Barn Raising

As it is another rather grey day, I thought I would post a colourful blip.

At a quilt class I go to, the lady who leads the class brought in this quilt which she has recently finished. The quilt is entirely hand sewn and hand quilted and as you can see has made a remarkable use of pieces of scrap fabric left over from previous projects. The design is known as "Barn Raising" and the individual quilt blocks which go to make up the final design are sewn in the traditional style of the "Log Cabin".

The history of the log cabin block is varied and goes back many, many years and means different things in different countries. One of the traditions is that the centre square is red, representing the hearth of the home and the dark and light trips sewn round the centre represent the dark side of the house and the sunny side respectively. Other meanings have it that the dark strips represent sorrow and the light, happiness - both of which are present in everyday life. Whatever its original sources and meanings it is a very popular block from which many quilt designs can be made.

The Amish named this quilt design and it represents an event in their daily life where the entire community is involved in the erection of a new barn for newly weds or perhaps because a previous barn has been destroyed - the gathering is known as the "Barn Raising". Once all the necessary equipment is ready, as many men as possible are gathered together to do the heavy lifting required and the not so able to act as helpers. The ladies would be involved too in the making of refreshments for the men and in providing encouragement and first aid if required.

I love the story behind this particular quilt design and I have seen it in a number of colourways. In Amish times the fabrics would not be patterned, simply solid blocks of colour and the strips would undoubtedly come from clothing that would otherwise have been discarded because it had been outgrown or was beyond repair.