How to Make a Quilter

You can make a great diary quilt for yourself by cutting a 2" strip, or square, to make random 9 patches from every fabric that you use in your other quilts. It would be a long term project building up a stock of 9 patch blocks over time, even a few years, but what fun it would be to look back and remember the quilts that had been made from each fabric. There are so many ways that a 9 patch block can be utilised that the block layout could also reflect your personal patchwork style.

Four rows showing one idea
for setting random nine patch blocks

PART One: The Random Nine Patch Block

NOTE: Don't start making 2" units units or Nine patch blocks until you have a reasonable collection of fabrics otherwise you will not achieve the desired random effect.

	Start by keeping a 2" square or a short 2" wide strip from every fabric that you use in the quilts that you make.
	When you have a reasonable number of strips or squares you can start joining them together in groups of three to make the basic units for the Nine patch squares. If you have used the strip method cross cut the strips to make units that are 2" wide. Note that the fabric placement is totally random.
	When you have sufficient 2" strip units you can start piecing the Nine patches. You will note that the colour placement is random and the traditional strong contrasting light / dark placement is not strictly followed. However each square should be a random mix of dark & medium or medium & light. You may wish to keep fabrics from one particular quilt together or you may choose to scatter the fabrics randomly between the blocks.

Part Two: The Half Square Triangle Units

These instructions assume that you have made the Nine Patch units (4 1/2" finished size) as per the instructions in Part One.

1. Choose one light background fabric plus a darker contrast fabric. Depending on the size of the quilt you wish to make you will require up to 1 metre of each fabric.

2. Cut an equal number of 5 1/2" strips from each fabric. (Each pair of strips should yield 14 half square triangle units)

3. Position the strips right sides together.

4. Using a fine pencil, mark out the cutting & stitching lines on the wrong side of the light fabric as follows:

	Rule vertical lines every 5 1/2"
	Connect the vertical lines with diagonal lines, positioned in a herringbone design.

5. Pin strips together.

6. Stitch 1/4" either side of the diagonal lines in a continuous manner.

NOTE:

	DO Not stitch ON the pencil Line
	DO NOT Stitch along vertical lines.

7. Press along stitching lines on both sides of fabric to "set" stitching.

8. Use a ruler & rotary cutter to cut along ALL pencil lines.

9. Press squares open with all seams pressed towards darker fabric.

10. Trim the half Square triangle blocks to the cut size of the 9 Patch blocks (4 1/2" + seam allowances = 5").

When trimming position the 45^o line on your square ruler along the diagonal line to help keep the squares balanced.

Finally Finished

I finally finished my quilt top thanks to a concentrated effort at a "Quilt In" day with friends.

For months I had my Quilter's Diary quilt almost finished. I only needed to make 12 more nine patch blocks to finish the quilt body and then add the border. However it was one of those jobs that never managed to reach the top of the list.

I was so pleased when we set a day aside to stitch together and, while others started a new project, I worked on some of my UFOs (Unfinished Objects) or as I prefer to think of them WIPs (Works in Progress).

I have prepared the backing and I have also made the binding ready to finish the quilt as soon as it is quilted. I even have a name in mind for this quilt .... "Cherry Ripe" .... as I plan to quilt it with a Cherry design from Lorien Designs.

From experience, I have found that it is a good idea to make the binding at the same time as making the quilt top. That way, if it takes a while to finish the quilting, you will not have accidentally used the binding fabric in another project.

Before I settled on the above patchwork layout I experimented with the digital camera. Here are some alternate ideas for using the 9 patch & half square triangle blocks. Why not you see how many other layouts you can find.

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