Despite the fact that I've got several projects in the works at the moment, I was suddenly overcome by the urge to start a nine patch quilt that I saw in a book.I didn't even try to talk myself out of it, but jumped straight in and began cutting.

I wanted a different dark fabric for each block, but I've kept the same cream throughout, so I could cut a whole half metre into 2 1/2" strips. This is most unusual for me, because I like scrappy everything, including backgrounds.

I didn't want to strip piece long strips, as I only needed one block from each fabric, so this is the system I came up with. I cut from fat quarters, and one strip is plenty for each block.

I layered a light and dark, right sides together, and found I could cut two pairs stacked on top of each other without any trouble.
My strips are 2 1/2", and my first cut was three times that measurement, plus a little bit for squaring up as I cross-cut later. I cut at about 8" here.
Then with the stack untouched I made another cut of squares at 2 1/2". After this I pulled out the cream fabric and cut single squares of the dark fabric. This resulted in a pair of the 8" cuts and two dark squares and one light, for each block.Then I sewed all the 8" strips together, which went very quickly, and pressed them.
Next they were cut into 2 1/2" slices
and each slice had another square added to it, light or dark, to make the nine patch.
I have sewn long strips together to make nine patches, but I'd rather deal with shorter lengths, and when you need a lot of variety this method is very easy. And it goes without saying that when you're using scraps this is great too- if you have a 13-14" strip of dark fabric you can get a block from it.

I was humming along making these when I happened to read Kathie's post about her nine-patch quilt. Oh my goodness, I want to start one of those too! I think I could just make quilts from nine-patches for a year and still not be done with this block, I love it!

And here's another way to make nine patches without using long strips, in Bonnie's directions for her Sister's Choice quilt...