- Background (muslin)
- Light (faded chambray)
- Medium (goldenrod)
- Dark (indigo)
Block No. 88 · other
Corn and Beans Quilt Block
Part of: Flying Geese Quilt BlocksHalf Square Triangle Quilt Blocks
Corn and Beans rings a small four-patch center with two concentric bands of half-square triangles, one in each corner direction, so the medium and dark triangles read as kernels around a light inner ring. The four sides are mirror images across both diagonals rather than rotations, which is what gives it its quiet, stacked look.
Version note: Quilter's Cache colors the inner ring in a fourth fabric (light). Farm & Folk, citing Brackman, uses three fabrics with that ring in background; the seams are identical, so either coloring works with this chart.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Grid
- 6 × 6
- Pieces
- 60
Chart
Cutting for a 12" block
6 × 6 grid. All cuts fall on 1/8" ruler marks. Unfinished block: 12 1/2".
| Fabric | Shape | Cut | Size | Then | Pieces used |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Background | Square | 6 | 2 1/2" square | Use as cut | 6 |
| Background | Half-square triangle | 10 | 2 7/8" square | Cut once diagonally (2 triangles each) | 20 |
| Light | Half-square triangle | 6 | 2 7/8" square | Cut once diagonally (2 triangles each) | 12 |
| Medium | Half-square triangle | 6 | 2 7/8" square | Cut once diagonally (2 triangles each) | 12 |
| Dark | Square | 2 | 2 1/2" square | Use as cut | 2 |
| Dark | Half-square triangle | 2 | 2 7/8" square | Cut once diagonally (2 triangles each) | 4 |
| Dark | Quarter-square triangle | 1 | 5 1/4" square | Cut twice diagonally (4 triangles each) | 4 |
Method
Piecing steps
Step 1: Cut every patch listed in the cutting chart for your size. Plain areas are cut as the larger squares and rectangles shown; do not subdivide them. Columns count from the left and rows from the top, starting at 1, in grid cells.
Step 2: Make the half-square triangles: cut each HST parent square once diagonally, sew contrasting triangles along the long edge, press toward the darker fabric and square up (20 at 2 1/2"). Keep each fabric pair and size in its own stack.
Step 3: Make the flying geese: sew a sky triangle to each short side of a goose triangle (cut from the quarter-square parent), pressing toward the sky. Make 2 trimmed to 4 1/2" wide by 2 1/2" high, 2 trimmed to 2 1/2" wide by 4 1/2" high.
Step 4: Keep the HSTs sorted by fabric pair before laying out: medium/background, dark/background, light/medium, light/background and dark/light. The two-color pairs on the outer edge become flying geese where a dark goose sits between them.
Step 5: Lay the four-patch center first, with dark squares on the upper-right to lower-left diagonal, then build outward ring by ring so every triangle seam points toward the nearest block corner.
Step 6: Make section 1: sew the background square at column 1, row 1, the background/medium HST at column 1, row 2 (background in the upper-left), the dark goose at column 1, row 3, pointing left, the medium/background HST at column 1, row 5 (medium in the upper-right) and the background square at column 1, row 6 in a column, top to bottom. Press and check it measures 2 1/2" wide by 12 1/2" high.
Step 7: Make section 2: sew the background/medium HST at column 2, row 1 (background in the upper-left), the light/medium HST at column 2, row 2 (light in the upper-left), the light/background HST at column 2, row 3 (light in the upper-left), the dark/light HST at column 2, row 4 (dark in the upper-right), the medium/light HST at column 2, row 5 (medium in the upper-right) and the medium/background HST at column 2, row 6 (medium in the upper-right) in a column, top to bottom. Press and check it measures 2 1/2" wide by 12 1/2" high.
Step 8: Make section 3: sew the light/background HST at column 3, row 2 (light in the upper-left) and the light/dark HST at column 4, row 2 (light in the upper-right) side by side, left to right. Press and check it measures 4 1/2" wide by 2 1/2" high.
Step 9: Make section 4: sew the background square at column 3, row 3 and the dark square at column 4, row 3 side by side, left to right. Press and check it measures 4 1/2" wide by 2 1/2" high.
Step 10: Make section 5: sew the dark square at column 3, row 4 and the background square at column 4, row 4 side by side, left to right. Press and check it measures 4 1/2" wide by 2 1/2" high.
Step 11: Make section 6: sew the dark/light HST at column 3, row 5 (dark in the upper-right) and the background/light HST at column 4, row 5 (background in the upper-left) side by side, left to right. Press and check it measures 4 1/2" wide by 2 1/2" high.
Step 12: Make section 7: sew the dark goose at column 3, row 1, pointing up, section 3, section 4, section 5, section 6 and the dark goose at column 3, row 6, pointing down in a column, top to bottom. Press and check it measures 4 1/2" wide by 12 1/2" high.
Step 13: Make section 8: sew the background/medium HST at column 5, row 1 (background in the upper-right), the light/medium HST at column 5, row 2 (light in the upper-right), the light/dark HST at column 5, row 3 (light in the upper-right), the background/light HST at column 5, row 4 (background in the upper-left), the medium/light HST at column 5, row 5 (medium in the upper-left) and the medium/background HST at column 5, row 6 (medium in the upper-left) in a column, top to bottom. Press and check it measures 2 1/2" wide by 12 1/2" high.
Step 14: Make section 9: sew the background square at column 6, row 1, the background/medium HST at column 6, row 2 (background in the upper-right), the dark goose at column 6, row 3, pointing right, the medium/background HST at column 6, row 5 (medium in the upper-left) and the background square at column 6, row 6 in a column, top to bottom. Press and check it measures 2 1/2" wide by 12 1/2" high.
Step 15: Complete the block: sew section 1, section 2, section 7, section 8 and section 9 side by side, left to right. Press and check it measures 12 1/2" wide by 12 1/2" high.
Step 16: Press the finished block. Every join above runs edge to edge, with no set-in or Y-seams.