In the Mail Monday: Portable Design Wall

I've been wanting a design wall for ages. I've been crawling around on the design floor for so long my knees hurt just thinking about it. I don't remember how I learned about Cheryl Ann's Design Wall but I was so excited when I did learn about it. I was also excited to learn that Cheryl Ann was having a sale (the web special is available until November 30th). I made the leap and submitted an order.

The design wall is available in sizes from 18" by 18" to 72" by 72". As you know, I'm not one for going small. I went for the 72" by 72" model. As you can see, the box is small.  I almost couldn't wait to get it put together.

The design wall comes in an easy to carry bag. The wall is made up of light-weight poles similar to those used in tents.

Here are all the pieces. It took me about 20 minutes to assemble the wall for the first time. I'm sure that it wouldn't take that long a second time.

Here it is, all set up in my sewing space.  For the record, 72" by 72" may seem like a large size, but I could use a design wall much bigger.  I don't have anywhere to put such a thing, and the usability would be questionable, but I could use one.

I used my new design wall to work on the layout of my scrappy bee blocks quilt. This quilt will include the bee blocks from my guild bee.  You can make your own scrappy stars using the tutorials I wrote for my bee members.  Find the friendship star tutorial and wonky star tutorial at the links. You can also check out some of the other blocks I made as part of the bee from posts in June and July.

My review of the design wall: I'm glad I bought it. If I still had a cat I don't know that I would be as pleased with it (cats are enterprising little creatures and this would be an invitation to climbing). It is lightweight. Great if you want to carry it somewhere, or move it out of the way. Bad if you want it to stay put if you bump into it. It won't easily fall over, but it won't take much force to make it fall over if you are determined. I am willing to give up the stability of having a design wall permanently attached to a real wall to not have to clear out space in front of said wall to use it.  Overall, I'm glad I'm not on the floor any more and I'm glad I purchased the design wall. If you think this would work in your creative life, I recommend you check out Cheryl Ann's Design Wall.

Have you discovered any fun quilting or design tools lately?