The mysterious case of the disappearing 9, or Laura learns to Patchwork

So amongst other things I spent my weekend tidying my fabric stash:

Stash box!!

I also went to my first patchworking workshop.

Recognise 2 of these fabrics??

Inspired by the Narcoleptic in a Cupboard, who makes amazing quilts, I thought I'd have a go at this jolly pursuit myself.

The class I went to was a bit of mix, with some people bringing along an ongoing project to get advice and guidance, and there were a couple of beginners like me who just wanted to have a go at a bit of patchwork.  I picked out the disappearing 9 pattern for my quilt which looks quite complex but is actually quite easy.  The trickiest thing is cutting all those darn squares out to begin with (mine needed 36 squares!!).

You sew up the squares in rows of 3.  Then sew 3 rows of 3 together to form a block of 9 squares.  Then (and here's the clever bit) you cut down the middle of each block vertically then horizontally:

My high-tech diagram

That's as far as I managed to get in the 4 hour class, but after that you lay them out and sew them up again into rows of 4, then into the square of 16 (4x4).  I'm going to add a border and then get some batting and backing fabric together and go along another Sunday to quilt it all together.

After I got home I laid them out on the floor and played around with them to get them into a pattern I (just about) liked, so now I am numbering them and stacking them up to sew together another day.

This was the hardest bit, making sure no bits of the same fabric were touching!  If you are a serious perfectionist this will take you a looooong time!!!!