Sunday sketch #288

No, your eyes are not deceiving you – this week’s design features prints! I don’t think I’ve ever designed a Sunday sketch using prints before?! But I couldn’t help it this week.

(I probably should’ve posted this one before Christmas, since it’s kinda a festive palette somehow.)

This design is very much like Sunday sketch #224, but using squircles – squares with rounded off corners – instead of circles, and with the internal lines placed off-centre.

Because the lines within the squircle are off-centre, rotating the blocks changes the size and location of the secondary shapes. In the version above, there’s a big square in the centre, surrounded by rectangles and four smaller squares. In the version below, the small square’s in the middle, and the rectangles and four big squares surround it.

Of course, the design also works in solids, too.

The easiest way to make this design into an actual quilt would probably be to combine quarter-circle units with squares and rectangles as necessary. But that would mean three of the four parts of each squircle were made up of multiple pieces of fabric – so you’d get seams between pieces of the same fabric. That’s fine for solids, but not for plaids (which I’ve used in the top version). So I think I’d create templates for those pieces, so you could add a rounded corner to each one. I’m not entirely sure how I’d do that (I don’t think it’d be quite as easy as you might first imagine), so it might be worth me playing around with sometime. I do have some plaids that I need to use up, so this might be the design for them!

 

Sunday sketch #287

This week’s sketches are iterations of last week’s. It’s been awhile since I’ve done a series of related sketches. Although I’m not sure two posts in a row counts as a series…!

So last week’s sketches were all based around interlocking crosses – a bit like Brigid’s crosses – with alternating blocks having the reverse colouring. Using random colour placement instead produces a design like this:

And then I just started removing bits. I designed the block using flying geese and a square-in-a-square units, which means there are lots of bits that can be subtracted to create new and interesting designs. Here’s the first design again:

And here it is with alternating blocks removed (actually still there, but with only the centre square showing), to add some more negative space and help you see the individual crosses (or what’s left of them):

I also tried a simpler palette, so you can concentrate on the shapes rather than the colours.

This week’s sketch could be made into a quilt using flying geese, squares, square-in-a-square units and rectangles.

This isn’t one that I’ll be rushing to make, but I enjoyed the process of iterating the design and exploring different shapes and palettes. That’s the kind of experimentation that I like doing with the Sunday sketches – often a little shape or combination of shapes will spark a new idea and a new sketch. For example, I really love this little shape, which is repeated and rotated in the above designs:

It feels a bit like fingertips touching (not that I’m comparing my work to that of Michelangelo or anything..!). Anyway, I’ll keep playing with it and see if I can come up with something new. Watch this space!

Sunday sketch #286

I love using an alternating palette (usually of only two colours) on a regular repeating pattern to give the impression that some blocks are sinking into the background while others are coming to the foreground.

In this week’s sketches, each main ‘cross’ shape is made up of one block, with the outermost edges created by adjacent blocks.

The problem with a two-colour palette is that I can never decide which version I like best….

This kind of design has sooo much potential for different block placement. I tend to start with the blocks in the centre, often surrounded by a wide border (like in the above two images). When I’m happy with that version, I’ll try other versions by adding or removing blocks or borders.

With this sketch, I actually started with a multi-colour palette of my usual warm pinks, oranges and yellows. These colours always work well with a white background or a darker one (like the dark blue shown here). I like using wide borders in my sketches to frame the design a little, but of course you needn’t do that when making a quilt. I know some quilters hate dealing with things like sashing and borders.

 

These blocks also work well when set on point (i.e. on a diagonal grid). The lines within each block end up stretching horizontally and vertically instead of diagonally.

I removed the corner blocks in the above two designs, just to add some negative space. But you can fill out the whole grid if you want.

Or mix up the palette and placement…

And use whatever colours you want!

I originally designed the block using a square-in-a-square unit, a bunch of flying geese, and some half-square triangles. But seeing the block set on point, I realise it would probably be easier to make a quilt from this design using squares and rectangles that are assembled into rows or columns –rather than making complete blocks that are then sewn together.