The Taj Featuring Onward and Upward by Art Gallery Fabrics

Have you ever just seen a fabric line and just fallen in love with it? The first time I saw Onward and Upward by Jessica Swift for Art Gallery Fabrics I absolutely loved it. I mean coral is one of my favorite colors so I was bound to like the line. I knew it would also be the perfect fit for my The Taj quilt pattern. The Taj quilt pattern is a large block based, modern quilt pattern. It uses fat quarters to create a design which looks great in prints or solids. The pattern has two variations just to to add in a little more fun.


The Taj quilt pattern was named after the Taj Mahal. The design was inspired by the famous tomb and other monuments and tombs around Asia. It might sound a bit morbid, but really it is a celebration of the skilled craftsmen who created these amazing structures.

Like I said The Taj has two different options depending on how you want the quilt to look. The first variation of the quilt pattern uses three different fabrics in each quilt block, not including background. The fabrics build on each other from the middle outward. You can see what I mean in the image below. The block below is incomplete, but you can see how the fabrics play off one another.

 
Although the block above is nice, the blocks for this quilt are actually quite larger. They are kind of huge as far as quilt blocks go. The Taj quilt blocks measure over 20 inches!

For this quilt I used the second variation of The Taj modern quilt pattern. This version has a second block which is made by piecing the corner units. It adds a whole different look to the quilt. This is the variation of The Taj I prefer, it just takes a little more time to piece. But in the end it's worth it.

Onward and Upward

Let's talk a little about the fabric line Onward and Upward. As I mentioned earlier I fell in love with this line the moment I saw it. But I am a big fan of Jessica Swift's designs. I love her bright color choices and prints. I especially loved this one because of the colors, but also because it reminded me of my 5 and 2 year old daughters. That may make it sound like it's a children's line, or childish looking, but it's not. Jessica is able to combine the whimsical and magical into a modern line adults and kids will love.

What does the line represent:

"Embracing the powerful experience of self-discovery and the beautiful nature of life, Onward & Upward illustrates Jessica Swift’s journey through loss and grief and the rise through it all with bold colors, folkloric designs, and magical creatures."

                                                                        ~Art Gallery Fabrics

The magical and whimsical part of this collection is what I fell in love with. I immediately saw unicorns, which my daughters are all about. Funny enough the quilt I made doesn't have any of the unicorn fabric in it. I guess I'll have to make another using this line.

Onward and Upward is full of flowers, rainbows, rabbits, stars, pegasi and so much more. This line brings a smile to my face and reminds me of the imagination of my girls and the freedom of being a kid.

About the Quilt

This version of the Taj was fun to make. It doesn't follow the regular fat quarter version I have listed on the quilt pattern. The Taj pattern calls for each large block to be a different color which means a different fat quarter for each one. As you can see in the images this version of The Taj uses three main fabrics for the large blocks.

• Center Block - Sunlight Sundown
• Corners Blocks- New You
• Four Middle Blocks - Starlight Sunrise

 I think this arrangement of the fabrics really showcases the fabrics by reducing the amount of patterns in the quilt. The solid accent fabrics do a great job drawing out the colors and adding an extra pop.

I have said if before and I'll say it again, I love how easy it is to coordinate Art Gallery Fabric's Pure Solids line with their prints. They give suggestions for you and it's easy to find a bundle of blenders to match their lines. This is a life saver for a color blind gal like myself.

The backing on this quilt is a very fun and crazy print. It is called Hopeful Heart.  I loved how whimsical it looked as well as the hearts on it. I thought my girls would like it, but now I am thinking they would have like the unicorn print better. Check that out here.

 I quilted this quilt myself. I used a diagonal straight stitch. I thought the diagonal one direction stitch fit the fabric and quilt just right.

The Taj modern quilt pattern is a fun block based quilt pattern. I have made it so many times yet find myself thinking of what fabric I would like to use to make the next version. Grab a copy in my shop and share your versions with me on Instagram:  www.instagram.com/thenomadicquilter

See you next time. Happy quilting!

This blog post may contain affiliate links from which I may get a percentage of purchases from the links.