New Additions to the Wall and on the Wall

After sewing 9 blocks last Thursday, I could see that I was going to run out of space on my design wall. There was a 9 inch space between the top of the design wall and the ceiling. I had 2 foam panels left from the bundle of 6 and enough white flannel left. It didn't take me long to cut the panels to fit and cover them with flannel.  I was able to "press fit" the 9 inch panels without the need to attach them with drywall screws. I did put one finishing nail in each.  The reason I left that 9 inch gap at the top  in the first place is because that was as high as I could reach to screw the panels to the wall while standing on the lowest step of my ladder. I knew that was as high as I could reach anyway to put blocks on the wall.

There will be no explanation or discussion about how I got those panels up there or how I put the top row of blocks up there.

Here are the 67 blocks I've finished, only 32 more to go.  When I put the top 2 rows up on the wall, I tried to lay them out in the way I will sew them together. From the third row down I used a little judgment about placement but I know that with 32 more blocks to make there will be some shuffling  around.









My plan is to take the top rows down with my long grasping gadget. After the top five rows are sewed together I won't have to reach so high to put them back on the wall.



I didn't do any more sewing since last Thursday until today. I did some cutting instead. I searched through my scraps and bins again and pulled out some things I overlooked when I started these blocks. I wasn't in the "almost anything goes" mindset. After making over 60 blocks I am not so fussy about everything looking good together because it just does. Some of the scraps were not quite big enough but I found more of them stashed in other bins. That is a good indication that my organizing system for scraps is really more disorganized.
 This is the one block I made today.  The quilt was asking for something pink and pretty. I wanted to see if there was enough to make the block and there was just enough without a fraction of an inch to spare.



This is my stack of paper plates with 26 more blocks with strips all cut to the right size and paired up and ready to sew.  I am adopting an idea from  Quiltdivajulie , organizing all the pieces for blocks on paper plates,  What a great idea, it doesn't take up a lot of space and pieces are not so likely to get lost.

I almost went to the quilt shop today to buy more fabric for this quilt but I'm happy that I didn't. I have enough! I went to Holden Arboretum instead and walked. There wasn't time after that to shop for fabric.

Design Wall Addition

When I put up the panels for my design wall I knew that I really needed to add more flannel covered insulation foam panels.  I never got around to it until I ran out of space for the Framed 9 Patch blocks I've been making. As I finish blocks I put them on the wall and rearrange what has already been put up. I want to keep  an arrangement that requires tweaking but not a complete "start over".  I ran out of design wall width though there was room for 4 more rows in length. It seemed like it was time to add those flannel covered panels. A trip to Lowes for the panels and Joann's for the flannel and I was ready to DO IT.

These are the four new flannel covered panels; I added 2 up  and 2 down. I already have one vertical row of blocks up.
They will be behind the door when the door is open. Here it is closed and you can see the tote bags that I have hanging on Command hooks on the back of the door.  I have to take advantage of every inch of space in my room and they never show when the door is open.

My wall is not very elegant. Some of my earlier panels were left from another room and covered in off white instead of white.  I do not have all of the drywall screws in the new panels. I secured them with enough screws to hold them and the two end panels would have stayed up by themselves anyway because they were pressed tightly in place. I could only reach so high from the first step on the ladder so someone else will have to put in a few more screws. Jack would have done a much neater more professional looking job if he could have done it but there are a lot of things he can't do anymore.  At least he doesn't criticize and he does give good advice.

These are all 42 blocks.
 I think I will add one more vertical row and 3 or 4 more horizontal rows. I am not yet sure what size I will make.
I know that I will be rearranging the blocks; with everything up on the wall I can see what solid colors I need to  use for the remaining blocks.
I am rolling around in my mind the idea of a narrow solid border with a scrappy random strip piano key border. I have been saving strips of piano keys for a long time and I have a lot of strips left from these blocks.  We'll see.

Design Wall and Dresden Progress

I have been lamenting the lack of access to my design wall. I was so pleased to get all the panels up   on the wall and to be able to put something up on them but it has not worked out well for a working wall. I have my sewing machine in front of it and a 4 foot Lifetime table beside my machine. I have been using large flannel covered foam core poster boards, which are not great except for a few blocks and small pieces. I just didn't see any good wall space because of furniture lining the perimeter of the room.  When I wanted  to take a photograph of my Dresden Rings I put a foam panel flat on top of my bookcase and pinned the quilt to the edge. I started thinking about how I might fashion a way to put my design boards up on the front of the bookcase (which would not have been any better than using them the way I have been).  Oh wait, what if I move the bookcase?  Yes! It fits! I moved it to the opposite wall next to my sewing machine and I used the flannel covered panels I already had taking up space in my closet. I now have a 7 ft. high by 4 ft. wide design wall and there is another 25 inches behind the door to put up more flannel covered panels.

Here is the new design wall. I put my Klimt panel and my "Happy Days" panel up for inspiration. If I am looking  at something often, it will tell me what to do. The other things are 2 blocks my great granddaughter in law  made for a Disappearing 9 Patch  quilt, one little seasonal March quilt and some fabric squares that make me happy when I look at them . In the lower right corner is the table that is about 3 feet away and next to my sewing machine.















Here is the bookcase around the corner from my not so usable for a working design wall.  I still have access to the two bottom shelves  which hold notebooks and magazine holders that I seldom use. My plastic drawers with my thread fit nicely there right next to my machine and move easily on wheels.









I am making progress quilting  the Dresden Rings. I have done echo quilting around the rings and partial rings and now I am working on the spaces where the echo quilting form one intersects with one or two other lines of echo quilting. I marked the points, where I change directions, with a "Sewline" marker. I just use a tiny faint dot and when I get one area finished I spray it with water and remove the marks. I use a bath towel to soak up some of the water and wait for it to dry before moving on. I was apprehensive about using the marker but it is working out OK. I did some testing before I used it on the quilt. I made sure my marks would not reappear if I pressed with a hot iron. Yes, I do block and steam press wallhangings after they are quilted.  I hope I can get this finished and hung this weekend, Spring will be here Tuesday and I want to be ready.

Design Wall

I have been struggling with a 4 x 4 foot design "wall" for a while. There have been reasons why I never really got what I wanted. There are 2 walls that could be used but my furniture arrangement didn't leave any wall space to use.  When you have things that worked in one space they do not always fit into another same size space that has windows and doors in a different configuration. I had also brought some things in to my sewing room that were not in my previous sewing room. Those additions are things I need for storage for things that are not sewing related but the sewing room is the only place they can go. Over time, we moved furniture around and put up shelves  and hung some "design boards" and on a few occasions I improvised when I needed a larger design wall. Every time I made something that didn't fit on the wall I used our bed as a design space. We talked about what to do but it is hard to know what to do when you don't know what you want.

Yesterday we bought some insulation board and I covered it with flannel. Jack put them up beside and below my 4 x 4 feet "wall" and my design wall grew to 75 inches by 62 inches. Well, almost....... I still have one section that will go below the new part on the right.




























I was able to put all my DNP blocks up on the wall (there are 4 blocks on the bottom right that are pinned to the ones above). This is probably as large a wall that I will ever need when I get the other board covered and up on the wall.

I think my space has evolved to where it will function well. I have everything I need in places that are easy for me to work in. I like it!