by Whimsicals

Terri Degenkolb of Whimsicals designed both the fabric collection and this 60" square quilt, which features the Squirrel in a Cage block. This classic block was published in a 1935 Kansas City Star newspaper, probably as a complete "Clip and Save" quilt pattern. When the block is made with two colors, it is also known as the Broken Wheel. Terri’s version uses three of her neutral prints in each of the 9" squirrel blocks: a light, a medium, and a dark value. Her quilt uses twenty fat quarters and three fat eighths for a very scrappy look. An easy-to-follow Fabric Requirements and Cutting Instructions chart simplifies cutting and piecing for you. Remember to cut the fabrics in the order shown on the chart to make the best use of the fabrics. You’ll need to enlarge the two templates for the ribbon-style border by 250%.

The piecing is quite easy. Each block uses the same dark brown center square, framed by four Square-in-a-Square blocks and four pairs of rectangles that form the “cage.” The fun comes with the layout. You can follow Terri’s fabric choices from the cover photo and arrange the blocks as you please. Terri recommends that you piece the Squirrel in a Cage block first. Then, lay out the four light value triangles for each of the alternate blocks along with the border and corner block pieces before sewing to ensure that you see the illusion of squirrel blocks floating on the background. Terri pieced the backing from two 2-yard cuts of fabric and bound the quilt with bias binding. Connie Lancaster did the machine quilting for her.

Download Pattern (637 KB pdf file)