Behind the Design - From Lone Wolf to Tilted

As mentioned in a previous post, I recently bought the computer program Electric Quilt 7 (EQ7).

The first project I tried out was the Lone Wolf Quilt project. A few weeks after I designed it in the program, I remembered that I wanted to try out some different colour variations in an all-over pattern. That was when I started to get really excited about the program, if I wasn't already. Before, I would have photocopied my graph paper with my blank layout, then used pencil crayons to fill it in and try out different colours. I like this method and it can be soothing to sit and colour. However, it also takes a long time, so I usually only try out one or two colour schemes. With EQ7, I was able to try out many colour schemes in a short amount of time. In doing so, I ended up creating 16 colour variations for the quilt, which completely change its look - all with the same layout.* As the design changed, I realized I needed a new name for it as well. Lone Wolf didn't make sense for the other variations. So I renamed the overall parallelogram pattern Tilted.

The Tilted pattern includes instruction for Lone Wolf, Weave and one block, hopefully making it easy to adapt to other variations.
To modify the pattern to make each quilt, it only takes a few simple steps:

1. Pick colours for whichever variation you choose. (You could colour in the pattern template.)
2. Figure out how many parallelograms you need of each colour. Count left and right angled ones separately.
3. Use the pattern to determine how many parallelograms will fit on each strip and how many strips you need.
4. Multiply the number of strips you need by the width of the strip to figure out your yardage for each fabric.

The yardage for the background fabric will stay the same.

It turns out that as daunting as piecing them may seem, 168 parallelograms pack a big punch! I could have kept going and going with new colours and placements. Most of my choices are bright, but you could use more subdued fabrics to change the tone. Choosing four blocks in any of the variations makes for a striking baby quilt or table runner as well. I hope these inspire you to try out the pattern and make it your own!

The Tilted pattern is available as a PDF download in my Etsy shop and comes with images of all the variations. For a chance to win a copy of the pattern, check out my first post,  "Introducing the Tilted Quilt Pattern" and for more on the process behind the design, check out "Behind the Design - Lone Wolf".

* Sorry this sounds like an ad - I promise it's not!