My scrappy D9P

[Vezelay]

Back from holiday now and all 36 9-patches are done and ready to 'disappear'. Before sewing them all I'd to check that I'm on the right track. The photos show 2 original 9-patches plus the resultant cut/rejigged block - basically this is what I've gleaned from YT etc - no 2 seams meeting, centre patch quarters 2 in, 2 out Any glaring errors here?

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Edit: just wondering should I mix all the cut blocks up?

[Pearl]

Lovely, @Vezelay   

I wouldn't mix up the cut blocks.  It's busy enough.

[Renegade Sewist]

When it's this scrappy I prefer mixing up the blocks. It's going to be busy no matter what but mixing you get a better distribution of more dominant colors. But, but, but for that to work best you need a design wall of some type and lay out the little blocks before you sew anything back together. I've never sewn the little blocks back into a unit of four before seeing how everything worked, color distribution, etc. Never. And then I tend to sew them into rows then combine those. Just apparently the way I like to work.

I'm wanting to make a medallion quilt of some sort. It has a bigger central motif, either pieced, appliqued or a printed panel. Then you build various borders all around it. A bit different than what I typically do. That could be your next quilt. 

Forgot: for the design wall you can use a flannel sheet or flannel backed vinyl tablecloth. The quilt shop uses 4' X 4' foam core panels covered with Warm and Natural batting. Nice and sticky, easy to pin to.

[Lowena]

It's going to be a very busy quilt so I wouldn't mix the cut blocks

[Deafoldbat]

When it's this scrappy I prefer mixing up the blocks. It's going to be busy no matter what but mixing you get a better distribution of more dominant colors. ... I've never sewn the little blocks back into a unit of four before seeing how everything worked, color distribution, etc. Never. And then I tend to sew them into rows then combine those

@Vezelay I agree with @Renegade Sewist  Mix them up and see how it looks. You can always unmix them if you don't like the effect

[Vezelay]

Ah I see expert opinion is divided, and both sides equally convincing! On reflection not mixing would make the process simpler for me. And with 55 different fabrics (5 of the 5" squares in the photo are singles) I do wonder if mixing would in fact make much difference anyway, considering the extra effort involved. Maybe I'll do a small test trial of a half dozen full blocks and see. If I mixed them all up I'm not sure I'd ever be able to unmix them again!

[Cazlyn]

No expert but I think it’s going to look fab!

[LeilaMay]

As long as oy like it, it's great!
I lay mine out on the bed to try and get an idea of how they'll look. Then I take a picture, and move 'em round a bit if I think that might work better. Trial and error

[Vezelay]

Well this is certainly an education . I laid out my half dozen cut blocks, then a couple more and realised that one or two of the more prominent and numerous fabrics needed re-distributing for balance. So I'm now laying out the lot on covers on the floor of two adjacent rooms - "my" rooms, so they won't be disturbed. Still cutting and a fair amount of fiddling around to do I imagine before I sew them in rows.

Wadding has arrived but I'm not even thinking about the backing yet. Get this done first. 

[realale]

As a total novice and blunderer I took photos of my layout then changed them to grey scale on my phone, it was so much easier to see the balance like that. 

[Iminei]

Dont get too het up about the perfect random placement, its notoriously hard to achieve.
Take a pic of the layouts, anything massively off will leap out and smack you in the eye .

But if you do manage to achieve it, theres an almost guaranteed 100% chance of buggering it up when you get to sewing the blocks together.

[Vezelay]

@Iminei I have accepted that perfect random placement isn't achievable for this quilt - going for 'not bad' instead. As for sewing all 144 pieces together neatly and in the correct order, well I thought that was the easy bit

[Deafoldbat]

But if you do manage to achieve it, theres an almost guaranteed 100% chance of buggering it up when you get to sewing the blocks together.

This is one of the Immutable Laws of Quilting. Also you won't spot it until half way through the binding...

[Renegade Sewist]

This is one of the Immutable Laws of Quilting. Also you won't spot it until half way through the binding...

But a non quilting (male) household member will notice it and comment on it the second they lay eyes on it after you're finished. This after telling you how great it all looked while you were working on it. 

[Vezelay]

Ah yes, binding, all 8 metres of it, but at least it's straight lines. I've yet to choose and buy the binding fabric. I 'bound' my cot quilt with the backing (excellent suggestion from this forum) which worked lovely, but no cutting corners this time!

But a non quilting (male) household member will notice it and comment on it the second they lay eyes on it after you're finished. This after telling you how great it all looked while you were working on it. 

So you've met my DH aka Eagle Eyes then @Renegade Sewist.