Category: Creativity

Quilting – Portable Design Wall

Portable Design Wall, Quilting

Quilting – Portable Design Wall

I have been missing in action for the last week due to being busy doing some charity quilting, which I’ve never done before until now in retirement. To show appreciation to our local law enforcement officers throughout our county, we have an ambitious goal to do one for everyone of them by next May for National Law Enforcement week. But it is a surprise, so don’t tell.

I have friends that have a large room for their sewing, including a permanent design board on one wall. However, even though I don’t like to admit it, crawling all around on the floor is not as comfortable as it once was. Also, my sewing room is about the size of a pantry, but it is mine and I am happy with where it is in my house. So, with that being said, I have improvised with a temporary design wall.

It is made with just an extra-long piece of wood (think yard stick size but longer), some mid-size or large office clips and 2-3 small nails with heads on them. Two or three will actually be used to hang your new wall on the nails, but several more clipped across the top are nice to audition strips of fabrics.

Hanging Clips for Portable Design Wall, Quilting Tips

You will also need a folding white sheet of fabric like flannel, or the flannel back of an old-fashioned wipeable tablecloth, or you can purchase one that is heavier than flannel. It must have a nap, so that your fabric will stick to it without pinning. I initially started out last year with white flannel but ended up cutting my design walls twice when I needed hard-to-find flannel to put inside face masks that I was making. So, my latest version, I bought from Missouri Star Quilt Company (MSQC) when it was on sale. It is heavier and not appropriate for face masks. Oh… then you need a large wall where you can leave it up for a few days. Having understanding family members helps. Mine is next to the kitchen table. But if I had little ones eating there, it would probably be somewhere else.

 

 

When I am not using the design board, it is easy to take down and put away. The other good thing that I have found about a design wall, is you can ‘audition’ your fabrics and get a better view of how they are going to look before cutting. Seeing things from eye level certainly can have its advantages. I have included photos here of my simple, but efficient solution for making a design wall… and saving the knees. Happy Quilting!       ~ terre

 

Thank you for visiting. ~ terre

Terre’s Blog – Women of All Seasons. (c)2021.

 

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Quilting

 

Not Quilting Enough, Drama

Need a little motivation? The Flying Geese quilt block behind these words was much easier than I thought. They ended up in a couple of large blocks for a sampler lap quilt. When life seem to get a little intense, as sometimes it will, the sewing room I have found is a good place to escape… at least for a while. Happy Quilting.

Thank you for visiting. ~ terre 

Terre’s Blog – Women of All Seasons. (c)2021.

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Poetry

Mesa, Poetry,

 ~ Mesa ~

From the valley floor,

they entered the virgin motherland.

Climbing steadily up the sides of red rock

till they reached the narrow mesa

closest to the bright lights of night,

the land closest to the Sun.

With knowing they came to be

 in their own Sacred Place.

                                                                                                                   ~ terre (c)

Thank you for visiting today. ~ terre

Terre’s Blog – Women of All Seasons. (c)2021

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Quilting – My First T-Shirt Quilt

T-Shirt Quilt Back.

Yea… it is done! Here is my first T-shirt quilt. I started this while in our Covid-19 lockdown after I got tired of doing a puzzle. I like puzzles. But quilts are puzzles… just with fabric, right? Also, hopefully you won’t be taking them apart. I am not going to call this my Covid quilt, though. But quilting has helped so much to calm and soothe me during these times of uncertainty, especially when the bad news kept droning on. It has given me a certain peace and something to plan when not being able to go as much as I want. Not to mention, I have good music in my sewing room.

I have been on a mission over the years to make each of my closest family members a quilt. It has taken me much longer than originally planned as I am a slow quilter. But it is always fun when another one is completed. Because each project takes me so long, I call this my ‘Cheap’ hobby. (Buying fabric for the stash is a separate hobby, of course.)

Tips for making a t-shirt quilt. Don’t forget to use at least a mid-weight stabilizer. Some people like to put their shirts together in strips. I can now see where this can be helpful as I had to keep ‘growing’ the sashes to get it to fit together right. I decided to put it together in sections … like a puzzle. Not everyone pre-washes fabric, but I did. I don’t trust red not to do its own thing, sometimes ugly. I had to be patient in receiving the Grand Canyon fabric panel, but it was worth the wait. The only thing is the panel is so beautiful, the quilt is now reversible. An unexpected surprise for me. So when it is reversible, where do you put the label? Another quilting friend suggested to just leave it off. What!!! But I decided to just do a very small one that does not stand out too much. Overall, I am happy with how it turned out. More important and the best of all, the person it was made for loved it. So, Happy Quilting. ~ 

Thank you for visiting today ~ terre

Terre’s Blog – Women of All Seasons  (c)2021

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