Modern vs. Traditional Cathedral Windows

I had a great time teaching the Modern Cathedral Windows Pillow class yesterday. Lots of ladies were eager to learn an easier way to make an old favorite.

 Some used motifs that they could fussy cut for the windows. I took closeups of these sunflowers because they have surprise "Meow" centers that you might not notice at first.

 This is one happy pillow. Jane said her grandson would claim this one as his own because he loves yellow.

 Several ladies chose a Christmas motif and we talked about how you could make a pillow for every season and just change them out. This pillow is made with an envelope back so it is easy to take out the pillow for changing seasons or washing the cover.

You could also make a table topper with this size, maybe adding a border to make it a bit bigger. It fits an 18" pillow.

 I did a demonstration of how you make the Cathedral Windows blocks using the traditional method with hand sewing. I like to know how things are put together and the students seemed interested in that method as well, though we all agreed that it would take a lot longer to make a project sewing by hand!

Everyone had a vision of where their colors would be and how they wanted the final project to look. It is so much fun to see all of the different versions.

 Love this cowboys and indians motif!

 Someone in my last Cathedral Windows class brought some show and tell that she had gotten at a thrift store...parts and pieces of someone's traditional quilt. She gave me one of the panels! It is about 14" square, so I brought it to class to share.  I passed it around so everyone could feel how heavy it was and examine the hand stitching. We were all amazed at the amount of work that went into making this.

 Here is the back....the individual squares are 1 1/2"! With this 10 x 10 setting, that is 100 little squares to make this 14" top. Unbelievable! When you make it the traditional way, you don't have to back it as it is already backed.

I plan on finishing the 2nd Lotus quilt today, I have the triangles all ready to sew together into rows, so it won't take too long to do...I hope! I am excited to see it finished!