Favorite Quilt Block

I have a favorite block.  It’s very simple – which actually surprises most people that know me; they think I always like to make very complicated things.

Besides the art, creativity, color, etc, that I like about quilting – there are two things that are important to me when making quilts.

1.       I don’t like to waste anything

2.       I like to give away my quilts to worthy causes

Point 1 – Not Wasting

Nancy W. from QQ, if you read this – be aware that I blame you for this part of my quilting personality.  Not 100%, but a fair bit.  I’ve always been one to recycle things.  Over the years, office supplies that my company were tossing got rescued and brought to Boys’ and Girls’ club, the oddest bits become art supplies, and I’ve always been one to gather up stuff that other people didn’t want and find homes for it.  However, for the first few years I was quilting, I would select a pattern, select the fabric and make the quilt.  The bits and pieces left over got tossed aside.

Then, Nancy, and my friend Luci also, signed me up for a monthly quilt group at Glad Creations Quilt Shop called “Scrap Tamers.”  That started it.  Now, I’m so obsessive that when I finish a quilt, anything below fat quarter size/width gets trimmed to strips or squares and properly binned.  It’s sorted by size and color as well…  Yeah, a little OCD there.

Point 2 – Donating

To me, quilting is therapy and expression of my creativity.  I come home from a long day at work (12 hours seems to be the average lately) and make a couple blocks.  That simple action unwinds me and satisfies me at the same time. 

Two other little pieces of background:  1.  I’m ADHD so everything I do is done rather quickly, and 2.  My whole family has always been very active in community service.

So, I make probably 6-10 “quilts” a month.  I put it in quotes to illustrate that sizes and shapes vary.  If I had to estimate, I’d say I made at least 25 bed (from youth to king) sized quilts last calendar year, and easily double that of crib sized, table runners, lap sized, table toppers, wall hangings, etc., pieces.  Every bed in my house has two or more quilts on it, and everyone I know has received something!

End result – combining prolific production with love of donations = a never ending supply to donate.

While I like to donate, I hesitate a little in giving away pieces that I put a great deal of time into to people I do not know.  I like to keep things a little simpler, but I don’t want to sacrifice looks in any way.  Ugly quilts are just that – I don’t make ugly quilts…. I make things that I as well as others can appreciate.  Additionally, I take this as an opportunity to use up all those pieces from other projects – a “free” quilt if you will. 

Back to the Block (got a little off subject there…. J )

My favorite block is the disappearing nine patch.  It has a couple other names, but they aren’t coming to mind right now.  I love it because you can really play with color.  Only one size square is cut originally, but you can pick what size that square is.  I’ve made it with everything from 3 inch to 9 inch squares.  You can also organize the colors, or go completely random with them (I mostly do complete random!)

Although you start with one sized square, the process of arranging them, cutting, and re-cutting, and then rearranging, creates different sized pieces in each block.  This makes everything look more complicated – a creative illusion!

When I finish other projects, I cut my scraps into standard sized squares.  Other times, when I’m feeling the need to play with fabrics and colors, I traipse to my basement, enter a Zen mode with my stash and just grab armloads of different fabrics.  When I’m done feeling them, and rearranging them in piles to admire them, I cut a strip (9 times out of 10, it’s a 6 inch strip) from each, cut to squares and make one of these quilts.

How To:

Planning:  Determine what size quilt you want.  I highly suggest using six inch squares.  That size cuts nicely from both yardage and fat quarters.  Now, start multiplying.  You will make nine patches – out of six inch blocks, those nine patches will be approximately 17 inches, then you will lose another inch when you re-cut, so figure that each 16 inches you want the quilt to be is nine squares.

Here’s my little chart I use for when I make a disappearing nine patch.

Size	Inches long	Inches Wide	6 inch Squares	9 patches
King	108	90	270	30
Queen/Dbl	72	90	180	20
Single/youth	54	72	108	12

Step One:  Make your nine patches.  For total randomness, I cut all the squares, and then throw them in the dryer.  I run the dryer on no heat for about ten minutes.  It works better than shaking in a paper bag.

1.        Sew strips of three squares together.

 

2.       Press the seams ALL the same direction.

3.       Mi x up the strip sets again for better randomness.

4.       Sew the strip sets together into nine patches, matching the seams.  Keep an eye out that you don’t put two or more fabrics together.  It doesn’t actually matter; you can if you want, but I usually try to avoid it.

5.       Now, CUT each nine patch in half, through the center, both ways.

6.       You now have a bunch of squares that look more complicated than what you started with!  Arranged them and sew them back together anyway you want.  You can organize them, or be totally random in direction and placement.

A Finished Product

Here is just one of my many Disappearing Nine Patch quilts.  Forgive the quality of the picture.  I decided to take it last minute, and I left my camera on after posting last night, so I had to use my iPhone camera.

Also, this quilt needs a home.  I finished it almost nine months ago, and it’s been folded up in the corner ever since.  It’s larger than a King size.  I don’t like silent auctions, but if you know a faith, family or animal based charity who is willing to do a raffle, they can have it.  I will even ship!  I just want an in-kind donation slip for my tax guy.