Playing with Pattern Graphics!

Yesterday was a day off from the computer, but I’m back at it again to create a block for my Skyfall Block of the Month.

If you remember, Skyfall was my competition quilt a few years ago, and it did quite well at quilts shows around the country.  It was even featured in a three-page spread in Quilters Newsletter Magazine!  Quilters really liked it, and I had so many requests for the pattern. There are over 50 different stars in Skyfall, so a pattern wouldn’t do it justice.  It would need to be a book! To make my life easier, I decided to create a Block of the Month based on the quilt. That way I could design a little bit every month.

This month, we’re on Block #17, basically an Ohio Star variation.  Since I didn’t take notes when I originally made the quilt, I need to start from scratch.

First, I take photos of the star of the month, trying to get the best light and trying not the shake the camera.  When I take a close-up of something this small (it’s only a 3″ square), it’s hard to keep the camera steady.

Then I pop the best photo into Photoshop to crop it, straighten it out, and tweak the lighting.  Then I save two copies:   one original, and one that sized for the website.  So now I have this photo for the block pattern:

Now I need to figure out the dimensions of each unit in the block, so I sketch it out on graph paper.  I could do this in EQ7, but I like working with colored pencils and graph paper.

Again, this is a 3-inch block finished, so it looks like I need four 1 1/2″ squares of the dark blue for the four corners, four Hourglass blocks that are 1 1/2″, and one 1 1/2″ square that is the star color.

Next, I jump to EQ7 to create graphics for the individual units I need for this block.  Some of these I already have from previous blocks, but I need to make sure that the colors and values are correct.   I need a dark blue square, a salmon square, and a dark blue and salmon hourglass block.

Then I convert them to black-and-white for the final layout.

Argh, I need a break.  I’ll work on the actual instructions tomorrow.

Until then!

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