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These designs all have Nine Patch blocks with identical corner squares, a vision I had one sleepless midnight hour. There are lots of possible corner blocks which create s filler design right across the quilt top. They become the background design when the other five squares are added to the mix.

I like the colouring in the first design best, but like the second design overall design best.

Looks much more intricate than it is … it is all just 9 Patch blocks.

The night vision part of the title refers to the night I woke up with an idea floating through my brain that the four corners of a 9 Patch block could become a 4 Patch block when the blocks are joined together.

In the design above the darker section of the blocks could stand by itself with blank corners, but one night I woke up with the idea that the blank corners of the block could become an additional design element. Usually when I have ideas in the middle of the night they escape before morning, but this one was still in my head when daylight came so i turned on the computer and started drawing 9P blocks with empty corners, and then some ideas for the corners which would form a secondary design.

Then I had to mix up the centre ...

This series was started when I wondered what might happen when the corners of Nine Patch pieced blocks met to create a secondary design, and sometimes leaving five blank blocks in the centre of the original blocks.

In these two designs the bows are where the four corners meet, and the blank spaces are left plain so the quilting can be the feature. That means that all three layers in Electric Quilt can be put to good use!

This project file is the result of a thought I had at about 3am one morning, when I am at my my creative. However, that was one of those thoughts I actually remembered when I woke up at a more reasonable hour.

The thought was to draft the corners of 9P blocks so that they met other blocks with identical corners to create a pattern independent of the other five squares in the 9P block. The corner designs stand out better in the first of these two designs, but become more a part of the overall design in the second ...

Interesting, but the corners of the blocks overpower the rest of the block … perhaps a colour change to make it much paler would make the balance better..

Also interesting. Colour balance is better but not perfect.

Love the first design.

In these designs all 25 nine patch blocks have identical corner units.

I intended to use a contrast colour for the corners, but got carried away before I found a combination which worked.

In the second design the four corners stand out more than the other five squares which make up the 9P blocks.

I don’t design many quilts with just one block repeated, but in this project file I have tried many of the blocks by themselves so that I see the way the corners of the blocks come together to form there own part of the pattern.

After a look at the way the corners look I go on to play with other blocks with the same corner design added to the mix. It is always interesting, and also fun.

On point setting … and the four stars around the centre are made up by the corner sections of four blocks which meet in the centre squares of those four stars.

The second design is a straight setting, but once again the stars surrounding the centre block are created when the corners of the four blocks meet.

Very interesting!

Piecing is rarely my first choice of making a quilt top, at least, not until the applique is finished, but I do like the first design today.

Also interesting, but I prefer the first one.

Interesting.

Better contrast, and I like it.

Love the block in the centre! Love the design overall too.

The colour reflects the green of the weeds which will grow amongst the gold crops after the recent rains, and in my newly weeded garden!

Love teh block in the top centre position … and love the design overall too.

I have a large collection of 9 patch blocks created by mixing up the corner four squares with different centre squares … and of course the squares in the middle of each side of the nine patch blocks.

The design above shows a quilt with nine patch blocks with the same corner squares in each block and the same centre squares, and the side squares left plain.

The two designs below have the same pattern in the centre of each side, and some of the designs created in this way are rather good, even if I do say so myself.

These ...

My night vision was to create 9 patch blocks which formed a secondary pattern when used side by side … and I started playing as soon as I woke up next morning. My next block sorting project will be to add the corners to the 9P blocks which have blank corners.

The one above uses three blocks, one with just pieced comers, the others with different cross style pieced in the bank spaces of the design used in the corners. Not all corners will work with all the cross style blocks, but it will still become a large collection of designs.

Intricate and interesting!

Also intricate and interesting, and on point too, but I like the first one better.

In this series I am trying to make it look like two blocks, created by choosing nine patch blocks with the corner squares solid, then adding a quarter of a four patch design to that corner square. The first design works well, but it would be a bit difficult to piece the two blocks into a quilt top.

The concept is not easy to see in the second design, partly because some blocks do not have the nine patch elements. I have just worked out that quilting lines could be used to show where the seams lines joining those nine ...