“One of the students is my sister-in-law,” Holmes said. “In her travels last year, she saw quite a few patriotic barn quilts, so that’s why we went with a red, white and blue theme.”
As their fourth class session approaches, the women look forward to putting the final touches on their patriotic themed barn quilts. All selected designs are quite simple, as Dobberstein and Holmes didn’t know the skill level of the participants off hand.
“If we had bigger color schemes, the class would need to be longer,” Holmes said. “For instance, one week we paint red and tape all the red areas. The next week when it’s dry, we do the next color.”
Her students have already made themselves abundantly clear; they would like another chance to strengthen their barn quilt skills. So, whatever skill level you are, both Dobberstein and Holmes welcome you to join them at next year’s class.
“This year, we supplied the putty, wood and paint, with a fee of about a $70,” Holmes said. “You can even bring your own paint if you want to. You can make it any color you want to really.”
Although Dobberstein is excited about the class’ success, this little student is even giddier about her own barn quilt. She just put up a brand new deck and can’t wait to tack it to her house.
“I have a lot of buildings at my place, and it could go on any one of them,” Dobberstein said.
Holmes added, “If you live in town or don’t have a barn, it doesn’t matter. The quilts can be put on any type of building, from houses, garages, sheds or just mounted on two posts and displayed in the yard or a park.”
Dobberstein is also thrilled to report that this is the first barn quilting class in Minnesota. Even so, Holmes says that it’s more popular than one might think.
“If you go to Google and type in barn quilt, you’ll find pockets all over the United States that make these quilts,” Holmes said. “Mine are cut six by six. At one point, I had three in my yard, but one of them was destroyed from the tornado that went through our place last year.”
Those curious about barn quilting may decide to tackle it on their own, but they encourage you to attend next year’s class.
“They are just cool to have,” Holmes said. “It’s also a fun way to meet new friends because the ladies we have now are really great.”
For more information about barn quilting and its history, simply do an Internet search. The results will be endlessly fun.
