Quilt square to draw stares

MOUNT CORY — Jan Reese is a proud grandma who loves showing off photos of her grandchildren. She's just as quick to brag about the large wooden quilt square that now decorates a red garage at the home she shares with her husband, Dave. "It's so beautiful and it's so eye-catching. And it's so perfect since I make a lot of wreaths," said Jan. The couple owns a family-owned Christmas tree farm called Kaleidoscope Farms. Dave started the farm in 1983 planting one acre of trees which has since grown to 26 acres of Christmas trees. Their four sons are also part of the farm. Jan teaches wreath-making classes. "The wreath is a part of the deal here," she said. There had been a quilt square Jan designed that was attached to an old barn at the family farm. The house dates back to Grandpa Reese, and Dave and Jan lived there 40 years. "I think the barn was there before he built the house," she said. "It was a different quilt square but we loved it." Unfortunately, the barn burned about six years ago. The square represented the lavender labyrinth Jan maintains. "It's in yellows and blues and lavenders," said barn quilt artist Barb Gabriel of Arcadia. A propane tank was involved so firefighters couldn't spend a lot of time, according to Gabriel. But they also knew the square was important to Jan. "So they pulled it off the barn," Gabriel said. The square was badly damaged. There are holes in the wood where screws once attached it to the barn. Boards are ripped and the edges are warped, she said. The wooden panel is now in her shop. "If I ever figure out how to fix it, they'll get it back," she said. Dave and Jan built a new home on the Christmas tree farm property. Their son and daughter-in-law, Jay and Brittany Reese, now live in the original house. "So the barn burned when they lived there and they felt so bad about the quilt square burning on the barn that they wanted to make one for here at our new house," Jan explained. She knew just the design — a green wreath adorned with a red ribbon. When Jan proposed the idea, the couple agreed. "It turned out to be quite a bit bigger than they planned," she said, laughing. The barn-quilt concept started in 2001 when Donna Sue Groves painted a giant square of one of her mother's quilt blocks and hung it on a barn in Adams County, Ohio. The idea caught on and Adams County ended up with 22 barns celebrating Appalachian quiltmakers. From there, organized quilt trails spread across the country and into Canada. Gabriel made her first square in 2010. She and her husband wanted to dress up a shed in their yard and originally thought about a Pennsylvania Dutch folk art "hex" sign. But they changed their mind when her husband saw painted quilt squares on barns along Interstate 75 in Kentucky. Her first square was a 4-by-4-foot block featuring a variation of the Ohio star quilt pattern. Gabriel painted the original square on the old barn at the Reese's farm. "So when Jay and Brittany decided they wanted to do this, we all called Barb and said 'OK, how do we do this?'" said Jan. Gabriel helped with the project which involves first picking a quilt pattern and then laying out the design. "The daughter-in-law wanted to do it for them. She didn't want me to do it. She just wanted info," said Gabriel. While she no longer does squares for customers, Gabriel said she's happy to share the instructions. She uses MDO (medium density overlay) board which first receives two coats of primer. Then the graph lines and then the design are transferred onto the wood. An area is taped off and receives three to four coats of a good quality exterior paint. The wreath measures 8-by-8 feet and features four colors including white, red and two shades of green. "If you use regular plywood, the paint will be off between three and five years," said Gabriel. The MDO board is twice as costly as regular plywood. Jan said she's got one at her house that's been up 10-12 years and still looks brand new. The process is time-consuming, added Gabriel, but it's not hard to do. The square took Jay and Brittany several months. They completed the project in October. "It's all just exciting. I'm thrilled to see it out there on the garage now," Jan said. The couple also learned how to make barn quilt squares. "They may not be ready to jump into another one right away," Jan said. "I have a grandson who said, 'Well, I could do that.' It would be really cool if one of the kids started doing them."