Its your quilt...Do what looks best to you.

I did a DP9 patch. There were two main fabrics, one of trees and one of wolves, which I fussy cut. There were two other fabrics. I put the wolves and trees in the corners and when it was done, cut the block through the middle squares, not the wolves or trees. I then put the wolves so that the two squares were pointed to each other, for the focus fabric. I made it for my brother for last Christmas, and he never used it - he passed away in September and I retrived the quilt.

Sorry, it is sideways, but I think you can get the picture. The block corners are at the tree corners and the light tan corners.

In the 9-patch, the middle square in the middle row should be the same color in every square, probably a solid color In the 4-patch, scrappy should be fine.

I did Craftsy's Mystery quilt and it ended up being a D9P. I had never done one before so it was new to me. We had to buy a layer cake. We made a 9 patch out of the layer cake. So, it was scrappy. I didn't think I was going to like it, but I really did. I didn't know about placement of certain fabrics, which really didn't matter with a layer cake. I am going to make more D9Ps now that I see how they turn out. I don't have any idea how a D4P works. I guess I'll just have to make one and see how it works. The D9P was fun to make, so I bet the D4P would be, also.

That is the way I do it, then those center squares can form a pattern. I have used black, or solid colors in that center square.

That is beautiful! Love it! So sorry about your brother.

(referring to the one with the wolves - Jakers1)

I just made my first fp9 - Dressed to the Nines in Quilting Quickly/Fall 2013. There is also a video you can watch on the Fons & Porter website. OMG! I was astounded at what a simple block could do! I am loving a dp9. Have fun making yours.

Im glad you asked this as Ive wondered about how to achieve the different looks.

I haven't seen anyone talk about the D4P. It is very different, but just as easy to do. I have made several, and they are fun. You can also do a DPinwheel, but that is actually not a "disappearing", but a "Diminishing Pinwheel". The pinwheel in the center just gets smaller. I hope someone will be able to post pictures.