There are so many lines in this week’s block that pretty much any layout creates lots of secondary lines, interactions and shapes. I like this crazy layout the most; it seems a bit random, but there’s order in the chaos.

Here’s the same block in a different layout; the top rows of the two designs are the same, but from then on, the blocks are rotated differently. In this version, the spaces between the black and white shapes almost end up looking like they’re slightly different shades of light blue, depending on which diagonal line of blocks you’re looking at.

My eye tends to see the diagonal lines of blocks going from top left to bottom right, but there are also lines going from bottom left to top right. They’re maybe a bit easier to see with the blocks in a single colour.

Using the reverse colourway in alternate blocks presents even more opportunities for different layouts.

Things can get pretty busy though….

Pointing all the blocks in the same direction helps to show the effect of alternating the placement of the two colours in adjacent blocks.

The angles in this block make it a great candidate for laying out on point. I feel like this layout changes the whole feeling of the design. (This particular version also has a diagonal grid of squares that isn’t so evident in other versions, thanks to the way I’ve coloured the shapes.)

This next version feels a bit more spiky than its standard-layout sister design. (Why is that?)

A hybrid of the previous two designs retains that diagonal grid of secondary squares (now bigger), plus the spikiness.

Many of these designs make me think of birds, so I couldn’t resist making one last version with a flock flying west.

These blocks, and all these designs, could be made into quilts using 2:1 half-rectangle triangles (twice as long as they are wide), half-square triangles and squares. There are 4 HSTs per block, so 4-at-a-time or 8-at-a-time methods would help to save time. There are also 2 HRTs of each orientation (left-facing and right-facing) in each block, so the 2-at-a-time method for making those would be perfect too.