Everyone Should Have a Design Wall

If you look on the Internet, there's all sorts of guidance how to make your own. You can get drywall at the home improvement store and staple gun flannel to it...you can hang 4 cork squares and pin a vinyl table cloth backwards to them (and use them for bulletin boards when you aren't using them for a design wall)....on a small scale you can cover a kid's science project display board with flannel (that was my first design wall--in addition to our bed....

Or you can purchase one of the various pre-made styles marketed to quilters. (or do what I did....put one on your Christmas list). I've got Cheryl Ann's Design Wall, and I like it a lot. It's large, it assembles in minutes, tears down in minutes, has a nice little carrying case, and it's free-standing. I've also seen another that mounts near your ceiling (or over your windows) and the design wall pulls down like an old fashioned window shade. Supposedly you can leave your blocks on it and roll it up to stash your project.

Having a design wall has come in really handy with this Drunkard's Path project. I've been able to arrange the blocks in various configurations before I make the leap to permanently sewing them together.

Another helpful hint is to take a photo of your arrangement and view that before you decide. You'll add a whole new perspective. It's like standing back and reviewing. I'm seeing patterns in the photo that I'm not seeing on the wall in front of me.

Here's wha layouts are currently being pondered:

The last photo is a reverse layout of the first photo. I'll likely use the first, second or last layout. Sewing the blocks together is the project for tomorrow's Friday Night Sew In. Check back Saturday to see what I went with.

In the meantime, the Halloween fabric arrived today. It took a great deal of control to not walk away from the project in process and start cutting fabric for the Halloween quilt. I don't really decorate for Halloween so much, I much prefer decorating for 'Fall', but when I saw this quilt in the August/September issue of The Quilter Magazine, I couldn't resist. And I was able to find all the fabric I needed to recreate it at two shops.

I can't wait to get started, it just looks like such a happy, fun project. I wish the weekend would hurry up and get here.
Have a fabulous Friday!