This week’s sketch is definitely one I could’ve designed in Excel! Sometimes that’s the best way for me to get stripe-based designs onto the computer quickly, but in this case, I figured it out fairly easily using Electric Quilt 8. It’s a block-based design that uses just two block types plus sashing.

Ever since I designed Frequency (published as the Sound Maze quilt pattern in the now-defunct Modern Patchwork magazine), I’ve been keen to create another punchy two-colour design that relies only on straight lines. There’s just something about a bold yet simple design that really ticks my boxes.

I’m not sure this design is it, but I’m having fun trying!

I started with the design on the left, but decided it needed something… and then realised if I rotated the corner blocks (and the square wave blocks) and added a few more lines, I could get a fuller design that felt more complete.

I really like the two-colour version, although the spaces between the bold lines offers some potential for adding colours.

The thin strips are all the same width; I’ve used 1″ in this design (using 7″ blocks plus 1″ sashing), but I might opt for slightly larger if I was actually making this one. Slight imperfections in your sewing or cutting might be more obvious at such a small scale? I’m not sure. If I try making this sketch into a quilt, I’ll let you know!