Hello, Design Wall!

I thought this was going to be a post about my Economy Star quilt, which is coming along quite nicely. But as I prepped the pictures, I realized that even more exciting than my patchwork is

my new BIG design wall - hoorah!!!

Because the floor was not going to cut it. No sooner would I carefully arrange fabric pieces on the floor than some four-year-old or four-legged-creature (or both) would patter through the prettiness and send everything awry.

Ta da! This is why I needed the whole wall. Relocating the closet was definitely the right call. This space is more than big enough for my average throw quilt and even suits something bigger. I’m so lucky to have it!

I’ve made four design walls so far, and each one has been constructed differently. This time we used carpet tape, which is double sided tape with a strong adhesive. We made a border of carpet tape and also ran three lines of carpet tape through the center horizontally. Then we spread quilt batting directly onto the wall/tape. The process was really easy, quite cheap and it’s holding well. I have a feeling that the wall/paint will not be happy someday when the design wall is taken down. But, well, I’ve no plans to take it down! I suppose since we made that wall during the renovation, we can go ahead and ruin it if we want, haha.

By the way, the other way that worked well to make a design wall was to staple batting directly to the wall. That’s how we made the largest design wall ever in our South Carolina farmhouse. Our Dutch walls don’t really accept staples, or we’d go that route again.

My current quilt-in-progress really utilizes a design wall. I’m doing a lot block juggling and fabric rearranging to organize colors and values to my liking. These fabrics are busier than normal for me. I’m using only Heather Ross fabrics and the Kona Wasabi solid. Heather Ross makes many white-background prints, which bring a glowing, spring-like feel to the quilt. They can also feel busy, so I’m trying to keep that in check.

First I audition different fabric combinations on the design wall, where I can see how the colors and prints are working with their neighbors. When I’m settled on some combinations, I bring the blocks to my sewing table and sew batches of four blocks at a time.

Kitty Olive likes to help with that step too. Who can blame her? These fabrics are pretty irresistable! Ok, I’m going to get back to it in my window before Elora is done with school.

Happy Weekend, all!

Fabric Notes: The Heather Ross 20th Anniversary Collection can be found at Fat Quarter Shop (USA) and at Purple Stitches (UK). Other charming Heather Ross fabrics are in stock at Fat Quarter Shop.