Category: Sunday sketch
Sunday sketch #247
Time for some new shapes this week.
Have you tried freezer paper piecing? It’s like foundation paper piecing, but instead of sewing on to paper templates, you press the fabric on to freezer paper templates to hold it in place, and you sew the seams without sewing through the paper. This means there’s no need to rip paper out at the end, and you can use the templates again and again. I first learned this technique from another member of the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild (hi MJ!) and then again from Tara Faughnan in a workshop (Tara has a few online classes teaching this technique, and a CreativeBug class too.)
Anyway, so I’m not a huge fan of foundation paper piecing, but I do occasionally use freezer paper piecing, and the more I do, the more I’m hooked. So I’ve been thinking more lately about freezer paper-piece-able designs. I love a New York beauty block (all those spikes!) so tried a double-layer spiky design.
You can start to see how I designed the block by looking at all the colouring variations….
It looks just as good in the reverse colourway, too.
Each block is made from four quarter-blocks, which can be rearranged in other ways, too.
And the design works in multiple colours, too. These primary colours really pack a punch!
This design would be most easily made using templates for foundation paper piecing or freezer paper piecing, plus some curved strips for in-between the spiky bits.
Sunday sketch #246
I’m still playing with the same triangle-in-a-square block that made its first appearance in Sunday sketch #243 (and was also the basis of sketches #244 and #245). Here it is again, set on point.
Sometimes it takes many rounds of revision before I hit on a design that I like. I can walk you through how this one came to be, so you can see what I mean.
First, I started with a regular layout of squares and triangle-in-a-square blocks. I used flower shapes (like in #243), but coloured the squares in between the blocks to make it look like the shapes were overlapping. I liked how those background stars appeared, but overall the design felt a bit too crowded for me.
To relieve the crowdedness, I changed the layout (expanding the overall size, and increasing the number of blocks), added some negative space around the perimeter, and emptied out the central square of each shape (using the square-in-a-square block that I introduced in #245). I liked this version more, but it still felt a bit busy to me.
After looking at that design for awhile, I realised it might look interesting set on point (that is, on the diagonal). So I revised the design (all of this was done in Electric Quilt 8). Setting the same layout on point also introduces lots more negative space, which helps to focus your eye on the design but also relieves the busy-ness.
You’ll notice that I also filled in the spaces I’d introduced in the shapes themselves – I decided I didn’t need that square-in-a-square block after all.
So – I liked the diagonal layout more than the standard layout. But I still wasn’t completely satisfied. So I tried a few more variations, where the two sets of shapes (yellow and blue) overlapped in different ways. Here’s one.
Don’t you love those background stars that emerge in the middle, where the two sets of shapes overlap? I liked this version, but ultimately decided that there was still too much going on.
So I scaled back the movement by making the two sets of shapes run in parallel instead of perpendicular. Ahh, that’s better.
In this version, I also coloured those background stars in white. You might not notice them at first, as the white is only a shade brighter than the light-grey background. But once you get your eye in, they’re easy to find. I can’t decide if I prefer the stars highlighted like this or not… so you get to see both versions!
Sunday sketch #245
I used the same triangle-in-a-square block in the last two weeks’ designs, and here it is again. (Unlike the classic triangle-in-a-square block, the base of the triangle in this block doesn’t span the width of the square; it’s half as wide here.)
This shape is so versatile. I made scads of versions by rotating it, tiling it in different ways, reversing the colourway, and generally just playing around with it.
The above version started a bit like the one below (more or less), but I thought it would be fun to extend the lines up to the border of the page.
The block works well in asymmetric as well as symmetric designs. This next one’s probably my favourite, to be honest. I might try making this one – maybe as a mini or at least a smaller quilt. And maybe even in this colourway – I really like this blue and black (well, dark grey) combo.
As with Sunday sketches #243 and #244, this week’s designs would probably be easiest to make using paper-piecing to make the triangle-in-a-square blocks.
