Friday, February 25, 2022

Design Challenge: TV Quilts!


Don't you love it when, every once in a while, a quilt will pop up on the screen in a TV show or movie, or commercial?  I'm talking about Quilts on TV, not quilts to wrap up in while watching TV.  See if you can spot the quilt in this commercial

"I see quilts..."  Is this you too?  Sometimes a "TV quilt" is an actual quilt, or it could just be an architectural element, or even a tile floor that looks like a quilt to folks like us!  A little glimpse of a TV quilt makes my heart leap and gets creative juices flowing!

That's when I hop over to my Electric Quilt software and just play.  When I spotted this quilt ↑ I recognized the design, as it is very similar to my favorite Carpenter's Star.   This quilt block, with diamond shapes and set-in seams, is called a Carpenter's Wheel.  


And it appeared to be off-set with little nine-patch blocks.

With a closer look, I could see that instead of two different blocks, the Carpenter's Wheel blocks are sashed with a little post at the intersections that created the secondary design.  I love that element when designing my own quilts!  It's like a little bonus block that hardly took any extra effort!


From the screenshot, it is hard to see what is going on in the borders, but it kinda looks like spaced-out flying geese units, with prairie points along the edge, maybe?  Normally, prairie points point outward.  I adjusted the coloring in my flying geese blocks to look similar to what I am seeing in the quilt.


Or maybe it was more like this, with partial quarter-square triangle blocks?


No, I don't think this is it at all!  Looks more like leftover diamond units from the Carpenter's Wheel blocks, pieced with a triangle, like this, maybe?



What do you think?  I like it, and I think I'm on to something!

Now, it appears that the reds in the blocks were faded, or that the darker reds were scarce, worn out, or maybe different scrappy prints.  Added a little stop border, then background and the pieced outer border...  I think this is as close a guess as I can get!  


I love using my EQ8 software.  This program has been an essential part of my pattern designing for over a dozen years!  For a while, I gave myself a daily block design challenge, scrolling through quilt photos on social media every day to find an interesting design that I could play with.  I'd break down the elements then create my own EQ quilt.  Now I don't do it every day, but when a design comes up, or someone asks a question on social media, I do love the challenge!  I should probably see if I can sign up and become an affiliate for EQ.

Will I ever make this quilt?  Probably not, but if I did, I would construct the blocks with half-square triangles instead of diamond shapes and inset Y-seams!  That's probably why I love my Carpenter's Star quilt so much!  


It's one giant quilt block, no Y-seams, and the lazy-girl quilter in me loves that I can whip up a giant quilt in no time - it doesn't get much easier than this!  Why piece 16 separate blocks when I can make just one giant block?  On the other hand, I've got bins and bins of red scraps... I'll have to think about it!  I may try that border, though, so interesting!  I'll probably be dreaming about that for the next few days...

Happy Quilt Dreams,

Deonn

  

5 comments:

  1. Love the Quilt sighting! I do that too. I love seeing inspiration in Antique shops too. Used a border idea I saw in Nebraska. Gonna do it again on another project it just turned out sew cute. Hsts are very Versatile!! Saw a fun quilt on the set in a local Theater for the play Little Women. Ispiration is everywhere! Love my EQ8

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  2. Oh yes….it is definitely the last choice for a border. I LOVE it - all of it.

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  3. I noticed that quilt right away, too! For this particular commercial, I suspect they photo-shopped the entire background,importing the main characters onto the background. Anyway, I love your inquisitiveness about quilt patterns. That surely helps you design!

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  4. The way you colored the border blocks makes them look dimensional. Very nice design,

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  5. Love it, Deonn! Great job figuring it out!

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So happy you stopped by for a visit! Thank you!