- Background (muslin)
- Medium (goldenrod)
- Accent (madder red)
Block No. 99 · nine-patch
Prairie Flower Quilt Block
Part of: Nine Patch Quilt BlocksFlying Geese Quilt BlocksQuilt Blocks For Beginners
Prairie Flower is a calm nine-patch: a background center ringed by accent petals that point outward, with medium corner units trimmed by small background triangles. Only three fabrics, and the snowball corners do most of the work.
Version note: Three-by-three units drawn on a 6x6 half-unit grid. Layout confidence: medium.
- Level
- Confident Beginner
- Grid
- 6 × 6
- Pieces
- 29
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 | 1 | 4 1/2" square | Use as cut | 1 |
| Background | Corner square | 8 | 2 1/2" square | Stitch and flip; trim seam allowance to 1/4 inch | 8 |
| Background | Half-square triangle | 4 | 2 7/8" square | Cut once diagonally (2 triangles each) | 8 |
| Medium | Square | 4 | 4 1/2" square | Use as cut | 4 |
| Accent | Rectangle | 4 | 2 1/2" × 4 1/2" | Use as cut | 4 |
| Accent | 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 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 3: Make 4 snowball units: draw a diagonal on each 2 1/2" corner square, place it right sides together on the marked corner of the 4 1/2" square, sew on the line, trim 1/4 inch beyond and press out. Each unit measures 4 1/2".
Step 4: Make the four corner snowball units: medium squares with background corner squares sewn on two opposite corners. Turn them so the trimmed corners face the petals.
Step 5: Make the petals as accent rectangles and accent flying geese pointing outward from the center.
Step 6: Make section 1: sew the accent goose at column 1, row 3, pointing left and the accent rectangle at column 2, row 3 side by side, left to right. Press and check it measures 4 1/2" wide by 4 1/2" high.
Step 7: Make section 2: sew the medium snowball unit at column 1, row 1, section 1 and the medium snowball unit at column 1, row 5 in a column, top to bottom. Press and check it measures 4 1/2" wide by 12 1/2" high.
Step 8: Make section 3: sew the accent goose at column 3, row 1, pointing up, the accent rectangle at column 3, row 2, the background square at column 3, row 3, the accent rectangle at column 3, row 5 and the accent 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 9: Make section 4: sew the accent rectangle at column 5, row 3 and the accent goose at column 6, row 3, pointing right side by side, left to right. Press and check it measures 4 1/2" wide by 4 1/2" high.
Step 10: Make section 5: sew the medium snowball unit at column 5, row 1, section 4 and the medium snowball unit at column 5, row 5 in a column, top to bottom. Press and check it measures 4 1/2" wide by 12 1/2" high.
Step 11: Complete the block: sew section 2, section 3 and section 5 side by side, left to right. Press and check it measures 12 1/2" wide by 12 1/2" high.
Step 12: Press the finished block. Every join above runs edge to edge, with no set-in or Y-seams.