Tagged: paper piecing
Sunday sketch #265
I’ve had an idea in my mind for a while now – something about diamonds embedded in other shapes. It’s not fully formed in my brain… so I’ve been playing around a bit in EQ8 with diamond shapes.
This isn’t the idea I had in mind…! But I liked it enough to pursue it for awhile. The main shape is a bit like the triangle-in-a-square block from Sunday sketch #243 (and subsequent weeks), although the tip of the triangle doesn’t reach the top of the block here. This block has the same versatility though, and the addition of the thin border and sashing provides another spot for using colour.
I had to use acid yellow again! I mentioned on Instagram lately that I think it needs to be in every quilt design from now on….
So there are loads of ways to rotate and colour these blocks. Lots of layout options!
And the same layout can be coloured in different ways, leading to a quite different look and feel.
It can also be pared back in terms of palette, with only 4 colours instead of 5.
And the shapes can be grouped in different ways (using colour again) to give the impression of larger blocks.
Lots of options! These designs would all be pretty easy to make – I think freezer or foundation paper-piecing would be the way to go. (That’s what I’d prefer, to get the thin sashing nice and straight and even.) And one benefit of a design with lots of the same block is that you can save lots of time by chain piecing.
So, this doesn’t solve the problem of the other diamond design I need to work out…! If I can get the vague idea in my head into , you’ll be the first to see 🙂
Sunday sketch #256
It’s autumn in Australia. Leaves changing colour, blowing everywhere, scrunching underfoot.
It felt like a good time for some triangles!
There’s a few ways this design could be translated into a quilt. I think it would work best with foundation paper piecing using freezer paper templates. You could make the templates as long as you like, and just keep adding to them. Otherwise, you could turn the whole design on point and make it using half-square triangles, but that would introduce a lot of extra seams. You could do flying geese instead, but you’d still have some extra seams (just half as many). Or you could use templates for the triangles, and just piece them in diagonal rows, then match the rows up carefully so all the triangles are aligned.
Like I said, I think it would work best with freezer paper piecing 🙂
Sunday sketch #247
Time for some new shapes this week.
Have you tried freezer paper piecing? It’s like foundation paper piecing, but instead of sewing on to paper templates, you press the fabric on to freezer paper templates to hold it in place, and you sew the seams without sewing through the paper. This means there’s no need to rip paper out at the end, and you can use the templates again and again. I first learned this technique from another member of the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild (hi MJ!) and then again from Tara Faughnan in a workshop (Tara has a few online classes teaching this technique, and a CreativeBug class too.)
Anyway, so I’m not a huge fan of foundation paper piecing, but I do occasionally use freezer paper piecing, and the more I do, the more I’m hooked. So I’ve been thinking more lately about freezer paper-piece-able designs. I love a New York beauty block (all those spikes!) so tried a double-layer spiky design.
You can start to see how I designed the block by looking at all the colouring variations….
It looks just as good in the reverse colourway, too.
Each block is made from four quarter-blocks, which can be rearranged in other ways, too.
And the design works in multiple colours, too. These primary colours really pack a punch!
This design would be most easily made using templates for foundation paper piecing or freezer paper piecing, plus some curved strips for in-between the spiky bits.
