Thursday, December 29, 2011

9-Patch Puzzle


Wow, it's been quiet around here! I have lots of fun Christmas gifts to share now that they are safely with their respective owners! To start off, I'm going to share one of my favorites.
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I'm sooo excited to finally share this quilt! One of my most bestest friends has had a very rough year, and I wanted to do something special for her and her two kids for Christmas. I decided to make each of the kids a quilt, and this is what I came up with for her daughter!
I started off with a layer cake of Sherbet Pips, which I was holding on to for a very special project. I was planning to make a Disappearing 9-Patch using the 10" layer cake slices as a base, but decided that I wanted to cut the prints into smaller chunks. That's when I got the idea to create my own sort of "disappearing" 9-patch, which I'm now calling the 9-Patch Puzzle!
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I began by making 40 blocks using a method similar to the Crazy Nine-Patch at Oh Fransson!. (In the photo above, the pink solid border surrounds 1 9-patch puzzle block.) Then, to keep with the theme of "9's", I grouped the 9-patch puzzle blocks into 9 units that fit together much like a puzzle. I wanted to highlight those 9 different units, so I added a thin solid border around each unit. Not paying close attention to my design, I ended up with a few gaps between the units. I used the scarf print from Sherbet Pips to fill those gaps, which I love!
A 2x1 layout with grey solid border:
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A 3x3 layout with a light pink border and a 1x3 layout with a red border:
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Assembling the units and "filler" pieces required some patience and lots of y-seams, but I actually enjoyed the puzzle aspect of this project. Plus, sewing y-seams is really easy and looks so striking!
I knew pretty much from the beginning that I wanted to quilt this piece using square meandering. It is very time consuming, but I LOVE the effect that it has. Plus I think that it plays up the puzzle theme really well!
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9-Patch Puzzle!
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I really love this quilt, but I was also very excited to give it away. I know it will be well loved by a sweet little girl, and that's the very best compliment a quilter could ever ask for!
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10 comments:

felicity said...

Oh this is just wonderful. WONDERFUL! I love love love it!! Also, your new profile photo is da bomb.

Kathy S. said...

Wow! What a great gift! Love how you tied everything together with the scarf print. So original, yet everybody's going to want to make one. LOVE LOVE LOVE Sherbet Pips!

Shawn said...

Wonderful quilt, I love it and your square meandering quilting is perfect. What a perfect gift and I can wait to try some square meandering myself.

CityHouseStudio said...

What a gorgeous quilt! I love the layout, how you arranged everything - so cool!
And I love your new picture, too!

Kat said...

um, I think I might be in love! This quilt is awesome.... what a lucky girl getting this quilt- I hope she loves it. I might have to try out this pattern.... albeit in a small size- you know how I am!
Glad to see you blogging- I like to creep on what you're up to. :)

Kristie said...

adorable! Love the design with these fabrics, and the backing is perfect. Happy new year!

Lucy | Charm About You said...

Gorgeous! I really love this design. Such a great gift :)

Deb said...

It's beautiful! You know, I JUST thought of you today - totally out of the blue - and I realized that I hadn't read your blog in awhile. I concluded that somehow it'd gotten deleted off my reader. Aha! Then just tonight I saw your blog updated and highlighted...no, it didn't get deleted!! You're still there! And sewing beautiful quilts! I enjoyed your post. :)

Live a Colorful Life said...

fabulous quilt! Love it all--the fabric, the design and the photos! Happy New Year!

OrangeBlossom said...

Absolutely beautiful!!! You are so talented!