Cats and Mice Free Quilt Block Tutorial

Today let's work on a Cats and Mice quilt block as published in the Ladies Art Company publication. This traditional quilt block was originally done with only a light and a dark fabric but, you know me, I had to add in a medium. It's an easy block that goes together quick, so let's get started!

Fabric Requirements for a 12" Finished Cats and Mice Quilt Block:

• Light/Gray: 4 - 4.5" squares, and 20 - 2.5" squares
• Medium/Calico: 4 - 4.5" squares
• Dark/Navy: 1 - 4.5" square, and 8 - 2.5" squares

Sewing Directions:

Half Square in a Square Units:

Step 1:

I didn't know what to call this unit so Half Square in a Square will have to do! Using the four Light/Gray 4.5" squares and the eight Dark/Navy 2.5" squares sew together four Half Square in a Square units as shown in the picture below. You can find my tutorial for making a Square in a Square block at https://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-to-sew-a-basic-square-in-a-square-block. This unit is also like a Flying Geese block only using a square instead of a rectangle for the base.

Center Unit:

Step 2:

Using the Dark/Navy 4.5" square and four of the Light/Gray 2.5" squares sew together a true Square in a Square unit as shown in the picture below.

Corner Units:

Step 3:

Hate to repeat myself but now you can sew together four more Square in a Square units as shown below. This time use the four Medium/Calico 4.5" squares and 16 of the Light/Gray 2.5" squares. Easy peasy!

Putting It All Together:

Step 4:

Lay out all the units you have made as shown in the picture below.

Step 5:

From here on out, the Cats and Mice block goes together just like a typical Nine Patch block. First you sew the units into three rows as shown below,

Step 6:

And press the seam allowances away from the Square in a Square units as shown in the picture below.

Step 7:

Now you can sew the three rows together,

Step 8:

And press the seam allowances. Here you can see that I've pressed my seam allowances toward the center because that was how the block wanted to lay but you can press however you would like. You're done! Told you it was quick!

Layout Ideas:

Here is the basic 4 x 4 layout. My favorite - I like the diagonal lines that the blocks create.

And here it is with sashing and cornerstones.

For this example, I've set the block on-point with the background fabric used in the setting triangles.

In this on-point layout sashing and cornerstones were added but in the dark blue color. Striking!

Conclusion:

The Cats and Mice quilt block really was quick and easy to sew. You could easily put a third color in for the center unit if you wanted to. The Corner units will form a secondary block of four Square in a Square units when you sew multiple blocks together. All in all I was pleased with how this turned out.

I hope you like the Cats and Mice quilt block. 

Happy Quilting!

Elaine

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