When I first pulled the stack together there were only six fabrics, the navy's, pinks and middle two greens (solid and tree fabrics). After pulling them together I went off in search for something to do with them and saw a number of Disappearing 9 Patch quilts that were very pretty. It looked like a quick and satisfying pattern - and no HSTs! I get a little burned out after doing an entire quilt using triangles. I added the feather, circle and x fabrics to the stack so that I had nine fabrics and went along. I made 8 9-patch blocks using 5 inch squares. I put the fabrics together randomly when I laid out my 9-patches. It was a really satisfying project and I finished the ironing, cutting and sewing in one evening after work... but for the past two days I have been flipping and flipping the finished blocks around... and lots of swearing, grrr! I'm not sure if I should try another layout altogether, add some sashing or what. Happily taking suggestion on that! I seem to have two problems; first, I'm not crazy about the fabrics that I added at the end. I wish I had used a solid white or possibly one more colorway for additional variation for this pattern. Second, the same fabrics keep touching! I know, gross! Is that supposed to happen with this pattern? Oh, and the tree fabric is directional and I should have turned some of those squares in other directions when making the 9-patch blocks... Three problems then. I can't even get to the 'good enough' place where I just stop and sew them together. Not this time. What the flip?!
I might need to start another project while I ponder. Seriously if you have suggestions for saving this puppy from the 'fail bucket,' bring 'em on!
Best,
Heather
I've done disappearing nine-patch blocks before. My bee did an exchange with black and batiks. The center block and the corner blocks were batiks and the other blocks were black. That way, when the 9-patches were cut, the abundance of black made it easy to flip the blocks around and not have any two fabrics touching. (It also helped that it was a block exchange!) The problem you're having reminds me of a friend who did at Take 5 pattern with exactly 5 fabrics (and at least one of those was directional). At some point, you have to accept that the same fabric may be touching, at least diagonally. Also, in your picture, the navy fabrics stand out the most, so concentrate on distributing them evenly around the quilt. This will help your eye not to focus on one spot. For the trees, forget that they are directional! It will look more natural if they are turned randomly throughout the quilt than if most read "up" and there are one or two that are left, right, or down (because those will stand out).
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain. Been there and done that! I have seen these D9Ps done with sashing. Try laying them out that way and see how you like it.
ReplyDeleteI had the same experience with the Disappearing 9-Patch. I like organization and symmetry in a quilt pattern, so I found it very hard to like any layout with the blocks. I decided to put four blocks together, sash them, and add ric rac on the sashing. You can see that here: http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com/2012/12/oh-happy-day-girls-twin-quilt.html It turned out lovely and sold in my Etsy shop. www.etsy.com/shop/busyhandsquilts.
ReplyDeleteMyra~