July 21, 2010

D9P

Once upon a time I was pregnant. That was a billion years ago. Or two. I forget. Anyway, I went to the Northwest Quilting Expo, and bought two charm packs of different fabric lines. I have no idea why I did this. Let's blame the pregnancy. Because in truth, quilts made straight from designer charm packs bore me. I am not trying to be mean or judgy. I just want more creative input with my projects; choosing, cutting, etc. So. I wondered what to do with my bizarre purchase.


Step 1: pulled out the fabrics that I liked, unloaded the rest on another quilter
Step 2: added some more fabrics from my collection that coordinated with the vintage feel and color scheme
Step 3: sewed into nine patch blocks, with a red fabric in the center of each block.
Step 4: cut nine patch blocks into four smaller "disappearing nine patch" blocks.


Hmmmm....still a bit boring. And small. I have no idea what finished size I am aiming for, as usual. I am planning to add some more fabrics from my stash, in squares the size of the pieced blocks, to interrupt the predictability. I'm not sure what to do after that. I think more red and black are in order. Maybe spacing the blocks out with some sashing would help too. Anyway, I've gotten beyond the mindless sewing phase of this quilt and am in the design dilemma phase so it will probably sit around for two years while I ponder my options.

By the way, I am tinkering with the blog to make it look a little cleaner, and I updated my blog roll too. Please let me know if I've made any terrible mistakes!

3 comments:

Shelley: the Dread Pirate Rodgers said...

Hiya, Christina!

I love the D9P block. It's incredibly versatile. I recently did one and put a sashing in between each (cut up) block segment. If you're interested, you can see the web page for it at http://users.value.net/pirate/quilting/2010-00-charity-quilts/2010-06-sashed-d9p/index.htm (I'm not sure if that is a hot link or not).

If you do Google/images for disappearing 9 patch, you'll see *all sorts* of different layouts that creative quilters have come up with.

Keep on looking! You'll find something that will generate a spark of genius!

Three Birds Inspired said...

You didn't ask (but that never stops me!) but I was thinking maybe if you audition some white (say a 2" strip) around each block just to see if it makes the colors pop. It would also brighten the quilt top.

Megan said...

I really like reading about your process. I have yet to try a D9P but it's definitely something I'll try before too long.Can't wait to see what you choose for this quilt!

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