Have you ever bought something and then wondered why on earth you waited so long to buy it?
I started making my niece a quilt a couple of weeks ago, however the design is in my head, not out of a book or from a pattern, I haven’t even sketched it out. I decided almost straight away that I really was going to need a design wall for this. I’ve been wanting one for ages, when I first moved into my new sewing room about two years ago I left one big wall free with the idea that it could become a design wall. I checked out a few bloggers who made their own free-standing ones, or roman blind types.
I decided to order a Fons & Porter design wall, these are about £28, they have a flannel front and a plasticized grid behind. It has eyelets along the top so I just hammered a few picture hooks up and it was ready for action…
I just love it! I can spend hours moving blocks around, I can go back the next day and they are still there for me to fiddle with! I can stand back and check it out from a distance….why did I wait so long!!!
Having made six of the seven paper-pieced hummingbirds for the quilt I finally got round to taking the paper off the back of them. I wasn’t looking forward to it as at least one of them has over a hundred little pieces! After all my prevaricating it didn’t actually take that long to get all six done, though I have to admit my sewing room looks like a snow storm, and they’re creeping onto the landing as I haven’t got round to sweeping them up!
I wanted a ‘low volume’ background of varying patterns for the quilt so I cut out a handful of 6’5″ squares and then lots of half square triangles which I have then arranged into flying geese, pinwheels, diamonds and sawtooth lines, at the moment they are just stitched in twos whilst I decide on a final layout. I need to stitch quite a few more to complete the quilt. I’m stitching the half square triangles using the method that starts with two large (9″) squares, stitch a double row across the diagonals before cutting the diagonal and straight lines to give eight half square triangles, it’s a quick and easy way of making them.
I’ve arranged the hummingbirds in a circle and now I’m placing the background blocks, playing with the colours and shapes. The centre is still just plonked, I need to make some half square triangles from the very low volume fabrics for this area I think.
I’m pretty pleased with how the quilt looks at the moment, I think it’s going to work!!
thecraftycreek 
It looks stunning 😊
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That’s a really nice design wall, but I’ll stick to my king size flannel sheet with a pole through the top, hung from three cup-hooks. It means I can have several projects up there at once, or lay out something really big in one go. That snowdrift of paper pieces is one reason I’m religious about picking the paper out of each block as I make it rather than doing them all at the end. I use to make ‘snow’, but now I have a big sheet of butcher’s paper I do the unpicking over, and then shoot the whole lot into the bin at the end.
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Thanks Kate, the king size flannel sheet sounds great but I haven’t got a wall big enough to hang on on! This one just nicely fits in the space I have 🙂 The butchers paper method sounds alot better than my floor plan 🙂
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It is fun to see how you work out your design. The paper blizzard shows how hard you have been working.
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This is going to be such a beautiful quilt!
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Like Kate, I also use a flannel sheet but unlike her haven’t made it into a proper hanging thingy yet – it’s just draped over the front of my bookcase with the top held in place by tucking it under some heavy books. Also, it doesn’t hang straight because there’s so much stuff on my bookshelves, apart from the books, that there are lumps in it. I will address the problem soon.
Picking out the bits of paper is my least favourite bit of FPP and I can’t even imagine the fiddliness of your one with more than 100 pieces 😨 Still, this project is looking great so far – it’s going to be fabulous
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Your quilt is looking amazing! I put up a design wall a few months ago and wouldn’t be without it
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Oh my goodness that is going to be a specular piece!
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I’m glad you finally got your wall, looks like it is helping you already, I love this low volume look!
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those birds in flight are simply gorgeous!
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A wonderful free flowing design process… such a fun way to create a quilt! Enjoy!
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