Sunday sketch #358

This week’s sketch is one of those rare designs that I’m not entirely sure how to construct. But it’s still cute enough to share!

I’ve treated the alternating crosses like two different layers overlapping each other, and coloured them accordingly. That presents lots of opportunities for different palettes.

All the crosses could be coloured the same, of course. And the circles don’t necessarily need to be completely filled.

But filling the circles makes them more prominent, changing the overall feel of the design.

This week’s sketch is made up of circles (comprising 8 sectors of equal size) and squares. I really don’t know how I’d make this one. How would you join the sectors to the adjacent cross pieces? I guess you’d have to use templates and probably partial seams? It might be easier for hand-piecers rather than for machine-piecers? Part of me wants to try it just to see if it’s possible (which I’m sure it is), but the other part of me knows I have many more (easier) sketches to make first 🙂

Sunday sketch #357

I’ve found that one of the easiest ways to iterate a design is to replace one shape with another. This week’s sketch is based on Sunday sketch #356, but it uses squares instead of drunkard’s path units. Those interlocking shapes are still there (see the second version, below), but now they look like flags rather than crochet hooks.

In the first version though, I’ve rotated the blocks to obscure those interlocking shapes.

Here’s the version most like last week’s sketch. I’ve used a palette of three colours (my usual choice of dark blue, bright orange and pale pink), but the layout is such that each colour can still be used for both a ‘positive’ (or foreground) and ‘negative’ (or background) motif.

I like this version, but I wonder how it would look if those diagonal stepwise blocks of colour between the motifs were reduced in size. The sketch is block-based, so I’d have to revise the block itself or just rework the whole design. It would make the whole sketch a bit busier, but I think it could be more interesting. It’s not something I thought about doing at the time, but now that I’m writing this blog post, I can see potential for improvement. I’ll work on it!

This week’s sketch could be made using squares (large and small) and rectangles. And lots of chain piecing!

 

 

Sunday sketch #356

OK, this week’s sketch is admittedly a bit wacky, but it’s just one variation of a block-based design that I thought was worth sharing.

The block itself is made up of one large and five small drunkard’s path units. On its own, it looks a bit like a UFO or some kind of sea creature (although it also reminds me a bit of the Shine Dome. Or maybe Thing from the Addams family!). But when one block is positioned next to another block, those drunkard’s path units combine to create interlocking crochet-hook-like shapes. Can you see them?

Rotating the blocks creates a different kind of movement, but those interlocking hooks are still there.

I simplified the design to highlight those hook shapes, although I don’t like this version as much; the balance of the small and large drunkard’s path units adds to the design, I think.

I do have a soft spot for two-colour designs where the same motif or shape appears in both colours.

This week’s design could be made using lots of drunkard’s path units – not quarter-circles, but the ones where there’s a bit of a gap between the curve and the edges of the square.