How to Make a Barn Quilt – Hanging the Quilt

We’ve already gone through how to create the frame for the barn quilt, how to paint the barn quilt – now I’m going to show you the last step – how we hung our barn quilt! For this step you’re going to need some strong helpers, we used a skid steer but any type of tractor/loader than can help lift you and your quilt up on the barn would work, a ladder, some lags, and a screw gun. The first thing we did was get the quilt up off the floor.  We happened to have some random cart-like contraption that made this easy.  I was also able to step back and see a few places that needed some touch ups.  I took care of those before the quilt went up onto the barn. Next, my husband and father-in-law (I’m going to call them the Frank’s from now on to simplify things) and law measured out the barn to figure out exactly where the quilt would hang (might have been smarter to do this before we even decided to make the quilt just in case our spot wasn’t big enough)> The Frank’s then went to their work area to see what they had for lags/bolts (also may have been smarter to do this before we started to hang the quilt).  Luckily we had just enough lags of the right size to hang the quilt. If you have to have your kids around during the installation I recommend bubbles in the shade with Grandma.  This keeps them away from the heavy equipment, safe and happy. Our next step was to move the quilt from the shed it was painted in to the barn we were hanging it on.  The skid steer worked great for this. Now it’s time to get the quilt onto the barn!  Frank (my husband) was in the bucket, my father-in-law, Frank operated the skid steer, and I was on the side directing the operator on how close the bucket was to the shed and how high we needed to go. Once up there, the Franks figured out where the beams were in the shed, drilled the holes accordingly and screwed the lags into the quilt. Our final step was to put an apple with the name of our orchard under the quilt.  Once the Columbia County Quilt Trail gets up and running I’m guessing people are going to take pictures so we might as well advertise! I have to say, I am really happy with the barn quilt.  I just love the splash of color it adds to our farm and I can even see it when I sit in my living room.  It was definitely worth all the effort and I know I’ll cherish it for years to come.