It's an Irish chain. Alternating 9-patch blocks with one-patch blocks. What the quilter has done is coordinate the colors used in the 9-patch blocks with the adjoining one-patch blocks. I would think that if you figure on a fat quarter for each one-patch fabric, you would be fine for the colored sections (and have leftover fabric). Each row has 3 different one-patch blocks in it. For the white, just figure how much you need for the 9-patch blocks and border. That will depend primarily on the size of your 9-patches.
Hope this is a little clearer than mud!
If you decide on how big you want your finished quilt and on what size you want to make your 9-patches, someone here can figure out the yardage.
Edit: I mean, it's a single Irish chain.
Edit 2: I think this pattern would give you a good estimate of the yardage. Just change the border to solid white. And change to three 9-patches per row instead of four.
http://www.simplicity.com/t-free-qui...ain-Quilt.aspx