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Sunday, July 11, 2021

COLOR MY WORLD--SKYSCRAPER DESIGNS

 As soon as Color My World was revealed as the 2021 Block of the Month quilt for The Quilt Show, I started getting requests for the design area of those four Corner  Skyscrapers.

A lot of people are personalizing this quilt and want to make the Skyscrapers into buildings that mean something to them. The kind of structure that will work well in this space include a Lighthouse, Windmill, Church, Washington Monument, Statue of Liberty, Seattle Space Needle, and the Saturn 5 Rocket on prominent display here in Huntsville, AL. 

Month 11 features Big Ben in London, and One World Trade in New York City:


Month 12 features Centrepoint Tower in Sydney and the Eiffel Tower in Paris:

Just so you know, the plan is to release BOTH Month 11 and 12 on November 1, 2021, so those who joined The Quilt Show in November 2020 will have access to all 12 months of patterns without having to renew their membership.

BUT WAIT--you WILL want to renew your membership because the 2022 Block of the Month quilt is amazing, fantastic and beautiful. Enough of a teaser on that for now.

The Design Area for the Skyscrapers is not provided in the pattern. I taped all the pattern pieces together for each Skyscraper to determine the size of each line. There are slight differences in these sizes. I checked with designer Wendy Williams and she said they are slightly different from each other.



WARNING--STOP--WAIT--DO NOT use this area to start sewing your personal Skyscrapers. THIS INFORMATION IS PROVIDED FOR DESIGN AREA ONLY. Use this information to figure out how to DRAW the structure you want. When you get the official pattern you can double check each Skyscraper separately before you sew your personalized building together. 

The differences are slight, no more than 1/8" on any side. I used the patterns for the provided Skyscrapers with no thought to checking sizes, and they turned out fine.

Here is the information for DRAWING the DESIGN AREA of the SKYSCRAPERS. Begin by taping two pieces of copy paper together to about 21.5":



Follow these steps, using a pencil, eraser and accurate rulers:

1. At the top draw a RIGHT angle, using a ruler. Extend the "arms" 4 7/8" in both directions. The DOT at the peak is #1, the left "arm" is DOT #2 and the right "arm" is DOT #3.




2. From the top of the right angle, DOT #1, draw a STRAIGHT LINE down the center--20 3/4". This is DOT  #4. 

3. At the bottom, draw a line perpendicular to the Center Line, 2 3/8" across. DOT #4 is the center, the left DOT is #5 and the right DOT is #6. 

4. Extend the "arms" of the RIGHT angle, DOTS #2 and 3, to the outside edges of the BOTTOM line. This means connect DOT #2 to DOT #5 and DOT #3 to DOT #6.

This is the design area you can fill with the structure of your choice.

NOTE: this DOES NOT include the SEAM ALLOWANCE--add 1/4" all around the outside of the drawn lines to provide the SEAM ALLOWANCE. 

ALSO NOTE: the bottom edge WILL INCLUDE a SLIGHT CURVE. You will add that curve from the patterns provided in Months 11 and 12.

There are many paper piecing patterns for structures, easily found online. Lighthouses, for example. Some are free, some are available for purchase. This will give you an idea how to draw paper piecing patterns. If you have Electric Quilt 8 (EQ8), there are many paper piecing patterns included that you can size to whatever size you like. 

If you can draw sections with ONLY straight lines, you can paper piece the design. 

If this is too confusing, don't worry. The four Skyscrapers provided in the pattern take you around the world and work just fine.

Look for the Design Area for Little Houses in the City July 14, 2021.

Let's quilt. 

Barbara


5 comments:

  1. This was the tempting part of this quilt for me, I just couldn't justify the time.

    I'd have done a Saturn V, FBC's bell tower, the Lowe Mill water tower, and... not sure what the fourth could be.

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  2. I need to clarify the bottom line. Is it 2 3/8 from the center (dot #4) to each side or 2 3/8" total along the bottom?

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    Replies
    1. The bottom edge is 2 3/8" from dot 5 to dot 6. Remember, this does not include seam allowance.

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  3. Barbara Hi
    Is there your usual demo video for Blocks 11 and 12?
    I can't seem to find any.
    Thanks
    Laynie in Montreal, Canada

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Look for the LIVE broadcast on The Quilt Show YouTube channel. That is the only video so far. There will be another LIVE November 19.

      Delete