I took this block on a weekend getaway … I definitely needed something simple, to get away from the ghosts of quilt blocks past in my last sashing segment. This block had tab shapes that were similar to one of the ghosts of quilt blocks past: Block H1. But this time, I knew to carefully cut out those tab shapes so the correct edges would be on the bias.

I’ve been using the Dear Jane software as my source for pattern pieces, but knew eventually I’d want to use Susan Gatewood’s pattern for Block A1, since her pattern is closer to the original quilt for that block. I’d wanted to find a block where I could practice using her patterns before tackling Block A1, and I thought this might be the block to practice with.

But when I looked at her pattern pieces side by side with the software’s pattern pieces, the plus sign in the middle was much fatter on the Susan Gatewood pattern than on the original quilt. So I ended up using the software’s pattern to cut out the pieces instead.

The construction looked like it was going to be pretty complicated, until I broke it down into a series of nine-patches. The middle was sort of like a nine-patch (two rows of three, with a strip of sashing between them):

Once that was done, I could rotate 45 degrees and find another nine patch to assemble:

And once that was done, I could rotate it once again to assemble the final nine-patch: this one with a giant center patch, and skinny strips and tiny squares around the edges.

Despite (or maybe because of) all the nested nine-patches, this block was not that complicated to put together. The perfect vacation block!