Blooming 9 patch

[Jean Sewing Machine]

I saw a sample of the blooming 9 patch pattern at my LQS when I first started to quilt 6 years ago. It looked so amazing and SOOOOO complicated, but I vowed to someday make one. This past Saturday, the same LQS had a class on how to make them, and they are so simple once you get the right combination of fabrics. This teacher is strong on accurate piecing, and I must admit I need to build those skills, so I spent some of the time in class with the seam ripper. But I love making 9 patches ( as witnessed by the 6 Irish chain quilts I've made!). So this is a joy to do.

The pattern comes from a book called Tradition with a Twist published by C & T Publishing. The samples in the book aren't that great ( the class members and teachers agree on this!) but it fully explains the process.
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Our teacher showed us a new way to cut strips using a square ruler. Amazing! The strips for this quilt are 1-3/4" wide, so precuts don't work. But it didn't take that long to cut the strips, and I think most of mine are right on the money.

Anyway, instead of building costumes, as I should be doing, I've been working on my 9 patches, mostly just early morning before I do anything else. Here it is with the first 4 fabrics laid out.

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[LynneLeavell]

Re: Blooming 9 patch

Love the colors. I hope to one day do that as well. I love the end result.

[wlrquilts]

Re: Blooming 9 patch

That is going to be beautiful. I love the pattern, but I think I would have a hard time picking fabrics out that would look good and give the right effect.

[Jean Sewing Machine]

Re: Blooming 9 patch

That is going to be beautiful. I love the pattern, but I think I would have a hard time picking fabrics out that would look good and give the right effect.

That indeed is the biggest challenge. Luckily, at this shop, the clerks have as much fun as the customers in picking out fabrics, so I had help doing it! She started me by asking for my favorite color, and we picked the fabric for the last row, which uses the most fabric. We then built inward, choosing colors from that first fabric to incorporate. I like a gradient from dark outside to light center, but it can be done many ways. It is an adventure, for sure. Value in fabric intensity is definitely something to consider. One member of the class chose 3 inner fabrics that only contrasted in pattern, but were the same value. It read as being the same fabric. I wanted so much to tell her to change it while she could, but refrained!

[wlrquilts]

Re: Blooming 9 patch

The ones of this pattern that I tend to like the most run from dark outside to light inside as well. I definitely would need help, because even though it is made up of 9 patches and squares, if I went through all the work of planning and organzing it on the design wall, I would want it to look amazing when finished.

Look forward to seeing it when done.

[rebeccas-sewing]

Re: Blooming 9 patch

Jean, I'm surprised the teacher didn't give her more guidance in her choice of fabrics. After all, that's a major part of one's success in making it, isn't it? You definitely nailed it with yours. I'm very curious about the technique you mentioned using a square to cut your strips. Can you expound on that a bit?

[asta]

Re: Blooming 9 patch

Great color choices, will make an awesome quilt!

[Jean Sewing Machine]

Re: Blooming 9 patch

Jean, I'm surprised the teacher didn't give her more guidance in her choice of fabrics. After all, that's a major part of one's success in making it, isn't it? You definitely nailed it with yours. I'm very curious about the technique you mentioned using a square to cut your strips. Can you expound on that a bit?

Well, she squared up the fabric about 24" at a time. Then folded it into quarters, matching the folded edges with the very carefully matched selvedges. ( fold in half, then in half again). So the 12-1/2" ruler fit across the fabric. Then we figured out the increments we would be using to cut 1-3/4" strips. We wrote them down. 1-3/4", 3-1/2", 5-1/4", 7", 8-3/4", 10-1/2", 12-1/4". We cut our squared up fabric 12-1/4" wide, then used the increment measurements to cut each strip. Once you did the math and wrote it down, it became very easy to cut the strips without really thinking. You could cut 7 strips out of the 12-1/4" piece. So you just repeated that until you had the number of strips you needed. So say you needed 28 strips. You would use 2 chunks squared up and cut to 12-1/4", and one chunk squared up and cut to 7". She squared up every time she needed a new chunk, so it kept the piece of fabric very straight.

And we all chose the fabrics way before the class started, but I am surprised that she didn't get more advice. This lady sort of "knew it all", so maybe she picked them out on her own. The teacher was not involved in fabric selection.

Hope that makes sense.

[quiltingaway]

Re: Blooming 9 patch

This is going to be beautiful. It just glows, like it's lit from within.

The cutting method you describe sound like what Debbie Caffrey does. It really works quite well.

[auntiemern]

Re: Blooming 9 patch

As always...you amaze me...this is going to be beautiful. I fear this is not in my future, as accurate piecing is not in mind set...I do ok...but....

[Iris Girl]

Re: Blooming 9 patch

This will be gorgeous and I love your color choices. As Marilyn said accurate piecing is is out of my bounds most times.But I make do.

[dizzyLiz]

Re: Blooming 9 patch

Jean, my daughter and I went to our local guild quilt show last fall. There was a quilt using this pattern and every print had flowers / and or butterflies in it. My daughter fell in love. I bought the book on ebay and have simply not picked my fabrics yet. I am looking forward to seeing your when you finish

[iluvbaking]

Re: Blooming 9 patch

It's going to be a beauty!

[bhaggerty]

Re: Blooming 9 patch

Really cool!
Reminds me a lot of the old Boston Commons quilts!

[Grey Lady]

Re: Blooming 9 patch

That's going to be quite a beauty. I cannot even imagine how to manage the fabric selections.