Sorry to have missed you when you dropped by. Thank you so much for stopping. We do so love country living! We enjoy being surrounded by agriculture, sharing with our grandchildren the sights, sounds, tastes and smells of farm living--without all the hard work and just a bit of dust and dirt! Each Spring, Summer and Fall, we enjoy watching huge pieces of machinery roll by with a friendly wave from the cab. And every year our family meals are prepared from our own small garden harvest, as well as local farm products that we preserve in the heat of summer and savor in winter when the air is crisp and snow is falling. A very big plus is there is no substitute for the kindness that has been shown to us by the many friends and neighbors that surround us.
What prompted this post is the celebration of rural farm life promoted by the Chamber of Commerce every October known as the Barn Quilt Tour. Across the county, a large variety of family owned farm barns proudly display huge, colorful quilt block squares, each with its own unique design. To our delight, we have a birds eye view of three exceptional barn quilt squares displayed by our closest neighbors, reflecting the pride each has in their beautiful homes, outbuildings and landscapes sprouting from acres of planted fields.
As part of the Barn Quilt Tour, organizers encourage residents to creatively display their own quilts by sponsoring a friendly competition. The idea is to create an eye-catching scene-scape for visitors to enjoy at they ride along county highways from barn to barn. Separately, area Merchants compete for a top prize which includes their name and photo in the local newspaper. This year's tour, I believe, was the 5th anniversary and for the second time since it began, my husband and I opted to have a little fun and participate in the competition.
After all (without meaning to be boastful), we entered the first year's competition and our "Apple- Butter-Quilt-and-Stirring-Scarecrow" was awarded first place, which included a cash prize of $100.00. So, for the next few years, I didn't give much thought to preparing another display. The draping of a few colorful quilts over the deck railing, easily viewed when someone is traveling along one of the two country roads bordering our property line, were my only contributions.
This year, mid-September, a quite colorful brochure/entry blank turned up inside our rural mailbox once again and immediately, the wheels of inspiration began to turn. I approached my husband with caution when giving him the details of my decided idea. Remembering his look of exasperation and frustration as he helped me bring my previous display plans to life, I was prepared for his response to be, "You're on your own this time." Surprisingly enough though, my husband tells me he has already mentally designed our display to feature a barn using some of the firewood he had cut, split and stockpiled at the back of our property. I was intrigued, and knowing his idea was a far cry better than my own, we began putting his plan into motion.
Tim began by building a raised plywood platform that would protect the yard from the barn-shaped structure of carefully placed firewood logs. Next, he combined two metal farm gates he'd recovered from a farmer's trash heap and perched them on top of the stacked wood to shape the roof. We then laid one of my newest quilt purchases--a Grandmother's Garden quilt--made from hues of blues, greens, reds and oranges on a white background. As Tim trimmed branches from overgrown hydrangeas bordering our garage, he sent me to retrieve the tasselled tops of small stalks of corn standing along the edge of a neighboring cornfield. Mind you, I was careful to leave the ears of corn on the remaining stalks to be harvested, having witnessed farmers who work much too hard to swipe even a kernel of their precious grain.
Upon my return to our own front yard, strategically placed hydrangea branches had been layed out along the left side of the 'barn' to resemble vines in a pumpkin patch. On the right, Tim prepared our 'corn field' by hammering a wooden dowel into the ground, creating holes to form neatly measured rows. My job was to poke a corn stalk from my bounty into each hole, thereby creating our tiny field of corn any miniature scarecrow would be proud to guard, (which, by the way, I added later).
We were then off to the local farm market in search of various props. We purchased small pie pumpkins (later to be turned into autumn desserts), 3 miniature bales of straw, freshly cut sunflowers and a few dried gourds. Quite pleased with our finds, we returned home placing the pumpkins in our pumpkin patch, adding a row of sunflowers to stand behind it. Little straw bales offered a resting place for gourds, an old red tin bucket, and a couple of antique canning jars from our basement. Adding an old cement statue of a Labrador that usually rests in the flower bed was set by barn's door to guard the entrance. One final touch was a few older quilts hung over the fence behind the display as a backdrop.
It was an incredibly beautiful weekend for the 2011 Barn Quilt Tour--warm and sunny, with a few clouds rolling in on Sunday. We took lots of pictures, some of our granddaughter, Riley, as she enjoyed getting to play in our little country scene. Friends and relatives stopped by to take pictures and see for themselves, which made for nice visits on the front porch.
After all was said and done--the quilts taken in, the wood delivered to our friend, sunflower heads tossed on the garden for birds to enjoy, straw used to tuck strawberry plants in for the winter--I sat down with my computer to read fun comments received on Facebook. Slowly, the realization of what really came to pass began to take form. In the past, it has always been my ideas and schemes, my pleading and convincing Tim help me make my visions a reality. But this time was different. This was his blueprint; his brain storm; his over-the-top idea. Then it came to me...I'M WORKING FOR HIM!
And so the story goes. Jill stopped by just last week and presented Tim with a white vellum envelope imprinted with the insignia of our local area Chamber of Commerce. Inside was a check for $100.00. Our display was awarded first prize for the Barn Tour Quilt Display Contest! Maybe following Tim's lead isn't so bad after all. Maybe, after all these years together, I'm starting to rub off on him!!
Loved the post and pictures! Neat too, is that both times you went out and decorated a scene, you won 1st place. :o) I'm impressed with both of you and your creative skills.
ReplyDeleteI tried leaving a comment on this before. I loved your quilt display and congratulations on winning first prize.
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