SN 1987A - Valentine's Day 9-Patch Quilt

Valentine's Day 9-Patch Quilt by Lisa Frattare

Design by Lisa Frattare
(Hubble Heritage Team/STScI)

This quilt was inspired from working with the images for Supernova 1987A. I have yet to make more than the digital quilt. See conversions at the bottom for true quilt dimensions.

1. Select the color from the brightest star in the field for the 9-Patch light color square (assumed to be white or cream). Create a 50 x 50 pixel square of this color.

2. Select a dark red color from anywhere in the field for the 9-Patch dark color square. Create a 50 x 50 pixel square of this color.

3. Copy the squares so that you have 5 light colored squares and 4 dark colored squares.

SN 1987A

4. Arrange the 9 squares into a traditional 9-Patch quilt block (a 3 x 3 square block with alternating colors). Place the light colored squares in the four corners and in the middle square and the dark colored squares as the remaining four squares. The entire 9-Patch quilt block should be 150 x 150 pixels.
(Using the reverse 9-Patch quilt square with 5 dark colored squares and four light colored squares is also possible and will give a deeper feel and color quality to the quilt).

5. Copy the 9-Patch quilt block so as to have 18 completed blocks.

6. Cut 17 - 150 x 150 pixel squares from the Interstellar Medium of the Large Magellanic Cloud surrounding the area of SN 1987A. Choose areas of varying contrast and have several blocks that include areas of intense dynamic imagery.

7. Arrange the entire quilt to be 7 blocks by 5 blocks with the 9-Patch blocks in the corners. Again, the reverse is also possible and would include 17 blocks of the 9-Patch pattern and 18 blocks of the area near SN 1987A.

8. In the light colored centers of the four exterior and four interior 9-Patch quilt blocks, applique the image of the supernova and circumstellar rings.

9. Place a 10 pixel wide black edge along every row and column to separate all blocks.

10. Finish off with the following borders:

15 pixel wide black border
25 pixel wide light colored border (same as 9-Patch light color)
15 pixel wide dark colored border (same as 9-Patch dark color)

For true quilt measurements, a conversion of 10 pixels = 1 inch will yield a bed sized quilt of approximately 76 x 111 inches (using 1/4 inch seam allowances).