I figured out the shapes and numbers for the pieces for the quilt for Elsie. Cutting out the pieces is always tedious and difficult, but tedious and difficult in a good way.

I’ve always enjoyed geometry, it’s part of what I love about traditional block quilts. I get to get out my rulers, protractors and triangles and get all precise. It’s very controlled and I find it all rather soothing. I did have a bit of a problem when it came to waxing the newsprint for Elsie’s article. It was rather old (from 1991) and the print on the back came through and in places almost completely obscured the photos and print on the front. I many need to find something else to use for the some of the pieces.

This time around I cut up plenty of extras for each of pieces since I know now from experience that I always need a few extras:

Here is how the pieces will look when they are all put together into a square:

This is a traditional nine patch square. That is it is based on a 9 inch by 9 inch grid. Part of the wonderful geometry of traditional patch quilts. I got a new book this week that 5500 quilt block designs (titled, quite creatively “5500 Quilt Block Designs). That contains nine patch, eight patch, five patch, eleven and even eighteen and twenty four patch patterns. I’ve been enjoying flipping through it and going over the patterns. Of course with so many patterns all it contains is just a picture and name but it’s great as a jumping off point and for most, since they are based on a grid, all you really need is the picture to go from. 5500 should keep me busy for a while.