A fellow quilter was telling me about a quilt today which is much like a crazy quilt similar to the disappearing 9-patch only with goofy cuts. She thought is was called Stacking the Deck but not Stack-n-Wack. She explained that it was nine pieces of coordinating fabrics stacked face up and all cut at once in any manner but in nine cuts. Then she thought one would take one block to the bottom, then two to the bottom, then three, etc, etc, until that section of the stack had been shuffled. Then the blocks were sewn together from top, using all 9 pieces for one block. My question is...........has anyone heard of such a thing and does it work? Seems like the blocks would all be fairly similar. Just cannot wrap my mind around this one before slicing up some fabrics. Google did not bring up anything. Thanks for your input.

I have so many pieces of leftovers, that I thought something like this would be a great way to get rid of scraps plus make some wonderful charity quilts.

Try this link, it will at least give you a visual idea!!
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/20...ninepatch.html
or this one---
http://www.moonlightquilters.org/crazy9patch.htm

Yes, that did give me an idea but yet I wonder if taking just one block to the bottom, then for the next two if they are in the same section OR if they needed to be someplace else within pile of nine. However, I can see using just a few colors rather than a miss-mash of everything will make a better quilt. I think I may try it with all red-white-blue. If it turns out maybe some Valour Quilts will be in the making for either our wounded soldiers in hospitals or veterans in nursing homes.

In the stack of cut pcs, you just move 1 pc (for instance- top left) to the bottom--so that in the end no 2 blocks are identical--then you can turn them so that the same shapes are not always in the same place!

Well, dah......I should have imagined that one! flipping and turning would do it. Thank you so much.

I've made several different patterns using the crazy cutting and switching method...all thumbs mentioned it quickly above...after making your cuts, take one piece off stack number one and put it on the bottom of that stack, then take two off of stack two, three off of three, etc. When you then sew together all the pieces on the top of each stack, you have a block with all different fabrics, the next block, made from the second layer of all stacks, will have a completely different layout, etc. and in the end, no block will have the same color layout.

I have seen it on one of my quilt shows. It makes a fun quilt. I want to try it one day.

Hi, I think this is the pattern you might be thinking of

Beautiful quilt honchey. All thumbs, this is a really good quilt to use up scraps. It's probably one of the most common ones, besides string quilt and log cabin. It goes together really fast.

Yes, the pattern is called Crazy 9 Patch. Several of the quilters in my group have made one and they really work up beautifully. All Thumbs, you described the way to do it very well.

Yes honchey your quilt is exactly the photo I have seen. Thank you everyone for helping me get my cuts and fabric movements going correctly. That black and orange really made the scraps pop so I am off to local quilt shop plus Hancocks today to get me some black to help my stash of nothings along. LOL Thanks again and happy stitching everyone.

thanks for the links

Hey everyone out there, remember yesterday when I said I was heading to the local quilt shop to get some black to mix in with my scraps to make everything pop like Honchey's photo example? Well...... you guessed it; I bought enough black to take care of me for 2 or 3 years! I had a coupon for 30% off any one regular priced item and then she gave me a 10% off because I took the remaining whole bolt. What was left on the bolt was 10.125 yards and I am really happy. Never a reason not to buy on sale for one's stash. LOL The fabric was RobertKaufman and I am hoping it will prove to be a good one. Figured if it were sold in a fine fabric quilting shop, it should be pretty good. Heading to the basement and my sewing room this afternoon while DH reads his papers and periodicals. Smiling.......

Hello fellow Missourian!

They had this very quilt block on Sewing With Nancy on TV - PBS this past weekend. The lady guest had used 9 different solid colors (I think) and did stack them up, and shuffle them, etc.

HTH

How is this different than a crazy quilt block?

wow, there some really neat quilts that were finished up. That is a great way to get from boring to "wow, let's another one".... need to go back in an research..

blue

This is from "Stack The Deck! Crazy Quilts in 4 Easy Steps" by Karla Alexander. I make it using nine fat quarters and cut the "stack" into nine pieces. The stacking as described by ktbb above is how I do it. I love the pattern. It's relatively easy and the quilts always come out looking great.

Made several quilts like this.Really easy, go together really fast. Great variation is to use curved cuts and curved piecing.

think this also might be called magic tiles as I made one and put tiny sashing strips between the blocks.
Gale

Google the book, "Stack a Deck,' or Stack a New Deck," by Karla Alexander. I think that's what you are looking for. I'm trying my first one now. It has nine pieces and has uneven cut pieces.

ive done the crazy 9 patch but not stack the deck that one looks realy neet.

Hello back to you, NikkiLu
Go figure---the one weekend I did not tape nor watch Sewing With Nancy and Fons/Porter is the weekend I should have! No quilting has been on today so I imagine our PBS is doing lengthy shows for raising funds.

By the way, your avatar sure does catch the pet of yours in flight. Great shot!

I made 12 "Stack The Deck" crazy quilts about 5 yrs ago for my family. They are super easy. Each person got different "themed" fabrics and they have been very well used and loved. I saw them first on Alex Anderson's show when she was still on HGTV and ordered the book. Lots of fun, easy quilt ideas in that book.

I have both Stack The Deck books and love the first one.
Made my first quilt with it and it was fun.
Its an older book so try Amazon to see if you can get a used one.

I remember seeing this on her show too...I want to try it sometime. I think she has a video on her site of it.

Craftzine link wouldn't open for me. Any other ideas?

i made a stained class quilt using this method yrs ago. using a lot of soft pastel batiks, and QAYG. turned out real nice. that was when i was in a mode of 'the next thing i do, has to be something i have never done before'. wanted to make my own bias tape. i'm out of that now.

I made one like that a few years ago using Halloween scraps. Turned out very cute. They are fun to make.

The only pattern like this that I know of is Stack-n-Whack. This sounds just like one I did last year.

I have a book with Stack and Whack as the title, have not tried the design, but the cover picture is pretty. Maybe this winter I will get at it--along with all the other patterns I would like to try! piecefully, the old one

This is a great idea for using up leftovers... thanks for all the info... gonna have to check this out...

Isn't this also called Stack-N-Slash? Seems like I remember that from a few years back. Makes a cute quilt!

I've made several and love making them. You can have any number of fabric squares and make any number of cuts you like.

Made them too. Easy and a very quick method. Go to your local library and see if they have the book for you to check out. It makes it easier for you to understand.

I just got to thinking about this and a question comes to mind. It probably shouldn't, as it obviously works - but I guess piecing it all with 1/4" seams you still come out with a good square block? My mind doesn't work well in the morning ... maybe by afternoon I'll be saying "oh yeah, of course it does!!!" I am so not a morning person!

Our quilt club each did one of these last year. It was fun and different. Two ladies have finished the machine quilting on the lap quilts and two are making them into more like crazy quilts with hand embellished lace, stitches and beading. No sashing. Then I made another one with connecting threads fat quarters and bound each slice with a thin black sashing before assembling. I am hand quilting this one with sashiko black stitches in sashiko patterns. Both are works in progress.

This is the very first piecing I ever did, and I made it into a bedspread instead of a quilt. At that time it was called a stack and whack but it's the same thing. To make it big enough, I did a double set of 9 blocks all with coordinating fabrics.

Or maybe I did 3 sets now that I am looking at it again. LOL

My Stack the Deck Quilts in Progress
 

Here's pictures of the two works in progress.

Yes it works, the technique is in a book by Buggy Barn, it is called Stack the Deck.