The April Block is Hot-Crossed 9-Patch

Posted by Sophie on April 1, 2012 in blocks | 3 comments

Sophie's HC9P Block I’m calling the block I dreamed up for us for April, Hot-Crossed 9-Patches (HC9P). The directions for the block are here:

Hot-Crossed 9-Patch Block Tutorial

You may make and enter a maximum of 9 blocks for chances in the drawing at the end of the April.

FABRICS

White – solid or white-on-white (WOW) print. If you are using scraps, you may use multiple whites in the same block.

Plaid – Woven or printed plaid fabric. In honor of Earth Day later this month, you may use reclaimed fabrics.

Contrast – A solid or tone-on-tone print that compliments and contrasts your plaid. This can be one fabric (per block) or two–quilter’s choice.

If you make multiple blocks–the maximum allowed for chances in the drawing is the usual NINE–you may use the same plaid in up to three blocks (with different contrast fabric to make the fabric in each block unique) and the same white in all your blocks.

CATEGORIES AND TAGS

Blog posts with photos of blocks or discussion about the blocks should be created in the blocks category. Posts about mailing or receiving the blocks should be created in the sent and received category. Posts about quilts made from lotto blocks or inspired by lotto blocks should be created into the show and tell category.

Please Tag your blog posts with this tag:

HC9P -for all blog posts about this month’s block

INSPIRATION – THE VIRTUAL QUILT

Here are 35 of the blocks made by Béa, Christa, Cyndi, Ginny, Kathy, Kristin, Michelle, Rho, Shelley, Susan, Vivi and me. You can see the individual photos on Flickr in my photo set Hot-Crossed 9-Patch Blocks.

3 Comments

Linda Newman April 1, 2012 at 4:20 PM

These look fun! I love to slice things up. I also am doing lots of I-spy quilts and always looking for a new idea for a setting, and I think these could work great, using 5 similar background color squares in the same block, and using in the center block one of the small print novelties that it wouldn’t hurt to cut in fourths. Thanks again, Sophie.

As a practice tip, from my old days of garment sewing (think of madras skirts in the 60s!) I think the trick to working with plaids and have them look good is to carefully observe and try to match the straight lines in the pattern. This is one area where it may be worth the time to fussy cut the individual plaid strips and resulting squares with a clear ruler so that the cutting edge is truly parallel and/or at right angles to the lines in the plaid pattern. And of course the two blocks in each row should have their lines/patterns match. Since the blocks don’t abut each other, it’s a lot more forgiving to have the background in between.

Funkys Mama April 1, 2012 at 5:35 PM

Question: Does gingham count as plaid?

Sophie April 1, 2012 at 6:25 PM

Yes, gingham counts as a 2-color woven plaid. Make sure it’s a weight that is comparable to quilting cotton and 100% cotton.

Linda Newman April 1, 2012 at 4:20 PM

These look fun! I love to slice things up. I also am doing lots of I-spy quilts and always looking for a new idea for a setting, and I think these could work great, using 5 similar background color squares in the same block, and using in the center block one of the small print novelties that it wouldn’t hurt to cut in fourths. Thanks again, Sophie.

As a practice tip, from my old days of garment sewing (think of madras skirts in the 60s!) I think the trick to working with plaids and have them look good is to carefully observe and try to match the straight lines in the pattern. This is one area where it may be worth the time to fussy cut the individual plaid strips and resulting squares with a clear ruler so that the cutting edge is truly parallel and/or at right angles to the lines in the plaid pattern. And of course the two blocks in each row should have their lines/patterns match. Since the blocks don’t abut each other, it’s a lot more forgiving to have the background in between.
Funkys Mama April 1, 2012 at 5:35 PM

Question: Does gingham count as plaid?
- Sophie April 1, 2012 at 6:25 PM
  
  Yes, gingham counts as a 2-color woven plaid. Make sure it’s a weight that is comparable to quilting cotton and 100% cotton.