Six Windows of Sunshine Quilt Block Tutorial

Something a little different for the blog today!

I ran across these blocks that originated in the Quilters Newsletter publication and only one unit is used throughout. There are six in the series but I've done an additional five and I'm sure there are several more that could be made with the same unit.

Let's check them out!

Fabric Requirements for a 16" Finished Windows of Sunshine Quilt Block:

• Light/White: 32 - 2.5" squares
• Medium/Orange: 16 - 2.5" square,
• Dark/Blue: 16 - 4.5" square

Sewing Directions:

This unit is similar to the Birds in the Air quilt block. The only difference from the Birds in the Air block is the use of a Half Square Triangle instead of the Medium/Orange 2.5" square. You can find a more detailed tutorial for making this unit at https://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/birds-in-the-air-quilt-block-pattern.

Step 1:

Using two Light/White 2.5" squares, one Medium/Orange 2.5" square, and one Dark/blue 4.5" square, sew the unit together as follows:

• Sew a 2.5″ Light/White square to a Medium/Orange 2.5" square. Press the seam allowance toward the Light/White 2.5″ square.
• Next you sew the another 2.5″ Light/White square to an adjacent side of the Medium/Orange square. Press the seam allowance toward the Light/White 2.5″ square. We'll call this the L-shaped unit. (Top left image in the picture below)
• Take the 4.5″ Dark/Blue square and mark a diagonal line on the back from corner to corner.
• Lay the 4.5″ Dark/Blue square on top of the L-shaped unit and sew on the marked line. (top right image)
• Fold the 4.5″ Dark/Blue square along the stitching line. Line up the corners and press. (bottom left image below)
• Unfold the 4.5″ Dark/Blue patch and trim away the excess seam allowance. (bottom right image)

Step 2:

Open the block back up and there you have it! Trim/square up the unit to 4.5″ square if needed.

Repeat for a total of 16 units.

This unit is also used in the Aunt Dinah quilt block. 

Layout Option for Blocks:

Now let's have some fun with this unit! Here are the original six blocks:

Block 1:

Block 2:

Block 3 (my favorite):

Block 4:

Block 5:

Block 6:

Now here are a few more I came up with:

Block 7:

Block 8:

Block 9:

Block 10:

Block 11:

How many blocks can you come up with?

Conclusion:

So this was a fun exercise! It's amazing how many blocks can be made with one simple unit. It reminds me of a quilt I made many years ago where I only used half square triangles and squares to make a sampler quilt. That was fun to work on!

I do believe you could do this scrappy as well. I think the last layout (11) would be especially nice looking in scraps.

I hope you've enjoyed this Six Windows of Sunshine exercise and tutorial. If you liked this post and want to see more quilting tutorials like this, simply click here to sign up for my newsletter and also receive a free PDF.