Occasionally I put down my gel pen and Rhodia dot pad and pick up Excel instead: it’s easy to make a grid, and quick to fill cells with a range of colours.

I’ve been playing with stars and stripes this week.

I could create a diagonal edge between the two colours, but I kinda like the blunt, squared edge of the dominant blue stripe. Then again, angled ends at the outer edges of the stars might look nicer.

The easiest way to construct this pattern would probably be to modify common blocks: log cabins and courthouse steps. Around the outside, quarter log cabins could be created by using a large central square (in white) and adding pinky/peach and dark blue stripes to two sides only. Each stripe would need an extra bit of white at its end to make it span the length of the block. The inside 4 blocks in the above design could be made using the courthouse steps block, again with a central white square surrounded by coloured stripes (each with a bit of extra white at the ends). It’s a bit easier to picture what I mean by looking only at those central 4 blocks:

Each quadrant is the same block, rotated by 90 degrees. Such a simple design, but a great opportunity for some striking colour combinations or scrappy fabrics.

 

 

 

 

Simple stripes can create a vast number of diverse designs. (Check out my ‘Strips & Stripes’ Pinterest board for a few hundred examples.)

I’m embracing the chaos this week with a little improv-style design of strips and stripes. Depending on the colour scheme, the design could be reminiscent of a waterfall (blues on blue), the night sky (bright whites or yellows on midnight blue), Klimt (rich jewel tones)… or something else entirely.

Update (May 2017): Interstellar, a quilt pattern based on this design, has been published in Down Under Quilts, issue 179.

Something simple this week, with lots of negative space to relax the eye.

The angled edges of the stripes add some interesting movement to the overall design. And I like those 4 little white squares peeking out from the middle.