what's the name for this block?

 I participate in a Wednesday morning charity group. They call themselves the Maple Street Quilters because that's where the building is located... on Maple Street. 

Anyone is welcome to come in and help. Beginner or experienced, all you need is a desire to quilt.   At the moment, we have two ladies that machine piece quilt tops while a group of quilters are hand quilting and another group of quilters are tying a quilt. Both groups are set up with floor frames and quilting in quilting bee fashion. It is great fun! Most of our finished quilts go to charities like the Red Cross or Domestic Abuse Shelters and such. 

One of my favorite Maple Street Quilter group photos

Sitting and visiting around the quilting frame.
That's me on the far corner ;).

Two sewing machines are set up for piecing tops during the Weds morning meeting time. But sometimes quilt tops are donated, such as this beautiful piece. How anyone wouldn't  keep it is beyond me. The workmanship is phenomenal. The smallest pieces are 1" patches. All scrappy. I can't even guesstimate how many hours it took to make the top.... It's heartbreaking to me that piecer will be unknown forever... Thankfully, it was finished with love by the quilters at Maple Street :). <3

One of the ladies asked if I could write up instructions. I quickly accepted the request, possibly because I would love to make one of these too.

Once I picked out the main block, the construction was easy to figure out.

Here is the main block. A 3" nine-patch with two borders. Or a nine-patch block in a square in a square!

It took 60 blocks to make the quilt pictured above. The blocks were set on point with setting triangles on the sides. A quick Google search on "what size triangles for a 9" finished block " brought me to an excellent blog post on figuring the math for any setting triangle size you need!  Putting it "On Point" is the blog post by Quiltville. Thank you Quiltville!!!



And here's my directions for scrappy framed nine-patch Courtyard Garden. Disclaimer: It's still in rough draft. I haven't had any testers try it out yet. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me :).


I am not familiar with this block. I don't know if it has a common quilt block name. When I find out if it does I will update this post with the name.

(edit: I turned to Google and Pinterest in search of the name. Closest I found was a pattern that is for sale on Amazon named Courtyard Maze. Though it doesn't have the 9-patch in the center square and is not at all scrappy....  Anyway, the 9-patch reminded me of a garden that was in the middle of an apartment complex my uncle used live in and maintain. The garden was completely surrounded by the appartments. So I am naming this block "Courtyard Garden".... at least, unless I find out it is a traditional pattern with a commonly known name already.)