Tagged: quarter-circle

Sunday sketch #364

This week’s design came out of a design challenge that Tara Glastonbury’s been doing this year to help you kick-start your creativity. Tara’s been posting design briefs on her blog and in her column in Make Modern magazine. In Brief #5, called ‘Getting past a block’, Tara challenged participants to design a queen-size quilt using an analogous colour palette.

I love designing to ‘rules’, so I’ve enjoyed responding to each of Tara’s briefs. It’s a fun way to do something a bit different, and an excuse to post more designs to Instagram 🙂

It took me awhile to settle on an analogous colour palette that I was happy with (colour is always my nemesis!). Tara had also talked about William Morris as a design inspiration, so I started with curves and tried to come up with something floral/leafy.

I pretty much posted the first design I came up (even though I didn’t love it). But then I kept playing around with the idea of full circles bisected by more relaxed curves. Here’s where I got to.

This is a block-based design; you can see where the edges of the block are if I colour it a little differently….

I tried a few different two-colour combinations.

I also did my usual ‘modernising’ step by removing some of the blocks and block elements, introducing a bit of asymmetry, and adding some negative space.

I think I like the other version better, where the colours flow from one block to the next, obscuring their edges.

The design also works horizontally, where it’s a bit reminiscent of a rolling ocean with air bubbles on and under the water’s surface.

I also played a bit with the colouring of the layers, using darks at the bottom and lighter shades at the top. The light filters to the bottom while the air bubbles rise to the surface.

This week’s design could be made into a quilt using curves, curves and more curves. Specifically, half-circles or quarter-circles (drunkard’s path units), plus a more relaxed curve that might require a template. I’ve never sewn curves within curves before, so I’m not sure how easy it would be. I struggle making quarter-circles that are any smaller than about 4″ – they just come out all wonky – so I like the idea of a less curvy curve!

 

 

Sunday sketch #363

I’m not sure if the main shape in this week’s sketch has a name – I’ve seen it called a leaf shape or a half-squircle. It’s basically a square with two opposite corners rounded off. Set on point with the curves to the side, it gives a kinda Christmas ornament vibe. But it also has lots of space in the middle for another block or shape. I’ve stuck a star in there.

I’ve used a three-colour palette here, but probably any number of colours would work. Especially as the middles of the stars can be coloured differently too.

Here’s my usual warm palette. I can’t resist!

And back with the more basic colour placement.

It works in a busier colourway too.

I also like the sideways version – it looks less Christmas-y and more wavy.

I’ll probably play more with the half-squircle – I think it’s a good shape for incorporating other smaller blocks or shapes. The best construction method would depend on the smaller shape/block. Here, I’d probably make the inner star block then create a template to round off the two corners and make a curved sashing.

What other shapes should I try putting in the middle of these half-squircles?

 

Sunday sketch #362

This week’s block is the same as last week’s, so I’m cheating a little bit by making a new Sunday sketch rather than rolling these designs into last week’s post. But hey, it’s my blog, and I can do what I want! 🙂

I’ve rotated the block to create these new shapes. They’re admittedly kinda odd, but I like them.

Rotating again creates these shapes – don’t they remind you of moose antlers?

Here’s the same design shifted over, so the four antler conglomerations appear in full.

I tried different palettes, too, but I think I prefer the first one.

And there’s the antler design without the interstitial stars. I kinda like them too though. They add just that little bit of visual interest to keep things fun.

Like last week’s designs, this week’s sketch could be made into a quilt using quarter-circles (or drunkard’s path units), half-circles (or 2 × drunkard’s path units), squares and rectangles.

I probably won’t make this one. At small-scale and from afar, the design looks a bit too much like it includes a motif that I always try to avoid. I only really noticed after I drafted this blog post and then looked at the thumbnail image on the list of upcoming posts. Oops. Let’s not go there.