High Nine Blocks on the Wall

My recent teal Diabolical Jane project was challenging and required auditioning and replacing several fabrics. I ended up with a collection of unused cut pieces, 2-1/2 by 6-1/2". In an effort to not waste them or let them languish in my scrap drawer forever, I had to figure out something to do with them. 

The solution was a nine-patch variation that I'm calling High Nine. By pairing up two fabrics and cutting some of the 6-1/2" pieces into 2-1/2" squares, I made these blocks. They will finish at 6" by 10".

While I had a lot of leftover DJ pieces, I didn't have enough for a whole quilt top, so of course I had to cut some more strips and add more fabric variety. One WOF strip each of a light and a dark fabric yields two blocks, a light one and a dark one. Making them in pairs or batches works for chain piecing. Between my own stash (my teal basket runneth over) and a few pieces from PCQ's stash, I had enough for a 9 by 7 block layout, 54" by 70". 

An afternoon spent arranging them on my design wall and moving them around resulted in this layout. I think I managed to keep the same fabric from touching itself. And after checking my photos I got the blocks all turned the right way, I think. If you see something that looks like it's going in the wrong direction, let me know. 

I may replace that block at the center bottom. It looks awful in the photo but it may be okay in real life. The whole bottom half, especially the bottom row, looks too dark in the photo. I should have used my auxiliary light to light the bottom of the photo. 

Anyway, I now have High Nine on the wall, ready to number and kit up for future assembly. I'll probably take it to social sewing when I'm done with my current social sewing project. 

I think - but don't know for sure yet - that all the seams will nest when I sew the blocks and rows together. I was careful to always press the seams toward the dark fabric, and the blocks are laid out in checkerboard, so I'm hopeful the seams will all nest. 

As usual, this will become a donation quilt. But it will be much more satisfying to have a finished quilt than to have a drawer full of unused leftover pieces. 

Link up: Small Quilts and Doll Quilts