Category: Sunday sketch
Sunday sketch #321
I don’t know how many flower-themed designs I’ve created over the years – I should go back and count! They always make me happy. Here’s another one.
This is a block-based design, set on point. The blocks are made from a single unit, the quarter-circle (or drunkard’s path unit), plus some internal sashing. And the blocks are joined by sashing of the same width.
There are a few different ways to colour the three main elements (sashing/background, flower middle, and flower petals). In the first two versions of this week’s sketch, I’ve coloured the flower middle in the same colour, to provide some consistency across the design.
The petals can be coloured differently across the blocks, but I find that keeping at least one element in the same colour helps to avoid busy-ness.
I often try a two-tone, alternating colour scheme with block-based designs, and this one’s no different. For this design, which has a retro feel, I couldn’t resist my usual pink and red/orange combo.
The design feels even more retro in a standard (rather than on-point) layout. I like how the secondary shapes (squircles) are more obvious in this version.
This week’s series of sketches could be translated into quilts using lots of a single unit, the quarter-circle, plus some squares and sashing. I love the simplicity of this design, so I’m very tempted to try making one!
Sunday sketch #320
There are so many lines in this week’s block that pretty much any layout creates lots of secondary lines, interactions and shapes. I like this crazy layout the most; it seems a bit random, but there’s order in the chaos.
Here’s the same block in a different layout; the top rows of the two designs are the same, but from then on, the blocks are rotated differently. In this version, the spaces between the black and white shapes almost end up looking like they’re slightly different shades of light blue, depending on which diagonal line of blocks you’re looking at.
My eye tends to see the diagonal lines of blocks going from top left to bottom right, but there are also lines going from bottom left to top right. They’re maybe a bit easier to see with the blocks in a single colour.
Using the reverse colourway in alternate blocks presents even more opportunities for different layouts.
Things can get pretty busy though….
Pointing all the blocks in the same direction helps to show the effect of alternating the placement of the two colours in adjacent blocks.
The angles in this block make it a great candidate for laying out on point. I feel like this layout changes the whole feeling of the design. (This particular version also has a diagonal grid of squares that isn’t so evident in other versions, thanks to the way I’ve coloured the shapes.)
This next version feels a bit more spiky than its standard-layout sister design. (Why is that?)
A hybrid of the previous two designs retains that diagonal grid of secondary squares (now bigger), plus the spikiness.
Many of these designs make me think of birds, so I couldn’t resist making one last version with a flock flying west.
These blocks, and all these designs, could be made into quilts using 2:1 half-rectangle triangles (twice as long as they are wide), half-square triangles and squares. There are 4 HSTs per block, so 4-at-a-time or 8-at-a-time methods would help to save time. There are also 2 HRTs of each orientation (left-facing and right-facing) in each block, so the 2-at-a-time method for making those would be perfect too.
Sunday sketch #319
This week’s design is a little bit related to Sunday sketch #313, although with lots of differences too. I guess they’re related more in concept than in execution.
The design features a square block, set on point, in a standard layout. The blocks are made mostly from half-rectangle triangles, with two half-square triangles and a single quarter-circle (or drunkard’s path unit). That first colouring, above, makes me think of cactus flowers. The ones below are more like wheat stalks.
Note that the first three versions have sashing between the blocks; the version below doesn’t. There’s enough whitespace in the blocks themselves to not let the design feel too busy, although I think I still prefer the versions with sashing. I do like a lot of ‘resting’ space in designs though.
The previous versions have coloured all the blocks the same, but of course you could use a different colour per block. And I’ve used gradating colours within each block, but that’s not necessary either. I avoided trying that though (see comment on busy-ness, above!).
This week’s design could be made into a quilt using half-rectangle triangles of different sizes/ratios, squares, half-square triangles, and quarter-circle (drunkard’s path) units.
I think this is the sort of block that you could mix in with other flower blocks for a more random garden-y feel. The same block on repeat is maybe too much for a whole quilt? But it would work well to break up other botanical blocks. I guess I need to design a bunch of flower blocks to test that out! 🙂
