(Vintage) Windham Wednesdays

There are times I come back to a fabric collection over and over. There are several groups from Windham Fabrics that mix well and keep calling to me.

One is the Gabrielle Collection, which I used to make my LARGE Coffee Filter Mariner's Compass. (You can see some of my steps by clicking that link.) This is a fun workshop using 20" diameter coffee filters for the center compass. We draft it and then cut it apart into 8 sections and actually paper/foundation piece on each one! Then we piece the ring of flying geese. The whole center is about 30" x 30".

20" Coffee Filter Mariner's Compass

I still have some of that Gabrielle Collection left. My favorite piece is the floral background print for the center spokes. Yes, it looks more tan in the pic below, but it really is more cream.

Gabrielle Floral print

I did a lot of sewing with Addison. The first thing was to make a simple table topper. It is a variation on Baby Blocks. My friend cut all my diamonds with her Acu-Cut. These are 60 degree diamonds with a 3-1/2" height (from flat side to flat side).

Perfectly cut 60 degree diamonds

This was a Creative Grids pattern for about a year. I have packaged this with my Baby Blocks pattern (two patterns!) Check it out!

Connie's Runner

I had more of those diamonds. I made a Seven Sisters table topper. It was a popular workshop for a few years. Again, no y-seams. I also made it in other fabric combinations. You can see these at my Etsy shop.

Seven Sisters with NO y-seams. 37" x 42"

When the diamonds were cut with the Acu-Cut, there were some leftovers. Let's see those and what I did with them.

Two diamonds and the leftovers from each cut

 And the pile of leftovers from those Addison fabrics - left and right.

Leftovers from cutting the diamonds

I decided to make a batch of Twirling Hexagons. I stitched a right and left patch together, trimmed them up and then pieced the following blocks:

Twirling Hexagon blocks

Twirling Hexagon quilt using my 15 blocks (which finish to 8" high). I used cream small 60 degree triangles and large side 30 degree triangles. I pulled more fabrics from my stack of older Windham fabrics. I especially love that fabulous print border from the Carmen collection. This quilt top will go on the road with me when I teach my Big Block Hexagon workshop this Spring for the Sewing Expo.

Twirling Hexagons Quilt: 50" x 60"

Now, let's go REALLY FAR back in time to when I first used Addison to demonstrate making Garden Maze blocks. Do you remember these?

Garden Maze with thin strips

And this is the twin:

Garden Maze with thick strips

I finished one of these blocks with border fabric to make a 40" x 40" quilt.

Garden Maze Quilt with the thin strips

I have just enough butterfly border print (which is NOT Windham, but Benartex) to finish the Garden Maze center with the thick strips. Now, maybe a set of girl twins will enter my life!

Don't forget to visit my very old post about how to make these Garden Maze blocks. There is a link to a REALLY old tutorial from 1999 (yes, you read that right) when I published this in Quilt Magazine. I think you will like all the photos with the steps clearly outlined.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you'll try out making your own Garden Maze block with an awesome center print.