I do understand my children just look at me when I pull out my measuring tape out of my purse

I have been fortunate enough to have the chance to visit Europe, and of course, spent WAY too much time taking photos of cathedral floors!! What beautiful patterns...my husband thought I was nuts, but the quilt in my avatar is a memory of time we spent in Italy. It hangs in his office and he loves it.

At one time I decorated my house with Native Amercian and still have many panels of it.

do they let you have needles on the funny farm?

You should be able to draft it out on graph paper. I use 4 to the inch graph paper all the time. Have around 50 graph notebooks with designs in them. I've been at this for 44 years and have always used the notebooks to sketch ideas.

Actually I design on Excel (spreadsheet application). I make the cells very small and usually do the ratio of 1 cell equals 1/2 inch. I am doing this with the vintage quilts I am repairing also so I have the colors and designs scattered. I also use Excel for the Swedish Weaving I do. Last Christmas I made blankets for all of my family and the guys all had something they like, i.e. trains, music, boating, football. I also have a software design program that is for Swedish Weaving.
I am almost finished with the Happy Camper quilt I made and I designed it on Excel and then created a cut list from the spreadsheet.
This picture is a wall hanging I made with Swedish Weaving.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that does that. I find quilt stuff everywhere! Drives my family nuts...but they are learning.

Why not take a piece of tracing paper and then transfer that to 4 sq. per inch graph paper. (Put it up to the window to transfer it.) Then you can break it down to a pattern, using 4 sq per 12" total block. Often you will find this to be quite easy. Just do one little square at a time and hopefully you will surprise youself with a pattern you find useable! THIS is how I often take something I like and go with the flow! I teach a class and they too find it interesting to do this type of 'copying'.
Good luck!

Funny!

Not a bit. I do the same thing. I will see any little thing and wonder how I could make it into a block. Or wonder how it would look in a certain color way. It is an obsession. And I don't want to be cured!
Rabbit