EQ6 – Serendipity Merge, Part 5

Here is a table runner that uses setting triangles based on a nine-patch grid. To download the EQ6 project file for this table runner and the full size quilts below, go to the EQ6 page on my website.

 

The designs are copyrighted but you have my permission to make these up for either personal use or charitable endeavors.

To show off the basic design a little more clearly, here it is in solid colors:

And here is a full size quilt that also uses setting triangles that work with a nine patch grid, though this time with only a single star.

Here is the same design using yet another setting triangle block, one that creates a framing effect.  (I love the design effects you can create with subtle value differences in taupe fabrics.  I also like how this design at first glance appears complicated but is really quite simple.  The on-point blocks simply alternate two colorways of the Grecian Square with Star block.)

A solid colored version might show off the impact of the setting triangles a little more clearly.  Here is the design without the framing blocks placed in the setting triangles:

Here is the design with.  For me, adding blocks into the setting triangles makes the design feel more finished.

Both the table runner and the full size quilts use the same merged block in the center squares, the Grecian Square block with a star merged into the center (as was demonstrated in the Serendipity Merge, Part 4 blog entry). 

The table runner uses the following block in the setting triangles.  Conveniently, the same block can be used for both the side and the corner setting triangles.  Once again, I merged a star into a partial nine-patch grid (as discussed in this blog entry).  Then I finished drawing the grid, moved the star over and used copy and paste for the remaining stars. 

This is the part of the design that shows when it is placed in a side setting triangle:

And here is the part of the design that shows when it is placed in a corner setting triangle:

The first full size quilt I showed above also merges a star into a nine patch grid.  This time, however, it is a single star placed in a corner:

It look likes this when placed in a side setting triangle:

The second full size quilt (in taupe) uses two different setting triangle blocks, one for the sides and one for the corners.  Here is the side setting triangle (I’ll admit – these are not merged blocks:  I just drew them):

Here is the corner setting triangle:

This shows the setting triangles standing alone:

Most of the time when I am setting blocks in the setting triangles, I match the grid used in the setting triangles to the grid used in the interior blocks.  That way everything lines up and proportions remain the same. 

A little later I’ll discuss how I use the merge feature to create blocks specifically for the sashing but I do believe I’ll wait till I discuss sashing generally. 

I really do love EQ.  It’s a great program and it is so much fun to get in there and just see what happens.  Most of the time, when I design a quilt, I don’t have the end design in mind before I begin.  Most of the time I don’t even have a glimmering.  What I do is just grab a few blocks, try putting this with that, and then see what happens.  As soon as I begin, ideas start to simmer.  I see two blocks together and I wonder, “What if I tried this other block instead?”  I try that and then I think, “Well, what if I try this in an on point layout?”

Ideas evolve naturally, and, eventually, I wind up with something.  I’ll admit – it’s not always a good something.  But sometimes it is, and that you never know what you’ll end up with is part of the excitement of any creative endeavor. 

In a nutshell:  You really don’t need to know where you’re going in order to begin.  You can have perfect confidence that if you just take those first steps and you keep going, you will end up somewhere! 

One final shot: the table runner done in taupe with the framing setting triangles.