Category: Sunday sketch
Sunday sketch #367
I don’t have a favourite quilt block (I don’t really do favourites), but I do love a good eight-pointed star. (Basically a nine-patch where each pair of pointy bits fits into one square; contrast that with a sawtooth star, which is essentially a 16-patch where each pair of pointy bits takes up two squares). Here I’ve shortened the pointy bits so they’re half-way between a sawtooth star and an eight-pointed star.
That’s so it fits into the centre of another block, which the Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns by Barbara Brackman calls the ‘rising sun’, wheel of luck’ or ‘wheel of fortune’ block. I’ve tiled the new block (which doesn’t have a name I can find, but I’m sure it has one) in a 4 × 4 layout and coloured each one differently.
If I add sashing, you can see each block a bit more clearly (but I prefer the layout without sashing).
There are enough elements in this block to mean that a simple palette of only three colours can still produce 16 unique colourings (at least!). Obviously with a larger palette, you’d have even more colouring options.
Here’s an alternating layout of the two versions I like the most.
And a layout of the two versions that probably have the simplest colouring. I like the big squares that are created in the spaces between the blocks.
I love how much designs can change through simple tweaks to colour placement or colour choice. And I particularly love how a single block can look so different depending on how you colour each element. I played with that concept in Sunday sketch #310, and it’s something that I’ll keep exploring.
This approach (and this week’s sketch) is not necessarily ‘modern’ (although if I tweaked the grid work and introduced some negative space, it probably could be), but I find it very useful (and fun) as a design exercise. You should try it!
Sunday sketch #366
This week’s designs are the last in a series that were prompted by Tara Glastonbury’s ‘design from a brief’ challenge, which she’s doing this year on her blog and in her column for Make Modern magazine. Check it out if you haven’t already – it’s a fun way to play with quilt designs and cultivate more creativity.
The basic block in this week’s design is the same as last week’s, with one minor tweak. Can you spot it?
In two diagonally opposite corners, I’ve added a new curve that cuts into the full circle there. In the version above, those new curves create the centres of the flowers; the other corners of the block create those interstitial stars.
I removed some blocks in the version above, so you could see them a bit more clearly. Here’s the version with the block tiled across the full design. It’s a bit busy for me, but I still kinda like it!
A two-colour palette is possible, but then you get those areas where the interstitial stars are a checkerboard colouring, which I don’t like.
Or the design can be rotated so that the interstitial stars are all one colour, and it’s the flower centres that are checkerboard-coloured. I don’t mind this version, actually! It’s busy, but energetic and fun.
Here’s the three-colour version again, but where the flowers have petals of two colours.
There are enough elements in this design to provide a lot of colour play. You could use a ton of colour (it could get kinda psychedelic) or stick to a smaller palette. And like last week, the construction would just require a lot of half-circles and quarter-circles (or drunkard’s path units).
I love a good flower design – they always make me happy!
Sunday sketch #365
You might spot the similarities between this week’s design and last week‘s: the basic block has two circles in diagonally opposite corners that are each highlighted (or shadowed) by a half-circle. But this week, there are no relaxed curves; all the curves are full, half or quarter circles.
I’ve coloured that first version in a way that slightly obscures some of those full circles. Here’s the original, but I just don’t like those areas between 4 adjacent blocks where you get those sharp corners. They make the edges of the blocks a little too obvious, and introduce a hard edge amongst all those lovely soft curves.
An alternative solution is to introduce a third colour for those circles. I don’t mind this idea. (The palette isn’t great, but I ran out of patience while trying to find a three-colour palette that I liked!) Anyway, this one feels even more planetary/celestial. Especially with those interstitial stars!
The same block can be rotated in different ways to make new shapes. These are a smidge too busy for me (hence removing some of the blocks around the edges in the first few versions, and introducing some negative space).
But this next version could be fun in lots of bright colours. A bit like Twister!
I think this week’s sketch could be easier to make into a quilt than last week’s, even though they’re somewhat similar. This one just needs full and half-circles, or lots of half-circles (or lots more quarter-circles). I feel like it’s been awhile since I made a curvy quilt, so maybe I need to put this one on my shortlist!
