Nine Patch Fun

Those pincushions got me thinking.  If I can make four separate little (little) quilts, I could make little (little) blocks.  Like these:

And these:

 

These blocks will finish at 1 1/2" square.  Now, normally, the whole point of the quilts in Miniatures in Minutes is that you can make the entire foundation pieced section of the quilt (sans borders) on a single foundation.  I fell in love with that technique because it meant I could make miniature quilts without having to do the really fussy sewing and matching that comes with miniatures.  When I make my miniature quilts, I never use a pin.

But, hey, why not experiment?  So, I decided to try using the foundation to make nine patch blocks that would then need to be pieced more traditionally.  Here’s how it worked:

First, I made up a Quilt Layout Diagram for the 13 Square foundation.

It looked like there was a fair amount a room for me to get challenged during the sewing process (always a consideration) so I made sure to mark up the foundation.  I drew little blue arrows to indicate which lines to sew (this actually helped a great deal) and green squiggly lines across the foundation to remind me not to join these rows.  (Am I the only one who goes space cadet at the sewing machine?  I tend to get in a rhythm and just keep sewing without much thinking about it – hence the occasional disaster.  Marking the foundation before I get to the machine makes my life much easier!)

Here’s what the foundation looked like with two columns of nine-patches added and the first patch set  of the last column in place.

Here’s with all the patches added:

Here it is with the rows joined:

I just love how fast and easy Fold and Sew is!  I suspect I don’t really have the patience to make such little blocks using traditional methods.  These were definitely fun though.  So far, so good.  But then, Terrie made an oopsie:

Oh, that made me very sad.  I’m not even sure how I did it.  Though, I have to say, given all of the little quilts I’ve made using this method (and that would be a lot), this is the first time I have ever sliced through fabric while it was on the foundation.  Would you believe?  I never have.  This goes to the “A First Time For Everything, Gol Darn It” category.  I can’t whine too much though, at least it wasn’t an entire quilt! 

I had made up two of these foundations so I had enough of the green nine patch blocks to reach my goal.

I’m mostly wishing I hadn’t added that first inner border with the single patch.  (Oh, well).  Once I added the first two borders, I decided I needed just one more to have a little breather before the binding would go on.  The outer border is now a little bigger than it will finish at.  I’ll trim after I quilt.

This one is meant as a tribute to my Irish roots, but I’ll write more about that when I get this quilted.  Meanwhile, happy piecing all and may the luck of the Irish be with you! 

(Okay, now where did that saying come from?  I mean, how lucky were the Irish, anyway?  The troubles?  The famine?  A whole pile of grievances to level at the English?  Perhaps it’s because despite it all, Ireland is just so breathtakingly beautiful . . .  the land and the people).