‘Sweet Menagerie’ nine-patch quilt

by Roslyn Mirrington of Bloom

This easy-to-piece quilt is made from Tula Pink’s delicious new line, ‘Hushabye’. In her inimitable style, she has cleverly hidden a menagerie of cute creatures in her fabrics ready for you to discover.

1 x jelly roll Moda ‘Hushabye’ by Tula Pink (23040JR)
1 x jelly roll Moda Basics ‘Milk’ (9900-98JR)
0.5 yard coordinating fabric for border
fabric for backing & binding

Sorting fabric strips

Sort the ‘Hushabye’ jelly roll fabrics into:

• 24 x strips for block borders
• 2 x lightest strips for ‘lights’ for nine-patch blocks
• the remaining strips will be used as ‘darks’ for nine-patch blocks.

Cutting

From the 24 strips you have chosen as your block borders, cut 2 x 10.5″ lengths, and 2 x 6.5″ lengths.
From the 2 lightest strips, cut a total of 28 x 2.5″ squares (7 sets of 4).
From the white jelly roll strips, cut 68 x 2.5″ squares (17 sets of 4).
From the remaining Hushabye strips, cut 120 x 2.5″ squares (24 sets of 5)

Piecing the blocks

A total of 24 blocks is required. All seams are 0.25″.
To make the nine-patch block centre, lay out 5 x 2.5″ Hushabye squares and 4 light/white squares, in three rows of three. Sew the squares together to make up the rows. Press the seams towards the darker squares.
Sew the rows together to form a nine-patch.

Sew a 6.5″ border strip to either side of a nine-patch.

Then sew a 10.5″ border strip to the remaining sides of the nine-patch.

Make 24 blocks in this way. The finished block size should be 10.5″ square.

Assembling the quilt top

Lay all 24 of the 10.5″ blocks out, with 4 blocks across and 6 blocks down. Arrange the blocks until you are satisfied with the layout.

From five white jelly roll strips, cut 18 x 10.5″ lengths. Sew the blocks together in six rows of four, piecing a 2.5″ x 10.5″ white strip between each block.

Take your remaining white jelly roll strips, remove selvedge edges and join short ends together to make one very long, continuous strip.

Measure the width of your rows of blocks. In a perfect world, this measurement will be 46.5″.

From the long, white continuous strip, cut 7 x 46.5″ strips. Sew the rows together, piecing a 2.5″ x 46.5″ white strip between each row and at the top and bottom of your quilt.

NOTE: As you sew the rows together, take care that the blocks are vertically aligned. Before joining subsequent rows of blocks, I extend a line from the previous row of blocks through the white tramming, and mark the lower edge with pencil (see picture below). I then pin the next row of blocks to these marks. This ensures your blocks line up perfectly.

Measure the length of your quilt. It should measure 74.5″. From the long, continuous white strip, cut two 74.5″ strips. Sew to the sides of your quilt.

Adding the borders
1. Pale blue border
Cut seven 2.5″ strips across the width of your 0.5 yard of coordinating fabric. Remove the selvedge edges and join the short ends together to make one long, continuous strip. From this strip, cut two 50.5″ lengths and sew to the top and bottom of your quilt. Cut a further two 78.5″ lengths and sew to either side of your quilt.
2. White border
From the long, continuous white strip, cut two 54.5″ lengths and two 82.5″ lengths and sew to the top, bottom and sides of the quilt, as for the pale blue border.
3. Pieced border
From the remaining Hushabye prints and white strips, cut 72 x 2.5″ coloured squares and 72 x 2.5″ white squares.
NOTE: Be sure at this point to use any small pieces of the white jelly roll before you cut into your long continuous strip. You will need 306″ of white to finish the final border. You should have ample, but just double check before cutting!
Starting and ending with a white square, join 15 white squares and 14 coloured squares in an alternating strip. Make two of these strips and add to the top and bottom of your quilt.
Starting and ending with a coloured square, join 22 coloured squares and 21 white squares, as before. Make two of these strips and add to either side of your quilt.
4. Final white border
From the long, continuous white strip, cut two 62.5″ lengths and two 90.5″ lengths and sew to the top, bottom and sides of the quilt.
Back, quilt and bind your quilt as desired. I used every last inch of fabric to piece the backing.

Belinda Betts of Eucalypt Ridge Quilting brought this quilt alive with her wonderful quilting. The quilting design is called Retro Feathers by Anne Bright.

1 x cute & cuddly ‘Sweet Menagerie’ nine-patch quilt, approximately 66.5″ x 90.5″.