Why Have a Design Wall?

Finally the last of the wedding celebrations are over. No more wedding preparations and no more scheduled wedding events. Don't get me wrong it has been a joyous time for all if us, especially Tatianna and Zack (the Newlyweds) But the last 5 weekends have been tied up with wedding events. showers, bachelorette parties, bachelor parties, wedding travels, and receptions. It has been a whirl wind of celebrations and I am about partied out.  Time for life to get back to normal. Or at least some semblance of what passes for normal.

This past week I was able to sew a little.  I got all of the little 4 inch squares turned into 4 patch blocks.  It feels good to be sewing again and really good to be at the block stage with this quilt. Next step laying it out on a design wall. 

Before I got my 4 patches sewn, I decided I was really going to need to lay the blocks out. You see this is a very random and scrappy quilt. So I will need to make sure that the colors are evenly dispersed and the pattern flow is good.

As many of you know, a year and a half ago I made myself a design wall that I wasn't too happy with. (too flimsy)  I did a little research on the google machine to see how others made their design walls.  I am thinking I want it to be at least 72" x 72".  Several had smallish design walls.  Basically the size of a block. I didn't see any sense in a design wall that would be block size.

Then I started turning my squares in 4 patch blocks. I now realize that I have something in common with Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilts.  I am direction-ally challenged.  The four patch block is supposed to look like the top picture.

I started matching up the squares into 2 patch sets and wasn't paying attention to which way the white part of the block was going. So I had sewn about 130 sets and was kind of auditioning them to how they would look together.  That's when I realized what I had been doing. Because I had a block that went together like this. (middle picture) While this is a really neat pattern (and I will probably do it one day) it is not the pattern I was going for. 

As you all know this is not the first time I have done this. I did it when I pieced the ribbon dance quilts as well.

So I finish sewing the 2 square sets and about 1/3 of my sets are going the wrong way.  Fortunately I discovered it before I had sewn any of the sets into the four patches. Even better, before I ripped the stitching out of the 50 sets, I realized that I just needed to match the sets up on the vertical axis and then rotate them to get the look I wanted.  I did end up taking apart one of the sets but ripping out one seam sure beats ripping out 50 seams.

This got me to thinking about that block size design wall.  I realized that if I had a visual of the block in sight, I may not have sewn so many sets together in the wrong direction.  So maybe a small design wall isn't such a bad idea.  One of the "make your own" design walls was made with dowels, pvc clamps, and batting.  It just so happens that I have a small (10" x 16") pvc style needle work frame.  I also have scraps of batting.  Now I have a block size design wall.

Next up - a large design wall. I am currently toying with wood panels, hinges and wheels.  I wish I could get my husband to design it.  He usually comes up with a very workable idea. But his work schedule keeps him busy and out of town a lot these days. I am probably on my own. In the mean time I will lay out the fabric for my design wall on my bed and work from that. Making do with what you have isn't a bad thing.

What tools would you benefit from having?  What have you created to meet one of your needs?