Originally Posted by MTS

I use my imagination and make a concerted, constructive and creative effort to make it NOT boring.

You know, 9 patches don't have to made of equal sized blocks and just two fabrics.
The shapes - individual pieces or the whole blocks - can have irregular or curved edges.
The color distribution doesn't have to necessarily be 5 and 4.
Different fabrics - even solids/blenders - can enhance what is a relatively simple block.

A little effort can make it decidedly FABULOUS.