August 17, 2010

PA Quilt Trails' first quilt square is in two sections in my living room and on my porch. Sponsored by the generous and gracious people of Hunters Valley Winery, the quilt pattern "diamond in the square" is in the midst of being painted and assembled this week and part of next.

I thought for this blog installation I could describe the process of the actual construction of a quilt square, at least up to installation, which I will document and share in next week's blog. To make an 8' x 8' quilt square, two 4' x 8' 3/4" exterior plywood pieces are needed. With a set of racket straps I secured the two pieces on the roof of my Volvo x-country, loaded up six pieces of 2" x 4" x 8' boards inside the car besides my dog, Sophie, one gallon of primer, four gallons of paint, two paint brushes and headed home. It wasn't until I was alone with the 4' x 8' plywood pieces and needed to bring then off the roof into the house that I actually got a sense of the size of these quilt squares. With the tenacity of a rabid coyote I brought everything inside (yes by my lonesome!!!) and feeling very butch I set up shop to paint. On the faceside there are two coats of primer and one coat of primer on the backside.

Pennsylvania's humidity and rain is hampering drying a bit-guess optimally this should be done in the fall when central Pa's humidity and rainfall is at its lowest.

Today I will follow the 8" x 8" model I made and draw out the lines and paint the first, lightest color (pale yellow with a tint of green) after taping the lines.

So what have I learned from the first QS? Cover the floor well. Thankfully my living room floor is not finished yet and the white primer splashes only add to the "workshop look" of my floor, get help to remove pieces off the car, have good music on your ipod while painting, avoid painting these pieces in buildings with cats. (I purposefully painted them on their side as my cats will lay on any flat surface not anticipating that Malicia would like to climb up the plywood on its side!)