The Bowerbird's Trove Quilt

The Bowerbird’s Trove is my latest foundation paper pieced sampler quilt, bringing together 81 six-inch blocks made over more than a year.

I chose the name because male bowerbirds collect interesting objects and carefully arrange them around their bowers, often showing a strong preference for particular colours. It felt like a fitting comparison for this collection of bright blocks, each made at a different time and kept until it found its place in the final arrangement. Like a bowerbird’s display, the quilt brings many individual finds together to create something even more interesting as a whole.

You can also explore my previous foundation paper pieced sampler quilts:

Letters Home Quilt

Shadow Box Sampler Quilt

Bear's Den Quilt

Most of the block designs are available as individual patterns in my shop.

Link to Foundation Paper Piecing Pattern Shop.

Arranging 81 blocks gave me a nine-by-nine layout. Before sewing everything together, I moved the blocks around until the colours and visual weight felt reasonably balanced. With so much variety, I was not aiming for perfect symmetry. I simply wanted the different colours and designs to feel evenly distributed across the quilt.

This quilt will not be released as a complete pattern. It is intended as a showcase of the individual FPP blocks available in the shop and an example of what can happen when blocks made at different times are gathered into one project.

Sashing in Devonstone Solid Duck Egg

I separated the blocks with 1 1/4-inch finished sashing. The fabric is Devonstone Solid in Duck Egg, a lovely blue-grey that works particularly well with bright fabrics. Devonstone is an Australian manufacturer.

With 81 colourful blocks competing for attention, the sashing needed to create some breathing room without becoming the main feature. Duck Egg is soft enough to act almost like a neutral, but it has more character than white or cream. It also helps the many different fabric colours feel connected, even though the blocks were made over such a long period.

The relatively narrow sashing keeps the blocks visually separate while still allowing the quilt to feel like one collection rather than 81 unrelated miniatures.

Piano Key Border Made from Scraps

For the outer border, I returned to the scrap basket. The border is made from pieces cut to 3 1/2 inches in length, with the widths allowed to vary according to the scraps I had available.

This was a practical way to use pieces that might otherwise have been overlooked. If a scrap was too narrow to provide a standard-sized rectangle, I used the width it could give me rather than trimming it down further or discarding it. The pieces were then joined to create a colourful, irregular border.

Allowing the widths to vary adds interest and suits the character of a sampler quilt. It also demonstrates that scrap sewing does not always require a large supply of perfectly matched pieces. Sometimes it is simply a matter of working with what you have and finding a place where each piece can contribute.

This is my favourite go-to border when I want something quick and easy that will work with all quilt dimensions.

There is no need for every block to use the same fabrics or belong to the same theme. Consistent block sizes, a carefully chosen sashing fabric and a little attention to colour placement can provide the structure needed to bring everything together.

If you have accumulated orphan blocks or sewing samples of your own, you may already have the beginnings of a sampler quilt. Lay them out, look for a fabric that can link them visually and do not be afraid to fill the borders with the smaller scraps left behind. Making do can often lead to the most interesting details.

Many of the 6-inch foundation paper pieced blocks featured in this quilt are available individually in the Thimbles and Needles pattern shop.

Link to Foundation Paper Piecing Pattern Shop.