Pages

Monday, November 16, 2009

Bloomin' 9 Patch

Well, here I go again! this time for MIL and FIL. I chose fabrics for this quilt that all looked like they were from the 80s and 90s. Possibly older. Small bunches of florals on a solid dyed background.

This pattern comes from my all-time favorite quilt book: Tradition with a Twist by Blanche Young and Dalene Stone. Who doesn't love a good Trip/Boston Common/ or 9 patch!!! I love the ease of strip piecing and the versability of all the little sqaures.

I have made 2 other bloomin 9s but never got them quilted. One I gave away and the other I'm sending to a group of ladies who quilt for fire victims and cancer patients.
SO, needless to say, I am NO GOOD at quilting these big quilts. But where there's a will there's a way and I will have the blocks sewn together and it quilted by this week. Just in time for me to start Bonnie Hunter's new mystery "Carolina Christmas."

A few things I'd like to mention in my experience working with this pattern. Blanche uses large scale prints in most all of her quilts. They're gorgeous, but when working with small prints I have a few suggestions. The first couple I made I started with a light color in the center and went out to a darker further towards the sides. This is actually NOT the best way to go about this. I have found that if you use contrasting colors/shades it works best. You will see that in this quilt I chose a light teal, than a green (I actually wish I would have switched these) Than you will see the dark blue, than on to a light beigish color. Than a light/dark floral than to a medium purple. Than a dark blue and a lighter green. I wish I would have switched the light green and dark blue for more contrast.
Since I was going with my stash and I only had large yardage of certain colors I had to go with what I had..

So to sum up: With this pattern you do not need to use gradating colors or even go from light to dark. The blended 9 patches will bring the solid sqaures together, and the more contrast with color AND shade is BEST!

Here's my pics of the blocks on my design wall. 2nd picture is WITH the setting triangles.
Not sure if I should add a border or not, I would want to use the green, I'll have to see if I have enough.

No comments:

Post a Comment