BOW #20: 7-Grid Chain

As long as we're on Nine Patches and Four Patches and all those patches, let's do the 7-Grid Chain, which is really just a Nine Patch in the center, and Four Patches in the corners.

Because this is on a grid with 7 squares, it's easiest to talk about it as a 14" block--the size shown in the "Bears En Point" quilt shown below.  (If you want to do a 12", or any other size block, just use the BlockFab app to give you the dimensions.)

For a 14" block you'll need:
(13) 2-1/2" dark squares
(12) 2-1/2" light squares
(4) 2-1/2" x 6-1.2" rectangles

Arrange 1 nine-patch, 4 four-patches and the light 4-1/2" x 6-1/2" rectangles as shown and sew into a chain block. (Watch the orientation of the four-patches in the corners--they must look like the diagram in order to make the chain.)

Now, you could create a chain quilt by alternating this with a plain block but I think this really shines as an alternate block with other pieced blocks, as in this quilt, "Bears En Poine."

 

 

It would also be a good way to tie together a group of sampler blocks or, again, as a path (in green?) through a garden of "plain" blocks cut from large florals.  If you put the blocks in horizontal (rather than on point) orientation, it would create a diagonal grid.