DIY Painted Quilt Block

Where I live, barn quilts are a common sight. Our county even has a "Barn Quilt Trail" that tourists can drive around through the county and see over 100 barn quilts! My parents had a barn quilt added to their red barn (#112). It's a sunflower and 8 ft x 8 ft. It's huge up close! 

Now, I certainly don't need a large barn quilt (not yet at least!) but I love the look of small wooden quilt blocks as décor indoors. I had it in my mind to paint a mini version of my Redemption Trail Quilt. I thought I'd share my steps in painting this block in case anyone else desires to paint their own indoor barn quilt.

First, I found a 10" x 10" wooden sign at Walmart. You can buy plywood from another store and make your own wooden block, but I wanted something that had a frame around the edge. I'm not good with woodworking, so this premade wooden sign was perfect. 

Since my wood was already pre-painted white from Walmart, I didn't have to worry about that. But if you need a background color, then paint the whole background before marking out your design.

I knew that I wanted my quilt block to have three columns and three rows. I divided the 10" by 3 and measured and marked very small notches for those rows and columns. Then with a ruler, I drew straight lines to make a 9 patch. Some of the squares needed to have a line drawn through the middle of them to make rectangles. I measured half a block and drew those lines as well.

Next came drawing the triangles within the rectangles to form the flying geese. My ruler wouldn't fit in the corners or along the sides, so I had to find smaller square objects to assist as a ruler (such as a post-it notepad). Once all of the lines were drawn, I was ready to tape!

I cut blue painter's tape in half and taped along the pencil lines. I had to do this in batches since the tape would cover up other parts of my design. I was only able to tape about 1/3 of the blocks at a time.

Once partially taped, I was able to paint! I put two coats of paint in each section to fully cover the wood. Once the paint dried after a few hours, I removed the tape. You may want the paint to dry overnight before taping over the new paint.

Continue the process again of taping, painting, and drying. I became SO impatient waiting for each coat to dry. My tape even pulled up some paint because I couldn't wait long enough. Which then led me to having to touch-up spots which was a bigger pain than just letting it dry in the first place! Don't be like me please... ha!

But it turned out so good! This is not waterproof, so it is meant to stay indoors as a décor item. Possibly you could add some sort of sealant over it if you wanted it to be a decoration on your porch outdoors. 

I hope this encourages you to try and paint your favorite quilt block! Wouldn't it be fun to have one for each season and match your seasonal quilts? If you paint your own quilt block, I'd love to see your finished product!