I mentioned recently that I was reworking Sunday sketch #171. Here’s where I ended up.

When I posted the original – more than a year ago, in October 2019 – I didn’t really have an idea of how the design could be made into an actual quilt. That’s pretty unusual; I normally have a fair idea of how I could translate the design into a pattern. So I always wanted to go back and refine the idea so it was (relatively) easy to make.

I ended up thinning those diagonal shapes, and making the area where they overlap into a square rather than an elongated hexagon. That simplifies things immensely. But the main concept hasn’t changed at all, and all the same elements are still there.

There are two sets of squares on point; the ones created by the overlapping ‘arms’, and the ones that float in the centre where four arms meet. In the design above, I’ve coloured the groups in orange and blue, respectively. In the design below, they’re in the same colour (dark blue).

The design works well with a bunch of colours, rather than just a few.

I think it also works when you take away an element, like those floating squares. Here’s the same colourway on a light background, with the reverse, too: the same colours on the dark version, with the dark squares replaced by light grey ones. I like them both.

I also introduced a new element by colouring in the shape around those floating squares. This one’s not my favourite, but I’m including it to show how different the overall design can look with just one minor change. To my eye, this addition really bulks out each coloured shape, and creates the impression of larger square shapes across the design. It grows on me the more I look at it!

This design would still be a bit finicky to make. It would require slightly oddly shaped blocks to be set on point, then pieced together in columns. The blocks themselves are mostly squares, half-square triangles and triangles though.