{roue de charpentier} en nuances de vin

{carpenter's wheel} in shades of wine

So I have to admit I hadn't paid much attention to barn quilts until reading V and Co.'s post about the role they played in inspiring her Barn Dance design.  In fact, I don't ever recall having seen any. But to my surprise, on my family's latest ~13 hour semi-annual roadtrip out east, my husband and I passed dozens upon dozens on a route I've traveled as many (if not more) times (!)  So naturally, they were on my mind as I was brainstorming gift ideas for my sister-in-law, who has beautiful acreage in the countryside (complete with barn, horses, and all).

Knowing I wasn't up for the task of designing a permanent, painted wood emblem for their barn, I stuck with my strong suit and quilted a traditional Carpenter's Wheel block (y-seams to the extreme!) measuring 90" square.

My sister-in-law loves the colors of fall, so I went with a palette of deep wine reds and rich browns.  I can just picture this blanket strewn across a field for a family picnic on a warm summer day, right?  The backing is pieced from a tonal red harlequin print, an array of solid red "paper hats" on a mustard yellow batik, and of course, a sweet paper-pieced horse.  Note:  please excuse any loose threads... had to dash outside in a hurry during a brief break in the rain to snap these shots ;)

In case you couldn't already tell, I'm officially hooked on these symbolic barn-sized blocks (dare I mention there's at least one more in the quilting queue?)  I love their simplicity (and how {relatively} quickly they come together!), but I have to say I am more than ready to switch to maneuvering more manageable-sized quilts on my machine.

Too much of a good thing, I reckon ;)  Do you ever get stuck in a certain design rut and lose steam?  Any tips on keeping crafty variety in your sewing adventures?  Please, do tell!

Artisania's "peeping horse" pattern available here!

Guess I'm just glad it's out of the WIP pile and that I {finally} have something to show for finish it up friday ;) About time!

Thanks for visiting {the house} ;)

- S