Riley Blake Hungry Animal Checkerboard Crib Quilt - Downloadable PDF

Riley Blake Hungry Animal Checkerboard Crib Quilt – Pattern Summary

Designed by J. Wecker Frisch for Riley Blake Designs, the Hungry Animal Checkerboard Crib Quilt is a charming and colorful crib-sized quilt pattern available as a free downloadable PDF. The finished quilt measures 46½" x 58", making it a perfect size for a baby's crib or as a playful lap quilt for a young child. Rated at an intermediate difficulty level, this project is well-suited for quilters who are comfortable with basic quilting techniques and terminology and are ready to work with fussy cutting and coordinated block construction.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a cheerful checkerboard-style crib quilt that showcases alphabet and animal motifs from the Riley Blake Hungry Animal fabric collection. The design alternates between two distinct block types — ABC Toss Blocks and Contrast Blocks — arranged in a classic checkerboard layout. The result is a visually engaging quilt that celebrates both color and whimsy, ideal for a nursery or child's room setting.

Fabric and Materials Used

The pattern calls for a specific selection of Riley Blake Designs fabrics, each playing a distinct role in the overall design:

• 1 Hungry Animal Patch Panel (P10180 Panel) – the focal fabric, fussy cut into 8" x 8" squares centered over individual alphabet motifs
• 1 Hungry Animal Rolie Polie (RP-10180-40) – a pre-cut roll of 2½" strips used for constructing the Contrast Blocks
• ⅔ yard Off White ABC Toss (C10184 Off White) – used to frame each Patch Panel square in the ABC Toss Blocks
• ½ yard Charcoal Sunflowers (C10186 Charcoal) – used for the binding, with 6 strips cut at 2¼" x width of fabric

No specific yarn, needles, or crochet hooks are required — this is a fabric and thread quilting project. Standard quilting supplies such as a rotary cutter, cutting mat, quilting ruler, and a sewing machine with a ¼" seam foot are recommended for accurate piecing.

Techniques Used

This pattern incorporates several foundational and intermediate quilting techniques:

• Fussy cutting – Each 8" x 8" Patch Panel square must be carefully centered over a specific alphabet letter motif, requiring attention to fabric placement and precise cutting
• Strip piecing – The Rolie Polie pre-cut strips are used efficiently to construct the Contrast Blocks, taking advantage of the pre-cut 2½" width
• Block construction – Two distinct block types are assembled: ABC Toss Blocks (12" x 12" finished) and Contrast Blocks
• Seam pressing technique – The pattern specifies pressing seams toward the Patch Panel squares in ABC Toss Blocks and away from the Patch Panel squares in Contrast Blocks, ensuring flat, accurate seam intersections
• Checkerboard layout assembly – Blocks are arranged in an alternating pattern, referencing the quilt photo for correct print placement
• Binding – Traditional straight-cut binding strips are cut at 2¼" x width of fabric from the Charcoal Sunflowers fabric

Block Construction Details

ABC Toss Blocks

The ABC Toss Blocks are the star feature of this quilt. Each block begins with a fussy-cut 8" x 8" Patch Panel square featuring one of the alphabet letters — specifically the letters A, C, F, H, I, K/L, P, S, T, and W — for a total of 10 ABC Toss Blocks. Each square is framed with Off White ABC Toss (C10184) rectangles: two 2½" x 8" rectangles are sewn to the side edges