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what can you all tell me about the quilt square decorations on barns

Started by doc henderson, September 11, 2022, 01:23:20 PM

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doc henderson

My wife is into quilting, and we have traveled to areas where there is one of these on each barn.  do they run in family by design,  is it like a coat of arms?  can you just make up your own?  we plan to do a wood wall in the basement, and I thought we could do a wood one in or near my wife quilt area.  thanks @Ron Wenrich @Jim_Rogers 
Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

Jim_Rogers

I don't have any history on any quilt patterns. Sorry I can't help you with that.

Jim Rogers
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

Chilterns

Checkout pp66 in :-

LEFFINGWELL, R., 1997. The American Barn. Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International Publishers.

- where Jeff Marks explains the likely source of barn pattern painting instigated mainly by the Pennsylvanian Dutch. The patterns first appeared on birth certificates and later on furniture like blanket chests. These patterns then started to be painted on barns in the late 1800's.

It might also be worth checking out Eric Sloan in :-

SLOAN, E., 1965. A Reverence for Wood. New York, USA: Ballantine Books.


beenthere

Prevalent in Wisconsin too. Wife also a quilter and have one on our barn/shed. Gift from our 4 kids.
What it means ?  do not know.  
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

beenthere

Quote from: Chilterns on September 11, 2022, 02:33:25 PM
.........

It might also be worth checking out Eric Sloan in :-

SLOAN, E., 1965. A Reverence for Wood. New York, USA: Ballantine Books.
Where does Eric Sloane mention quilt squares in his "A reverence for Wood" book? 
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

doc henderson

Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

Ron Wenrich

You might want to look at hex signs.  That's what they're called in our area.  Predominately a German area.  There is symbolism in the design and the meaning.  Here's a couple of websites that might help.

https://hexsigns.com/pages/hex-symbolism

Folk Magic: The Hex Signs of Pennsylvania - Atlas Obscura

Here's something for quilts:

https://vintagepatterns.com-inspired.com/pennsylvania-dutch-quilt-patterns/
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

doc henderson

Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

Don P

Quote from: beenthere on September 11, 2022, 03:16:04 PM
Quote from: Chilterns on September 11, 2022, 02:33:25 PM
.........

It might also be worth checking out Eric Sloan in :-

SLOAN, E., 1965. A Reverence for Wood. New York, USA: Ballantine Books.
Where does Eric Sloane mention quilt squares in his "A reverence for Wood" book?
Found it, I did remember something, Eric Sloane's "America"
The chapter titled American Yesterday, pg 18

Roxie

In Pennsylvania, Ron is spot on. The question remains, which came first, the hex sign or the quilt?  
Say when

kantuckid

KY has a quilt trail as well. They are seen are commonly seen on barns in my area. They probably reflect the quilt choice of the wife of whatever barn owner who's going to paint it. A few men quilt but mostly a girly hobby. 
Paducah, KY has a national quilt show each year and KY's state fair has many quilts on display.
A lead article in todays Lexington Herald-leader newspaper is a quilt story about the recovery of many quilts left behind by an 83 yr old quilter who died in her home in our recent E KY floods. There's a neat picture of them on display after having been restored from immersion in black water in her home.
When my wife & I prepared her Mom's (over a hundred year old family home) home for sale after her death last year, we hauled quilts from several closets by the dozens. Some were unquilted, others were finished. They filled the beds in three bedrooms upstairs alone and were distributed to family who wanted them. My wife completed several while we snowbirded in FL last winter. My wife and her 5 sisters all learned to sew their own clothes along with quilting, which a couple have done as an adult hobby. 

In Kansas, my own Mom was a quilter who'd learned to sew as she grew up. In fact, she did professional sewing on a treadle machine during much of my childhood. Yes, I know hoiw to sew myself and used to do embroidery when a child on scraps I was given to play with. 
She went on quilters bus tours in retirement, including the Paducah show. 
I spent my entire childhood under a home sewn quilt. They were warm when sewn from woolen scraps but I never liked the weight on my toes when the cold forced piling them on! 

Quilt story: Doc, as a scout leader you'll like this one. True story-My cousin David, who I went through school with was a scout as his church had a troop. He invited me on his own to go camping with them one weekend. I showed up at the pickup spot with my quilt rolled up as my sleeping "bag" and when the troop leader saw my quilt and he told me I couldn't go along as they only allowed "official" scouting gear. 
 A local old Topeka, KS department store ("Palace Clothing Store") sold the gear as I'd seen it on display there. I walked home heartbroken as I loved any chance to be outdoors. It was a heavy quilt folded into a bag, then sewn together part way which I camped with all the time. We used old WWII pup tents as our other gear and carbide lanterns. Pork & beans and chili, some eggs & bacon, baked taters were the meals.  
 
The quilters tend to do what they like and try a new one based on seeing others work or from quilting magazines. 
In my home is a handwoven quilt that came from my wifes family, made from homespun, dyed (in 3 colors) and loomed wool, it dates back to the early settlers in Eastern Kentucky. That woven quilt would probably be a family pattern learned and passed down, I think. Sewn quilts were more trendy. 
Well known KY governor, John Y. Brown of KY chicken fame, his wife (Phyllis George, a Miss America) was a strong promoter of KY crafts and quilts were a large part of that effort.  
Kan=Kansas;tuck=Kentucky;kid=what I'm not

petefrom bearswamp

Roxie, I think the hex signs
Hex signs were fairly common in our area for a lot of years.
I think barn quilts are pretty recent and another way for my sweet wife to torment me.
She only has one so far but comments on them whenever we travel.
I expect more in our future.
I see no rhyme or reason to the designs,  but that is to my unpracticed eye.
I seem to also remember a stylized bird called the distlefink maybe?
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WV Sawmiller

   This area was supposedly past of the underground railroad and escaping slaves heading for the north had support who would warn or advise them using quilts with different patterns. I saw part of a clip the other day explaining what certain patterns meant. Many barns around here have them on them.

   Some patterns meant safe, others meant come after dark, etc.

    Since everyone used quilts and washed and aired them out they did not raise any concerns.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Jim_Rogers

Now, inside the barn on timbers would be scribed a daisy wheel. That looked like a flower.
On some timbers that was the "sun" side of the timber/or barn.
And the wheel or peddles of the flower were distances of the barn dimensions.
There is a whole series of reasons for the daisy wheel in regard to dimensions.
There was a famous writer who Jack Sobon had come over from England who taught how to use a daisy wheel to layout the dimensions of a barn.
Dave Shepard, a forum member, took the class and learned from him. The class cut frame and a picture of it is Dave's profile picture.
The frame was brought to the timber framer's guild conference and sold at the yearly fund raiser auction. I'm not sure who bought it or where it is now.
Jim Rogers
 
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

aigheadish

Granted, I didn't look at any of the links above, so maybe I'm missing some info, but I would have thought this to be easily answerable, and it sounds like there is still a fair amount of mystery to it. We've got these on a lot of barns around me too and I assumed it was similar to a coat of arms as well, an identifier for product perhaps? 

I like the idea of quilts being part of the underground railroad. 
New Holland LB75b, Husqvarna 455 Rancher, Husqvarna GTH52XLS, Hammerhead 250, Honda VTX1300 for now and probably for sale (let me know if you are interested!)

kantuckid

The Underground RR was toward Cinn, OH in my area. Thats why the Underground Railroad museum is in Cinn, OH now. A black man who retired from Morehead State U as an admin was from Maysville and moved to Cinn. to run that museum when it started. 
 Outside Maysville, KY on the Ohio river, in Washington, KY is the oldest town in KY. It has a number of old log buildings and several homes used in the slaves path toward freedom across the river. They have historical tours which I have done that visit these private homes with special secret places they hid the runaways. Even the USPS post office there is an old log building. They have a Christmas festival yearly there too.
As I recall there were a variety of signals used for runaways, quilts being one of them. 
Quilts on barns now are simply a private, hobby related thing promoted by state tourism folks here and there. I considered one but since we live where only family and the UPS man see my barn, why bother?  :D
Kan=Kansas;tuck=Kentucky;kid=what I'm not

aigheadish

When I was little, like 4-5 years old (early 1980s?), we lived on the outskirts of a "town" called Maineville, just a bit north of Cincinnati, right next to Kings Island (amusement park), and our neighbor was a big, neat, old mansion and we were living in a crappy old farmhouse on it's property.

This mansion was, as I understood back then, part of the underground railroad, as well. I can only recall visiting the house a few times, though I think my parents were friends of the owners, and I remember hearing them talk about the secret passageways and tunnels and stuff that the house had. It was the neatest house I'd ever seen for a long time. It was also just up the road from the Peters Cartridge Factory, a really neat place that made ammo, then was sold to Remington Arms, and later Columbia Records, then Seagrams Distillery, now a brewery and apartment complex.

Unfortunately, it was torn down probably 20-25 years ago, maybe longer, to make room for a new neighborhood. The house I lived in was also torn down but I got a chance to walk around in it, abandoned, when I was probably 20 or so, after 15 or so years of not living there. I'm attempting to find more info on the mansion, but not having much luck yet.
New Holland LB75b, Husqvarna 455 Rancher, Husqvarna GTH52XLS, Hammerhead 250, Honda VTX1300 for now and probably for sale (let me know if you are interested!)

kantuckid

Smithsonian magazine had an interesting twist on the "other" underground railroad recently. It told about the much lesser-known runaway's who traveled south, not north, going into Mexico through Texas and stayed there. Mexico had laws that abolished slavery and was a much more friendly place to the former slaves. It was also a reality that bounty hunters went there after them to bring back into the US. 
Kan=Kansas;tuck=Kentucky;kid=what I'm not

Joe Hillmann

I have a friend who makes barn quilts for sale.  For the most part they are just a pretty design.  Sometimes the person buying it wants to have things added to the pattern that have meaning to them or the farm, such as the outline of the first tractor their great grandpa ever had on the farm, or pine trees for a Christmas tree farm, or some other unusual crop.

I don't know if originally they had deeper meaning, they have only recently caught on in this area.

Don P

I think it was in that article they mentioned at least one instance of the Mexican people sending the bounty hunters packing.
Just south of here in the NC upper piedmont was another station on the underground railroad. Winston-Salem and Bethabara were early Moravian towns. The governor had to call out troops to put down peace rallies there twice during the war.

Jim's daisy wheel is how you layout a hex sign. I used the same compass techniques/play as many of those painters while doodling a chip carving pattern. 


Wlmedley

My wife was looking for a barn quilt for our little barn after seeing several on barns around here.I knew it was a matter of time until she found one for sale and I would have to foot the bill.I found a pattern that didn't seem to difficult and made one.I bought a sheet of 1/2" exterior plywood and cut it in half and framed out the back with 2x2s.I think the pattern is called turkey tracks.Not to hard to make,just takes time letting different colors dry and a lot of tape.

 
Bill Medley WM 126-14hp , Husky372xp ,MF1020 ,Homemade log arch,Yamaha Grizzly 450,GMC2500,Oregon log splitter

Old Greenhorn

Well golly gee, thanks for that. My wife was walking by when that photo was up on the screen and she said "Yeah, I like that, wanted one for a long time but exterior plywood is so expensive."
 Guess what just got added to my list. :D >:(
Tom Lindtveit, Woodsman Forest Products
Oscar 328 Band Mill, Husky 350, 450, 562, & 372 (Clone), Mule 3010, and too many hand tools. :) Retired and trying to make a living to stay that way. NYLT Certified.
OK, maybe I'm the woodcutter now.
I work with wood, There is a rumor I might be a woodworker.

Wlmedley

Tom you only have to use 1/2 sheet so you can make two and sale the other one to pay for the plywood  :laugh:I ended up using my other 1/2 sheet to make another one for my sister-in-law to save my brother from having to buy one.
Bill Medley WM 126-14hp , Husky372xp ,MF1020 ,Homemade log arch,Yamaha Grizzly 450,GMC2500,Oregon log splitter

DaleK

Funny, all the people moving out of Toronto and buying up old barns go on and on about how they have to have one of those "authentic" barn quilts. They never existed here 10 years ago, somebody must have put the first one up for a laugh
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