Eleanor Burns has a good chapter on 9 patches in Still Stripping after all these years. A common size is to cut 2.5 inch strips of dark and light fabric. That should trim out to a 6 inch block. 3.5 inch strips would come out to about a 9 inch block. The internet has a lot of information for putting them together.
I'm also from OKC (although currently exiled to Virginia). Are you going to go to the Winter Quilt show this weekend at the Cox Convention Center? Eleanor Burns is supposed to be there so I am sure you could track down her book. The weather is supposed to be yucky, unfortunately.
Good luck!