I’ve incorporated part of last week’s sketch in this week’s sketch, and perhaps inched a smidge away from a traditional design and slightly closer to a more modern (or maybe contemporary?) one.

I’m still using the same 25-patch from Sunday sketch #462, but I’ve coloured the blocks to focus on a smaller 9-patch:

You might recognise this block. In Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopaedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, it has lots of different names: Jacks on Six, Jack and Six, Old Maid’s Puzzle, Double X #1, Three and Six, Kindergarten Block, and Tennessee (not to mention many more variations). It’s a fairly common traditional block, I think.

I’ve just joined them up using thick strips. The sets of three strips are not quite rail-fence blocks, because the spaces aren’t squares. But close enough.

Changing the colour placement pushes certain parts of the design forwards or backwards. I’ve chosen a palette of 3 colours here, and the way I’ve coloured each element means there are 6 possible versions: the two above, and the four below.

   

   

I think my favourites are the two versions with the orange strips – against either the light pink or dark blue background.

I also tried joining the 9-patches in other ways (still using the 25-patch block repeated on point as the base). These versions are more obviously related to Sunday sketch #462, and are a bit closer to a traditional design.

   

   

   

Even though there’s not a whole lot going on in this design, with only two blocks, the strips draw the eye around quite a bit. I see nine circle-like shapes popping out thanks to the two half-square triangles at the diagonal corners of the 9-patches.

   

The main design this week would be easy enough to construct: it’s just squares, rectangles and half-square triangles. The blocks are set on point, which requires a bit of extra work in figuring out the size of the setting (side) triangles and the corners, but Robert Kaufman has a good app for calculating those (and there are plenty of resources online).