Design Wall

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day.  My kids cooked and cleaned up the kitchen, we had smoked wild turkey, Parmesan potatoes, asparagus, cabbage salad, and chocolate Dutch baby with ice cream and berries.  And a bottle of Riesling.  Delicious meal and thank you to kids and hubby for all their work.

 Second son requested a queen size quilt some time ago in brown and blue but didn't give me much else to go on for the design or style.  He did say he liked an airplane quilt I made quite a few years ago and I offered to give him that one,  he wanted one made just for him.  I was also in the mind set that airplanes should be in RWB.  This quilt has been on my mind for over a year.  I really like specifics when I make a quilt for someone like the log cabin and fan quilts, those requests were like an assignment so all I had to do was fulfill the syllabus.
Second son likes to hunt and fish and works with wind power he is a civil engineer. He did say he knew I would come up with something and he would love it.  What a challenge!?!   I studied some of my favorite books and started scribbling on graph paper and made a list of possible blocks. I added to my wildlife fabrics knowing there would be a place for it in his quilt.  So this is how my design process works:

1. study favorite books
2. look at fabrics in the stash 
3. shop for possibilities to fill gaps in value
4. think what if........how about......list of blocks
5. study favorite books add book marks
6. draw on graph paper
7. turn page draw more on graph paper do some math
8. pull fabrics from stash
9. pin fabrics to design wall see how they play together
10. use colored pencil on graph paper  think about buying the latest computer software for designing quilts
11. think about how long it is going to take me to learn how to use it
12. remember I usually fly by the seat of my pants when I start working with fabric and no matter how much planning I do everything changes as I work
13. decide purchasing the computer software would be a waste of time and money
14. eliminate a bunch of fabric from the pile
15. choose fabrics for the center block
16. do the math for working with 2 inch segments or 3 inch segments  
17. figure out how big the quilt is going to grow
18. make the first cuts in the fabric and sew the center star
19. audition the second round of fabrics
20. sew some pink border fabrics for the log cabin fan quilt while I think about the next fabrics for this quilt

And the process continues. Enjoying a wonderful rainy day here. Linking to Judy's Design Wall Monday and be inspired. --Ann--