PLEASE!!! Do yourself an enormous favor and get a graph paper pad that has 4 squares to the inch, Walmart has them. Also buy or find a 6" plastic school ruler, sharp pencils, and a package of colored pencils.
Sit down with this pad and look at a simple 9 patch block....like a rolling star or a shoofly or churn dash.
Draw a 6" square on your pad.
Draw vertical and horizontal lines at 2 inches and 4 inches to make this a 9 patch.
Draw the diagonal lines to complete the block.
Now.....Draw a 3 inch square on another page the pad.
Draw vertical lines and horizontal lines at 1 inch and 2 inch to make a 9-patch.
Draw the diagonal lines to complete the block.
Are these blocks different? No, but they are different sizes, right?
If you had only enough room to draw a 3 inch square for your 6 inch block, you could still figure the size of the cuts by realizing that each square within the 9-patch would have to be 2 inches…… 2 + 2 + 2 = 6”
AND, you can also figure what the cuts would be if you wanted, say, a 12" block. Each square of the 9-patch would have to be 4 inches. 4 + 4 + 4 = 12”
Now, I look at each square (or 'cut' as I call it) and know that I will have to add 1/4" on opposite sides for the seam allowance.....4" + ¼” + ¼” seam allowances = 4 & 1/2" cut squares. [or for the 6” block, the cuts would have to be?????? 3" + ¼” + ¼” = 3 & ½” cut squares.
For the next few days look for blocks that you like.
Draw the the block on your graph pad by drawing only the left and top sides of the block instead of a whole square.
Start in the upper left corner and draw in the sections of the block just as you see it in the picture of the block that you have found.
Then, assign how many graph paper squares equal 1 inch.
Using this technique will eventually allow you to make any block any size you wish! If you can “find the block,” you can draw the quilt and make it yourself without a pattern if you wanted to.
Jan in VA