Wednesday, September 1, 2010

A Good Idea. . . I Think!

A few months back, I wrote that I would be participating in the Nine-Patch Project. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I have tons and tons of scraps I can use to make nine-patch blocks. And Karen Montgomery suggested that it would be fun, and she always has some pretty good ideas. So . . . .

I settled in and started sewing tiny nine-patches, each made from one 2" scrap square, which was cut in half twice to make four 1" squares. All batiks. Really pretty! (But small!)

Then I dug around in my stash for some fabric, big stuff. Determined to use fabric on hand, I found a cream-on-cream print. Probably about three yards, I'm guessing. And started cutting 1" strips, then 1" squares. In between other sewing, I made 2" unfinished mini-nine-patches with light centers and corners.

I know it sounds crazy, sewing all those small pieces. But I think sewing the small pieces makes sewing bigger pieces more accurate. I will admit, about two-thirds of the way through, I kinda got sick of sewing the small pieces. But I digress. . .

Then, I added either four or five 2" batiks to make 5" unfinished nine-patches, with alternating patched centers and whole centers. These were fun!

Sewed nine of the resulting nine-patches together for a nine-nine-nine patch that is about 13" square. I made twelve of these. Each one incorporates a total of 51 nine-patches - 41 teeny nine-patches, nine medium nine-patches, and the big momma nine-patch. The goal was 80 blocks for the summer. I guess I over-shot that goal, huh?

Now what?

I suppose that's my project for the fall. Stay tuned!!

To the 'nines!'
Joan

3 comments:

  1. Hi Joan - Look what I've missed! Summer has been so busy, I haven't much time to blog. I'm checking out your last two Christmas projects as well. I've been working on some "Christmas Tradition" stuff too, over the summer & spring & winter. It pre-sells in October, remind me to tell you the looooong story surrounding the line.

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