Sunday, May 11, 2008

Magic or Disappearing Nine Patch

A very easy quilt to make, I am not sure who to give credit to as there are several people who lay claim to it. I am sure the first time I saw it was in a book called Magic Pillows, Hidden Quilts by Karen Hellarby printed in 2002. I can even picture the book - bright orange and blue. Not a lot in the content if you already knew how to make a quilt and add a pocket, which was one of the reasons I probably didn't buy it.
I _was_ going to join a 9 patch swap with SCQuilters but didn't get my blocks made in time to send off, and as I was really in love with the colours by the time I'd made 22 and cut out a lot more, I decided to keep them.
The Magic/disappearing Nine Patch block is easy. This is the 3rd one I've made and is an excellent mindless project for a retreat or just to think with while sewing. You also won't need to read any instructions if it gets left for a few months!
The brief for the swap was to make 12½" blocks, using strips of 4½" inches.
blue-yellow-blue, yellow-blue-yellow, blue-yellow-blue in the 3 strips.

BYB
YBY
BYB

Sew the blocks, cut them in half both ways and make them into blocks again, swapping all of the fabrics around in a random manner.

The pattern can be done in any size strips, I have done one in 8" squares and wouldn't go any bigger! The squares are too big.
I think this size of 4½" strips with a 12½" block is good.
I have also made an I Spy one using 6½" squares. By doing it using sqaues and not strips it's easy to get the direction of the fabric going the right way. (note to self - find quilt for photo - another note to self - finish quilting it!)







1 comment:

Renee said...

Over here in Washington, USA we call this pattern a Fractured Nine Patch. It's such fun. You can get a totally different look by adding sashing between each of the four patches.