Tagged: quarter-circle
Sunday sketch #297
Last week’s sketch was so groovy – I just had to keep playing with the tessellation.
In this week’s designs, the curvy cross from Sunday sketch #296 appears without the interstitial stars, and in an expanded palette that avoids the need for alternate colouring.
It looks a bit like a camouflage pattern to me. Not that I really want to be thinking about military clothing right now.
The arrangement of stars can be mixed up a bit…
…and of course there’s nothing stopping you from using more colours. I’ve stuck to a palette of three colours for most of these designs, but four works too.
Like last week’s sketch, this week’s designs could be made into a quilt using drunkard’s path units (or quarter-circles) and a few squares. Lots of repetition in piecing, but I don’t mind that.
Sunday sketch #296
I love a good tessellation, and this week’s design is a really simple yet striking one. It’s an iteration of Sunday sketch #286, using quarter-circles instead of half-square triangles (or half-circles instead of flying geese).
Each block extends the star-like motif into the four adjacent blocks. So each of those swirly arms starts in one block and ends in another. The simplicity of the design lends itself to a two-colour palette, and I can never get enough of this warm yellow!
I often like to ‘float’ a design within wide borders to kinda set it off, but this design works well in a tiled, edge-to-edge layout too.
The blocks can also be set on point, which makes those four-armed star shapes look just a little bit more swirly.
The design can incorporate additional colours, but I don’t think it’s as interesting, to be honest. I also removed the outer stars in these versions. Maybe they would help?
I still prefer the first version!
These sketches could be made into quilts using quarter-circle units (also called drunkard’s path blocks) and a few squares. You’d have to be pretty confident sewing curves (or willing to get comfy with them). I find bigger curves easier to sew; in the top design, 3″ (finished) drunkard’s paths would make each block 12″ square. That design uses a 6 x 6 block layout (only parts of the outer rows and columns are coloured in to complete the motifs from adjacent blocks) – so, 72″ square. I’m pretty tempted to make this one!
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!
