Design Wall & Giveaways!

Good Monday!  Did you survive the weekend?  Mine was a total blur.  I have decided to quit complaining about the heat here in the central valley of California.  I am going to enjoy what the heat presents to me (as long as I can stay under the coolness of the AC, that is).  Yesterday morning I looked out and saw that our volunteer sunflower was standing proud and beautiful in the sun.  It drew me outside at least long enough to take it's picture.

We are backyard birdwatchers and provide seeds and feed in a number of feeders.  Year around we have house finches, doves, scrub-jays, mockingbirds, wrentits, and hummingbirds.  We have migrating through at different times of the year: flickers, gold finches, dark-eyed junco, bullock's Oriole, black headed grosbeak, spotted dove, cedar waxwing, American robins and evening grosbeaks.  We provide a commercial wild bird seed in two feeders, thistle seed in one feeder, unsalted peanuts and black oil sunflower seeds in a dish, and two hummingbird feeders.  As a result, we occasionally have volunteer plants emerging in the flowerbed and in flower pots.  The sunflower is growing with a gerbera daisy.  We also have some milo growing in a few pots that will in turn feed the birds once they mature.

Have you entered my giveaway that I posted on Saturday?  Make sure to check it out!

Quilters, have you ever wanted to have a design wall but didn't think you had the room?  I may have the solution that you are looking for!  Recently we were at a quilt show and one of the vendors was selling a roll-up design wall.  Well, my wonderful husband thought he could recreate the item without spending near the amount of money that the vendor wanted for theirs.  We came home and put on our thinking caps. 

Items Needed:
Roll-up vinyl blind - select the width you would like and have room for
Flannel - enough to cover the blind
Spray Adhesive
Four Large Rubber bands
 
Here are the steps we took:
1. I cut the flannel to the size of the blind minus
2. Lay out newspaper in a very well ventilated area - we did ours on our garage floor (make sure to open the doors to allow cross ventilation)
3. Pull open the blind completely and lay out flat on newspaper
4. Cover the bottom of the blind (where you handle it to pull it up and down) with masking or painters tape
5. Follow the instructions on the adhesive spray and spray the roll-up blind
6. Lay the flannel on the blind making sure there are no wrinkles or creases. 
7. Smooth out flannel completely pressing all areas down securely - we used a board wider than the blind and slid it up the entire length of flannel, sort of like smoothing cement.
8. Roll up the blind and secure it with four rubber bands spaced evenly to prevent the blind from unrolling.
9. Allow the blind to stay closed overnight to let the adhesive dry completely
10. Remove the masking/painters tape
11. Hang blind according the directions that came with the blind in the desired location
12. Enjoy

Here are pictures of my new design wall.

Design Wall opened partially - hung above the french doors that lead into our office

Design Wall with fabric sticking to flannel

Design Wall rolling up with fabric still attached

Rolled up and out of the way!

We found out the hard way about putting tape at the bottom of the blind before spraying on the adhesive as my design wall is sticky where you put your fingers to work the blind.  I'm going to have to put some fabric over it as it is already collecting all of the pet hair that floats into the room!

The vendor that was selling these at the quilt show also had a very nice wood valance that covered the top of the blind so that it just disappeared up into it.  But the room I have mine in is an office/sewing/computer room and doesn't need to be hidden.

I hope this gives you an alternative to always having to move a board around or setting up a portable wall.  Pull this one down - there's your wall! Pull it up - your design is still there but it's now out of the way!

I just discovered a new giveaway over at Jaybird Quilts.  She is having a sponsored giveaway from the Fat Quarter Shop and is giving away the entire collection of Pure by Sweetwater (37 fat quarters!).  Take a gander over there and check it out. 

Another giveaway I just heard of is at irocksowhat.  She is giving away a $50 Gift Card to Urban Outfitters.  Go check that one out too!

Don't forget to check out my giveaway!  It runs until August 30th.  Something for everyone!

That does it for me for this Monday.  I'm off to cut out my Hawaiian Quilt fabric!