Australian Aboriginal Sampler Quilt Completed

My 2022 twenty week long Monday Block Project is all done! In January I set myself the task of sewing a weekly quilt block that incorporated at least one Australian Aboriginal Print fabric. It turned out that Tula Pink’s Dragon’s Breath* and Unicorn Poop solids* coordinated beautifully with the Australian Aboriginal Print fabrics. Who would have expected that?? I also added some batiks and other fabrics from my stash.

I chose blocks that incorporated crosses (or plus signs if you prefer that nomenclature) and blocks that seemed to rotate or spin in some way. Many of the blocks came from the Electric Quilt 8 (EQ8) Block Library. I needed to put all the blocks into the Block Worktable of EQ8 to draw redraw them to be 12.5 inches square.

I really enjoyed both redrawing/resizing the blocks and sewing them each Monday for the first 20 weeks of 2022. I might have kept going, but I didn’t want this quilt to be huge.

The completed tops sat around all summer while I pondered how to quilt it. I finally settled on straight line quilting the blocks and doing free-motion quilting inside the blocks. I used one of my favorite free-motion quilting patterns—a loopy daisy. You’ll find them in many of my quilts. But it seemed particularly appropriate in this quilt because so many of the Aboriginal designs incorporate flowers and other plants.

There is some circular quilting in a few of the blocks, some arcs, and one block which has 2 segmented quarters of a sun with rays. Here are four of the block enlarged.

Here’s a closeup of the segmented sun. It’s hiding in the block’s design, but you should see it if you look hard!

Quarter sun with rays. (Up close, not the best free-motion quilting. Looks like I just wasn’t sewing at a consistent speed).

I am super please with everything about this Monday block project!

*These two Tula Pink solid collections are getting difficult to find so I didn’t add links. However, you can find her True Color Solids which will be similar.

Australian Aboriginal Sampler Quilt Top

I finally got the blocks from my Australian Aboriginal Sampler Quilt sewn together. It took me the longest time to decide just how I was going to unite them. They really didn’t look good when placed side by side, so I knew I needed to add sashing.

It thought about solids but no particular color appealed to me with all this disparately colored blocks. I actually purchased a turquoise fabric with a swirly, marbled appearance. A lovely fabric and a great color, but I decided I could do better.

So I went off to the local quilt shop. Much to my surprise they have added a couple shelves of Australian Aboriginal print fabrics. Several were good options, but I decided on this soft sea-foam colored fabric which incorporates many of the colors in the blocks.

Then I cut solids I used in the blocks to make the cornerstones in the sashing.

Was planning to add a border but was amazed to find that fabric I used for the sashing just dulled down the entire quilt when used as a border. Nobody says quilts have to have borders, so this is where I’m stopping with this one!

I have a really busy pastel butterfly wideback fabric to use for the backing, so I expect this quilt will be done in the not too distant future…..

My Monday Block Project

I’ve morphed the way I think about the Australian Aboriginal fabric sampler quilt I started in January: it’s now my Monday Block Project. Each block features at least one Aboriginal fabric, but is complemented by solids or other prints which I had in my stash.

Here is the gallery of all the blocks so far. I know I am going to make at least 12 blocks, but may continue if I have enough fabric and am still having fun!

Sampler Quilt using Australian Aboriginal Prints

On January 6, I did a post with a block using Australian Aboriginal fabric. I was going to participate in our guild’s Quilt-in-a-Box project, but have subsequently decided to make my own sampler quilt using these special fabrics, plus some solids and other complimentary fabrics.

Here is block #2. The Aboriginal print is the center square. I love all the colors and the overlapping circles. The fabric is named “Women’s Body Dreaming” and was designed by Cindy Wallace for M & S Textiles Australia.

I can’t decide if this is going to be Monday Block Project, with my making a new block each week, or whether I will just add blocks more randomly. We’ll see what happens!