Sunflower barn quilt pattern
The sunflower barn quilt has 33 shapes in 4 colors: a center circle, 16 petals in front and 16 behind. On a 4 × 4 ft board the center circle has a radius of 8⅛".
Sixteen petals around a brown center, with a second ring of darker petals behind. The sunflower is laid out from the center with a string compass instead of a grid, and every petal is a straight-sided kite.
By Editorial Staff
Measurements for 2, 4 and 8 ft boards
Find the center by drawing both diagonals. Tie a pencil to a string, or use a strip of wood with a nail at one end and holes for the pencil, and swing three circles from the center: the brown center, the tips of the front petals, and the tips of the back petals. Then mark 32 points around the outer circles, one every 11¼°: the front petals point at every other mark, starting straight up, and the back petals at the marks between.
| Board | Center circle radius | Front petal tips | Back petal tips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 × 2 ft | 4⅛" | 10⅛" | 11¼" |
| 4 × 4 ft | 8⅛" | 20⅛" | 22½" |
| 8 × 8 ft | 16⅜" | 40⅜" | 45⅛" |
Each petal is a kite: its two base corners sit just inside the center circle, 11¼° either side of its line, and its sides bend once, halfway out.
Paint for the Sunflower barn quilt
Two coats of exterior latex on the front, at 100 square feet a quart for each coat (labels say 300 to 400 square feet a gallon). Reds and yellows often need a third coat to cover evenly, so buy the next size up for those. Exterior paint starts at a quart, so on a 2 × 2 ft board 8 oz bottles of outdoor acrylic craft paint go further; what is left is for touch-ups.
| Color | Share | 2 × 2 ft | 4 × 4 ft | 8 × 8 ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Sky blue | 58% | 1 quart (2 oz) | 1 quart (6 oz) | 1 quart (24 oz) |
| 2. Sunflower yellow | 16% | 1 quart (1 oz) | 1 quart (2 oz) | 1 quart (7 oz) |
| 3. Harvest gold | 16% | 1 quart (1 oz) | 1 quart (2 oz) | 1 quart (7 oz) |
| 4. Chocolate brown | 9% | 1 quart (1 oz) | 1 quart (1 oz) | 1 quart (4 oz) |
| Exterior primer | Front, back, edges | 1 quart (3 oz) | 1 quart (11 oz) | 2 quarts (42 oz) |
Ounces are what the paint takes; the size is what to buy.
Paint the lightest color first: sunflower yellow, then sky blue, then harvest gold, then chocolate brown. A darker color covers a lighter one that creeps under the tape, but not the other way round. The full method, from priming the board to hanging it, is in how to make a barn quilt.
Try the colors before you paint
Quiltspiration draws any block in any colors, and gives the cut list when you sew it in fabric.
