Tagged: quarter-circle

Sunday sketch #371

I mentioned last week that I love sticking stuff in circles, so – surprise! – here’s the next iteration of that design. I’ve increased the size of the central crosses and sashing so that I can squeeze in some eight-pointed stars where the crosses were.

Also, I think this might be my new favourite two-colour palette. Electric Quilt 8 says it’s Kona Oyster and Kona Torch, although I’m not sure they’d look exactly the same in real life.

The interstitial stars – the ones between the circles – are made from the sashing between the blocks. So they can go around the edges of the design too, and the centre squares can be coloured the same as the star or different. Lots of options!

I quite like a limited palette for simple designs like this, and I always love that dirty yellow with an off-black.

Or this dusky raspberry with the charcoal black. Yum.

The arms of the stars are long and thin, so I’d probably use templates (or the forthcoming HuRTy 2 ruler from Latifah Saafir, which will do 1:3 and 2:3 half-rectangle triangles). I’m not sure how small I could make triangles like that (and still have them be nice and crisp and straight). I should try it and find out!

Otherwise, this week’s design would be as easy to make as last week’s: a bunch of quarter-circles (or drunkard’s path units), some squares (for the middle of the stars) and rectangles for the sashing. You just need to pick your colours! 🙂

 

 

Sunday sketch #370

I’ve been doing a lot of (what feel like) fairly simple designs lately, but I’m enjoying playing with basic shapes and palettes. I’m big into sticking circles (or pseudo-circles) around stuff – this week, it’s crosses.

I used a similar shape in Sunday sketch #131 (way back in December 2018!), but haven’t really played with it since. But I really like it.

It’s not quite a circle, not quite a squircle, but 4 quarter-circles (or drunkard’s path units) around a cross shape. Using a centre square in the middle of the cross increases the opportunity for interesting colour placement.

And those squares can be echoed in the sashing between the blocks, too. The design works without them, I guess, although it’s maybe not as interesting?

I’ve used a mixed palette here, but a more limited palette would work too.

I also removed some of the circles and retained the crosses – just to add some negative space and draw the eye around the design a bit.

There’s lots of potential with this design – lots of ways you could play with the palette and colour placement. I love simple, clean designs like this! They’re not earth-shattering from a design perspective, but very satisfying (to me, at least).

All you’d need are quarter-circles (or drunkard’s path units), squares and rectangles. I know a lot of people don’t like sashing, but I don’t mind it. I add it to a lot of my designs to break up adjacent blocks and avoid overcrowding. (Sorry!) But otherwise I think this week’s sketch would be a fairly easy make.

Sunday sketch #365

You might spot the similarities between this week’s design and last week‘s: the basic block has two circles in diagonally opposite corners that are each highlighted (or shadowed) by a half-circle. But this week, there are no relaxed curves; all the curves are full, half or quarter circles.

I’ve coloured that first version in a way that slightly obscures some of those full circles. Here’s the original, but I just don’t like those areas between 4 adjacent blocks where you get those sharp corners. They make the edges of the blocks a little too obvious, and introduce a hard edge amongst all those lovely soft curves.

An alternative solution is to introduce a third colour for those circles. I don’t mind this idea. (The palette isn’t great, but I ran out of patience while trying to find a three-colour palette that I liked!) Anyway, this one feels even more planetary/celestial. Especially with those interstitial stars!

The same block can be rotated in different ways to make new shapes. These are a smidge too busy for me (hence removing some of the blocks around the edges in the first few versions, and introducing some negative space).

But this next version could be fun in lots of bright colours. A bit like Twister!

I think this week’s sketch could be easier to make into a quilt than last week’s, even though they’re somewhat similar. This one just needs full and half-circles, or lots of half-circles (or lots more quarter-circles). I feel like it’s been awhile since I made a curvy quilt, so maybe I need to put this one on my shortlist!