Tagged: squares

Sunday sketch #347

Here are the diamonds I mentioned last week. I’ve simplified the inside of the block by removing the half-square triangles (they’re just coloured as squares now), which also removes the internal octagon. (This is all compared to the past few week’s sketches; if you’ve no idea what I’m on about, start with Sunday sketch #344 and go from there!)

This first version feels like overlapping lace to me… that circular movement, and all the dark blocks overlaid on a white background.

Making the internal stars white instead of dark blue helps to lighten the whole design, although I feel like the overlapping effect isn’t as prominent. As usual, I can’t decide which one I prefer.

And here’s a throwback to last week’s design, with the internal octagon shape back again and the diamonds coloured in the opposite way to the background.

I like how an element that wasn’t even really obvious in previous versions of this block is now the most prominent. It just goes to show the difference that colour (and colour placement) can make in a design.

I’m sure I could go for another few weeks, tweaking this design to create new sketches, but you get the idea. If a block has enough elements, you can add and subtract small components to make a big difference to the overall design. And then one design sparks another, which sparks another… ad infinitum.

I’d love to see some of these designs as actual quilts. They’d be easy to construct – they’re just half-rectangle triangles, half-square triangles and triangle-in-a-square units – and they’re all block-based, so you could batch-sew similar components and/or pieces of the same colour. (I love planning how I’ll approach a new project 🙂 )

Sunday sketch #346

If I was any good at planning ahead with my quilt designs, I would’ve posted a Valentine’s-related sketch this week, but… I’m not, so I haven’t. Instead, you get the latest in a series of related sketches (check out Sunday sketches #344 and #345 to see where it started).

The original inspiration for this series of sketches was a strip of three triangle-in-a-square units, which I included as part of my first design for Tara Glastonbury’s #quiltfromabrief series that she’s currently doing on her blog and in Make Modern magazine. You can see my design on Instagram – and at the bottom left, that strip of three triangles. It’s not something I’ve used much before (one on its own, definitely, but not three together). Ooh, the possibilities!

So this is the first design in the series where all the triangles are actually coloured in. You can see the similarities with the past two weeks’ sketches – that inner star, surrounded by an octagon, with an outer shell of half-square triangles (and now triangle-in-a-square units). And, of course, with so many elements in the basic block, there are loads of colouring options.

I always like the simplicity of a two-colour design (or three, if you count white), but multiple colours are good too.

And here it is in the same warm palette I’ve used before.

I think this design is quite ‘traditional’ (as opposed to ‘modern’) in a lot of ways, and I can certainly amplify that through colour placement.

Flipping the blue and white gives a somewhat similar look and feel…

Whereas flipping the green and blue produces a transparency effect that really highlights the circular movement around the design. I love this one! It’s one of my favourite versions. But it definitely feels traditional. Not that that’s a bad thing 🙂

A checkerboard background retains a lot of the circular motion, but is getting a bit too busy for me.

I also ‘opened up’ the designs a bit by adding more background colour (white) within each block – changing the corner pieces around the octagon to the background colour creates a square within the block and makes those corner triangle-in-a-square units a bit more obvious.

Funnily enough, I think the two-colour version feels busier than the multicoloured version. I’m not sure why.

I feel like this last version also emphasises those diamonds created by the triangle-in-a-square units between adjacent blocks. I’ll play with those more next week!

 

Sunday sketch #345

This week’s sketch uses the same basic block as last week’s, but different colouring creates quite a different effect.

I’ve replaced the half-square triangles from last week with squares (which really just means colouring the two half-squares in the same colour), which eliminates the octagon surrounding that inside star. All the other shapes are the same, but I’ve only used two colours per block, and alternated the block colouring to create a checkerboard effect. Then I just removed some of the blocks to open up the space a bit.

The next version is the same, but the central squares are coloured the same as the surrounding internal stars. It’s a very small difference but I feel like it makes quite a difference to the overall feel. Or maybe that’s just me?

Adding in another colour and reintroducing one of the shapes from last week – those half-square triangles at the corner of the outer stars – brings that curvy movement back into the design. Lots of swoopy waves extend diagonally across the quilt in both directions, as well as making larger circular shapes throughout. Your eyes can go round forever following the lines.

It’s the same if we take those corners away completely (by just colouring the outer triangle of the half-square triangles in the background colour of the block). The swoopy lines are still there, creating what feel like shadowy shapes in the ether.

And again, the central squares can be coloured the same as the inner stars. (I can’t decide if I want to call them internal stars, inside stars or inner stars, so I think I’ve gone with one of each in this post….)

Like last week’s sketch(es), this week’s sketch(es) could be made into a quilt using squares, triangle-in-a-square units and half-square triangles. All pretty basic shapes that are fairly easy to cut and piece.

I love showing the variety you can achieve with a single block, just by making small tweaks to colour and colour placement. There’ll be more next week!