Nine Patch: Rings Abound

Lynn Roddy Brown

When I started this quilt I had no idea what the end result would be.  I sorted the blocks by value.  Nine patch blocks come two ways – those with 5 dark patches called X blocks and those with 4 dark patches called O blocks.  I had more X blocks with strong contrast.  I put these on the wall on point forming an outer ring.  I used O blocks with medium and dark values for the next inside ring.  I worked my way toward the middle alternating X and O blocks while changing value combinations. 

I usually use a medium value for setting triangles but this quilt seemed to need the dark red.  After I joined the blocks with the dark red setting triangles I decided I wanted the border to also be dark red.  Of course I did not have enough of the red I had used for the triangles.  I found a close match.  I certainly was not going to change out the sewn-in triangles.