Get a little off-center with me!

A little piece of my heart - or at least of my quilts.

If you’ve been hanging with me for a while, you probably know that I always have a stack of dark and light 2 1/2” squares next to my sewing machine to use as leaders and enders. Without much of an effort, I’ll end up with a number of 4-patches that way, to start a new quilt or to be used as a pieced border.

Every once and a while though, when I’m finished with pieces that are a little larger, I’ll make time to cut pieces for off-center nine-patches. The blocks are fun souvenirs of quilts I’ve made and together with some orphan blocks eventually can be made into a colorful scrap quilt. One that’s equally at home in a student dorm, the back of my car or in the boat on a windy day.

For a single block you will need a dark piece of fabric 9-10” square and a piece of light fabric 5 x 8”. Since we’re talking leftovers, these sizes are approximate.

From the dark fabric: cut 4 squares @ 3 1/2”. In addition, cut 1 square @ 2” for the center.

From the light fabric: cut 4 strips 2 x 3 1/2”.

You can change things up and have four different squares, or perhaps a different center square. The squares can be sewn together just the way they are, or with sashings, cut 2 x 3 1/2” and setting squares, cut 2” square.

I rarely have a plan for these blocks and just sew them into a quilt when the stack seems large enough. My family loves these quilts. There’s always one on our couch - without a ‘no touching’ sign!

That’s Lake Josephine, Fl, in the background.