Saturday, January 21, 2012

Curved Nine Patch

...don't ask me why I've never thought about doing a curved nine patch with my ruler till yesterday...  and if I'm not mistaken you use templates to create a curve nine patch....a template for the corner's and one for the middle side pieces....

...but maybe there is an easier way!
First I started on my design program and made this:


I want my block to end up being and 8" square...this gave me an idea how big to cut my squares and rectangles...

..then I started cutting into the fabric... made a nine patch: a square for the center and corners and rectangles for the side centers.

This is my first block:


 ...basically I took my ruler, cut out the curve on each side of the block...then cut out my side pieces also with my ruler, sewed them on to the nine patch and ended up with a not so pretty, to small and wasn't able to square it up block....you know how I love to square everything up.

next attempt:


played around with different size squares and rectangles for the nine patch...cut the sides out with my ruler a bit different and then sewed on my curve pieces and ended up really...really...miscalculating!  Cut it all off and now I have just a nine patch....major mess up!

last attempt:


Finally!!  I calculated the squares and rectangles so my nine patch ends up being 8 1/2" square....which is the smaller size reference curve dimensions on my ruler.  This helps me when cutting out my curves for the side of the nine patch so I can line it up perfectly on my ruler.  Sew my side curve pieces on to the nine patch and square up to a perfect 8" square!

Now if you could only see how many mishap blocks I have in my "mishap drawer"....some day I'm going to make a "mishap quilt"!

...then of course I went to bed last night dreaming up designs, using the curved nine patch!

~Jenny~

11 comments:

Aunt Marti said...

Jenny I would love a tutorial on this block -- why try to figure out the dimensions for myself when clever Jenny already has? I would buy a pattern, too!

LeslieUnfinished said...

You are absolutely brilliant!

Karen said...

Jenny, you have to a tutorial, this has so many possiblities!!!!
Love it, and if you make up a pattern I am in!!!!!
Karen H

Helen said...

Jenny's magic mind strikes again!

MariQuilts said...

Wow...one idea always leads to another. There is no stopping you when it comes to this fantastic ruler of yours. Keep it up we'll all benefit.

Kathy Schwartz said...

Brilliant! I love how your mind works.I think our guild will be ordering this ruler soon, I took mine in to show the ladies this month and they thought it was great.

Unknown said...

Yet another Pandora's box of ideas has opened up for you
Now we have to wait impatiently for the big reveal

Lynette said...

ooOOoooo!!!

**nicke... said...

super awesome! i love it!

Cascade Quilts said...

this block is at the top of my to-do list! It would be awesome to not have to template piece it! I would love a tutorial, or even a pattern! I would definitely buy the pattern (and ruler!)

Becky - Owly Mama said...

I love this. I've been working on the same problem with the exact same block. I haven't figured it out yet - I'm making a 12 inch block. Looks great!