Doll Quilt Swap 6 | Fresh Nines

It's been so great to see the nine-patch revival happening all around blog- and Flick-land lately, as evidenced by Amanda Jean's latest quilt-along, Happy Zombie's Bake Shop tutorial, and Anina's Three by Three block swap over at Twiddletails. Even Rita's getting in on the action! It seems that new takes on the classic nine-patch block are all the rage right now ... and I can honestly say that, for once, I was a bit ahead of the curve!

That's because I drew up the plans for this, my Doll Quilt Swap quilt, a few months back ...


I'm calling it "Fresh Nines"! What do you think?

It all started with a charm pack of the "Fresh" line that I received as a special bonus in a fat quarter swap a few months back. I played around with a few ideas, but ultimately settled on a mini nine-patch design. I'm really in love with the layout of one fabric in the four corners, another in between the corner blocks, and a third in the center square. I was first taken with this idea when I saw all of the beautiful blocks being made in this design for Erin in the original Virtual Quilting Bee.

And in my tradition of trying something new with everything I make, I opted for white linen instead of quilting cotton for the sashing. I think it gives it a nice, but subtle, touch. It was my first time sewing with linen, and I'm glad I bought enough of the white to use on another project!


This little quilt recently found its home with Jessica a.k.a. jmbmommy, who was also the recipient of my Gee's Bend quilt a few months back. The funniest part? She also made a 9-patch quilt for her partner ... the aforementioned Rita! Everything comes full circle ...


Here's a shot of my pieced backing ... I love the print with the hummingbirds, and since they were too big to fit in the little squares on the front, I decided to use it on the back.

I'm still waiting patiently for my doll quilt to arrive ... there are still so many great ones in the pool that just haven't found their way home yet.