Tagged: half-square triangles
Sunday sketch #155
Recently I created a bunch of related designs that I figured I’d just post together, since they’re so similar. They’re all based on triangles – mostly half-square triangles, but also some flying geese and some elongated diamond shapes (rhombi!).
I wanted to recreate the feel of my Heartbreaker quilt pattern – those long diagonal lines created by adjacent half-square triangles – and ended up sketching one design after another on my Rhodia dot pad. There really are no limits to how you can use those shapes in that way.
I love the energy and movement in these designs, and the way they evoke electricity pylons, or maybe cranes, or building scaffolding.
I plan to keep sketching more along this theme. I’d love to try making one of these designs into an actual quilt. I’d prefer to use piecing, although I think you could also make these designs using appliquéd bias strips (if you had a very steady hand or a long straight edge!).
Sunday sketch #154
I’m a sucker for a good star quilt. I’ve even collected a bunch of my favourites in a Pinterest board.
So I made my own star-in-a-star design. Twice the twinkle! 😉
I separated the centre 4 half-square triangles and the triangle-in-a-square blocks to create a kind of halo in the middle of the block. The half-square triangles in the corners end up framing the halo nicely. I couldn’t decide if I liked the more saturated colours in the middle or on the outside, so I just alternated them instead.
The design can look just as cute in two colours…
This design is so simple that I wouldn’t be surprised if there were other similar ones out there. To make this design into a quilt, you’d just need just some half-square triangles, squares, rectangles, and triangle-in-a-square blocks. Super simple!
Sunday sketch #150
Can you believe it?! I’ve managed to post a new Sunday sketch every week for 150 weeks in a row! I should’ve probably organised something special for this week, but I’m just posting my latest sketch.
This design repeats the same shape – made mostly by half-square triangles – four times in a single block, then repeats the block in a 4×4 formation.
I love that happy colour palette!
Adding a twisted square in the centre of the block helps to create new shapes – four little hearts, pointing in four different directions – and provides new options for colouring. This version of the design kinda reminded me of petals around the centre of a flower, so I coloured it in my go-to palette of white and warm yellow.
And, of course, now I can’t decide which one I like more.
This pattern could be made using half-square triangles and rectangles. In the second version, the centre might need to be paper-pieced for precision. In both cases, you’d need to sew a partial seam (just one) to piece the four shapes around the central square.
