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.

 

Sunday sketch #355

This week’s sketch is the last in a series of related sketches that started with Sunday sketch #353 (although the first one really started with Sunday sketch #306).

I’ve replaced the horizontally bisected circles with diagonally divided ones. The angle of division isn’t the same as the angle of the tops and bottoms of the elongated diamond shapes (which are formed from half-rectangle triangles), so the resulting grid is diagonal rather than square.

Here it is in a bright palette.

As with the previous weeks’ designs, I think the choice of colour palette is important. I’ve chosen a mix of dark, medium and light values. The design is balanced enough that the placement of colours doesn’t seem to make a huge difference.

Here are 4 of the 5 possible colour combinations of that last version of the design (the only one that’s missing is the pink background with the red and white switched):

I think they all work quite well!

I thought last week’s sketch was my favourite, but the more I look at this one, the more I love it (and I loved it quite a lot to begin with haha). I’m not entirely sure how I’d make those diagonally bisected circles – I guess by making the circle and then just insetting it on the diagonal, making sure to get the points lined up exactly at 45 and 135 degrees in the surrounding square? Then it’d just be a case of chain-piecing a bunch of them. I absolutely love the repetitiveness of designs like this one – the thought of being able to cut out everything beforehand, batch-sew a bunch of similar units, then piece together multiple units of the same type makes me very happy 🙂 I know that would bore the hell out of a lot of quilters, but it’s my happy place.

This week’s sketches are the last in this series of related designs, so there’ll be something new next week. I can’t guarantee I won’t revisit this design in future though!