Tagged: quarter-circle
Sunday sketch #293
I go through phases of playing with particular shapes, and this week it’s quarter-circles. I’d also call these drunkard’s path blocks, although I think sometimes people don’t use those terms interchangeably. Anyway…
This design actually started with a single block on repeat. Lots of stacked bowls!
Because this design is block-based, I can create loads of variations just by rotating the blocks – by 90 degrees with respect to their neighbours (as shown below left) or by 180 degrees (below right).
I can also delete bits of the blocks for a more improv-y look.
Or, going back to the first version, I can flip the alternating blocks upside down to create a bit more movement. I see little happy faces!
There’d be lots of different colouring options here too.
These designs are all quarter-circles or drunkard’s path blocks. I’ve never made those units smaller than about 4″ finished, I don’t think – I’d struggle to manipulate smaller pieces through my machine and get a nice, even, curved seam. So this probably won’t be a design I’ll make anytime soon. Still, it’s fun to play!
Quilt pattern: Zester
I’ve got a new quilt pattern out! It’s called Zester, and it’s in this year’s QuiltCon magazine.
Zester is based on Sunday sketch #250, which features large drunkard’s path blocks alternating with nine-patch blocks made up of half-square triangles.
I modified the design to add some negative space along the top and one side, and introduced a bold palette.
I used Art Gallery Fabrics’ Pure Solids in this quilt, because I wanted that exact yellow – Empire Yellow, my new favourite – and a black (Caviar) to match. Their solids definitely have a lighter hand than the Konas I usually use, and they feel a bit more slippery, but they sew like a dream and don’t fray terribly.
Because it uses only two types of blocks, Zester comes together really quickly. You can chain-piece all the curves, then chain-piece all the HSTs, and before you know it, you’ll have a quilt top!
Zester was quilted by Valerie Cooper from Sweet Gum Quilting. With Valerie’s advice, I settled on yellow thread and straight-line quilting, which I’m really happy with. I love the contrast of the yellow thread on the black fabric! (I also love being able to trust Valerie with the quilting, rather than stressing about doing it myself!)
I picked the name Zester because the HSTs remind me of the really sharp bits on a cheese grater or micro-plane for lemon zesting. We have a wasabi grater and those teeth are sharp! But ‘Zester’ felt like a nicer name than ‘Grater’ haha.
I don’t publish quilt patterns in magazines much anymore, but I still submit designs for consideration in QuiltCon magazine every year. QuiltCon is definitely a focal point for modern quilters, and I get a lot of inspiration seeing others’ work each year (from afar – I’ve never been to the show in person!). I’m happy to be able to contribute to the magazine once again, alongside loads of incredible designers and makers.
Digital copies of the 2022 QuiltCon magazine are on sale now. Print copies go on sale on 22 February to coincide with the show in Phoenix. You can also buy individual digital patterns, so if you fancy just making Zester – or my award-winning quilt Fanfold from QuiltCon 2021 – you can find the pattern on the Quilting Daily website.
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!
