Sunday sketch #200

Ta da! I always wondered what big post I’d plan for #200, but now that it’s here, I just want to get on with another sketch*. Shall we?

I mentioned last week that I’d created a bunch of designs from a single block – the double-triangle parallelogram-in-a-rectangle block (for lack of a better name). Well, here’s another one.

Geometriquilt: Sunday sketch #200

This time, the blocks are arranged horizontally instead of vertically, and they use 4 colours instead of just 3. The top left of each block is always dark blue, and the bottom right is always grey; the middles change between yellow and white depending on location – creating diagonal strips of all-white or all-yellow triangles.

And playing around with colour placement can produce a very different design, with fatter diagonal stripes that emerge as secondary shapes:

Geometriquilt: Sunday sketch #200-2

Like last week, these designs would be easiest to make into quilts using paper piecing.

* Seriously though, thanks for following along with me as I share my design ideas. It’s a huge source of creativity, fun and inspiration for me, and I’m chuffed that others enjoy it too. Here’s to the next 200!

Sunday sketch #199

So while playing around with the double-HRT block from Sunday sketch #198, I noticed a shape that I quite liked: two triangles back to back, creating a parallelogram. I wanted to set that in a larger rectangle and extend the line between the triangles to the corners of the block. It didn’t take long to use paper and EQ8 to create what I had in mind.

Geometriquilt: Sunday sketch #199

I originally designed the block in a landscape orientation, then decided I liked how this looked vertical – almost architectural. Like windows on a skyscraper, with the sun angled down, creating shadows.

The secondary lines that arise from this layout present loads of opportunities for colour play. I created a bunch of related designs in EQ8 just by rotating the blocks and colouring them slightly differently. Watch out for a few more in the coming weeks.

To make this design into a quilt pattern, it would probably be best to use paper piecing to ensure that you got the angles right. I’m going to add this one to the (long) list of designs I’d really like to try making one of these days.

Sunday sketch #198

I briefly sat down with my sketchbook the other day, drew one simple block, then immediately started up EQ8 to tile it and recolour it. I toyed around with placement too, setting the blocks on point, rotating some of them, and using the inverse colourway on others. I picked a lovely emerald-y green for the two-colour version.

Geometriquilt_SS198

Can you tell what the original block was? If you tilt your head 45 degrees, you might be able to see a few squares emerge from this design. And you can see that they’re made up of two 2:1 half-rectangle triangles (which are twice as high as they are wide). The two diagonal seams of the HRTs are parallel, and the HRTs are coloured so the middle of the block looks like a tilted stripe, with the two coloured triangles on the outside.

Messing with the orientation of the blocks introduces some lovely secondary shapes and lines. Of course, I opted for a symmetrical design!

This design could be translated into a quilt using all HRTs and a few squares of background fabric.