The next few weeks’ Sunday sketches are all related – in fact, they all use what’s essentially the same block, just coloured differently and with some pieces removed or inserted. That process of addition or subtraction is one of the easiest ways to iterate a quilt design, particularly if you’re using software rather than paper and pen.

This week’s sketch isn’t what I started with, but it’s one of the versions in which the least number of block elements are coloured in. In the coming weeks, I’ll add to and subtract from the block using colour. Don’t worry – it’ll make more sense when you can see what I mean.

Don’t you love the curvy movement created by those outer triangle-in-a-square units touching at their tips? Round and round we go!

If you’ve followed me for long enough, you’ll know that I like to stick to certain rules when it comes to colour. In cases where the design can feel ‘busy’, I’ll use one colour for the same element in every block, for consistency. Here, I’ve coloured the inside star in white, the same as the background colour. (Does that inside star have a name…? It’s not a sawtooth star, but I’m not sure what it’s called.)

Anyway, I also like to select a colour palette that allows the right number of permutations for the design. In this case, I have 5 rows and 5 columns, with 3 ‘elements’ in each block (not counting the internal star, which I’ve already decided to leave white): the outside star, the octagonal surround of the inside star, and the centre block. So if I choose a palette of 5 colours, I can make sure that each different element appears in each colour only once in each column and row. It’s also nice if the colouring of any one block isn’t repeated. I don’t always manage it, and I didn’t completely succeed in this case. See if you can spot where I broke my own rules?

This combination of bright warm tones and dark blue is always a favourite. The reverse works well too.

This is a fairly basic design, using squares, triangle-in-a-square units, and half-square triangles. It’s got similarities to Sunday sketch #154 (the same triangle-in-a-square units and half-square triangles create the external star in this design) and #272 (replace the wedges with triangles and the two designs are very similar).

Often with designs like this, I’ll do a bit of a search to make sure there aren’t already a million designs like it. I can never be absolutely sure, of course – the internet’s a big place – but I don’t want to miss anything obvious. I don’t see anything like it on my ‘Quilts: Stars‘ or ‘Quilts: Triangles‘ Pinterest boards, but I haven’t added to them in awhile. Maybe I’m just reminded of my own sketches 🙂 As always, if you know of a quilt pattern that’s similar to a Sunday sketch, let me know and I’ll update the post accordingly. I like knowing what’s out there, and it’s fun to look at two designs and examine their similarities and differences.