also darker than the right side because it's enclosed, so I have more shadow and darkness in the background.

The roof would seem to be the easiest part, right?  It's just a squashed rectangle, but it has been a real fit-inducing section.  First there was the problem of finding the right fabric with enough rust. Then I couldn't figure out how to handle the split in the center.  I finally decided to put the lines that show where each sheet of tin begins and ends so that the top and bottom sections don't match perfectly.  My idea is that if we're looking at the barn from an angle, they would not line up.  Of course, I could be wrong.  I can't see these lines in the photo and I didn't think to look at the barn roof the last time we were there.

The last section I worked on is the section in the corridor.  This is just a big opening in the center of the barn.  There were doors on the back at one time and a gate on the front, but none of those exist today. That means you can see into the corridor, and I had to figure out how to show the detail and the angle.  While I think I have the details, I'm very sure that the half open corn crib door is not correct.  I can't figure out if it looks closed or if the corn crib and the door look like they are part of the front of the barn.  Tell me what you see when you look at the corridor.  Do I need to add some angles?  I can do that.  It's just a matter of figuring out where and which way the angle should lean.  Of course, some stitches would have to come out, but that's a little issue.

 

 

Please feel free to leave a comment.  I love suggestions, especially if they will help me figure out what and where the problems are!