DISAPPEARING NINE PATCH

 What to do with LEFTOVERS? Once I completed Game On! from the PRINTS KIT, a lot of fabric remained. 

Rather than put it in the closet with all its' friends, I cut a bunch of 5" squares and made a DISAPPEARING NINE PATCH QUILT. This is a very easy way to make a baby quilt or a charity quilt, fast, easy, interesting, a great use of 5" squares.

This is 39" square and will be used as a baby quilt the next time I need to give one of those to someone. Here it is, basted and ready to quilt:

There are many online videos/tutorials for this simple block. Here are the steps I used:

1. Cut a lot of 5" squares in various colors, light, medium and dark. Since I wanted 9 blocks, I cut 81 squares, 5" each.

2. Arrange 9 of them into a 9 Patch, being sure there is contrast among the fabrics. The four corners will remain whole, use your favorites in that position. The center will become 4 small squares, use something that cuts up well there. OR use the SAME FABRIC in the center of ALL your blocks--this provides continuity. The fabrics at North, East, South and West will become Rectangles.

3. Sew into a big 9 Patch. I pressed the top and bottom row to the left, the middle row to the right, so the seams are butted to each other. That is my personal preference. Do as you please.

4. Cut into 4 quarters, placing the 2.25" line on the ruler on the seam that joins the first row to the middle row. Turn the two halves and repeat, to create 4 squares:

5. Play with a variety of block layouts to find your favorite. Sew into a FOUR PATCH:

Option 1

Option 2

6. Lay out all the blocks, I made 9 of them, to create a fun quilt top. Warning: you WILL rearrange them a lot before deciding which layout you prefer. It really doesn't matter:

On the table as I arranged and rearranged them

Final arrangement--can you FIND the block I used above for this demo?

Once you decide on the FINAL Layout: TAKE A PICTURE! You think you'll remember, you think you won't get something turned upside down but you will...

Because mine is 39" square, I won't add a border so the back can be made from from one fabric, 1.25 yards. No piecing of the back is necessary.

One of my most popular WORKSHOPS in recent years is DISAPPEARING PATCHWORK. It's a little more complicated because we first make pinwheel blocks. I challenged myself to make a quilt in all NEUTRALS, it wasn't easy, but I am very satisfied with this. And it has been a really popular workshop:

Workshop Sample: DISAPPEARING PATCHWORK

At this point, I want to USE MY FABRIC, not store it, so this was a good way to use some of the leftovers from Game On! and have a baby quilt ready to go. It also makes a great quilt to practice MACHINE QUILTING on. 

I will show that when it's done.

Let's quilt.

Barbara