Sunday sketch #334

I’ve been playing with Excel a bit lately. It’s a fast and easy way to create quilt designs that feature squares or strips. I just set the sizing of the rows and columns so that the cells are square, then fill the cells to create the shapes.

For whatever reason, I haven’t designed with other shapes much lately. I’ve been busy with quilty deadlines and work and life, and just haven’t made much time for intentional creativity. I’m not worried; I’ll get back to it. But for now, and maybe another week or two, the Sunday sketches might be a bit simpler. But no less interesting!

This is almost like a cross between Frequency (which Modern Patchwork magazine called Sound Maze) and Sunday sketch #194. Notice how the three columns are made from completely separate lines that don’t extend outside their own column? There are a few floating rectangles in the middle column too.

I kept playing with this concept, but decided to colour in some of the whitespace…

You can see that I changed a few things in the middle column in that one, too. I kinda like the balance in this one, but my eye can get a little lost in all those lines.

So I kept playing, and found a simpler variation. Again, the rows might look like they’re interacting, but they’re each made of a completely separate continuous line.

My Excel workbook has another 10 or so sheets in it with additional variations on this theme; it really does have endless possibilities. I’m not sure if I’d ever make one of these designs into a quilt – I find it difficult to piece long narrow strips and keep them all straight. But you never know!