QB, don't give up! I'm not participating in this swap, but have been in the last 3 that sewbizgirl sponsored. I have made about 200 nine patches for those swaps and had much better luck when I sewed long 2-1/2" strips together and then cut them into 2-1/2 pieces. It is much harder to get perfect 6-1/2" squares if you're sewing individual 2-1/2" pieces together. I tried the small pieces for several of the nine patches and had absolutely no luck doing it that way. I keep finding beautiful patterns for scrappy nine patch quilts so you will have a lot of choices to use them. Don't get discouraged - you'll be amazed at how pretty the quilts turn out. I have made three so far out of my patches and am happy with all of them. They are all quilted and just need the binding on them. I'll keep following this thread to see some pics of everyone's finished quilts.