Jewel Burst Quilt

Here's a new quilt design!

Determined to use some fabrics from my stash (and stop buying fabric), I pulled out a couple jewel tones. I was doodling on graph paper and started playing around with the jewel shape on the Hex n' More ruler, adding fabrics as I went. I ended up with the jewels pointing out from the centre hexagon in a sort of star burst and decided on five colours. The not buying fabric part didn't work out so well, as I decided I might as well just buy a whole bolt of Kona white for the background.

To make the jewel blocks, I used the Hex n' More ruler to cut the three triangles, sewing them together. Then I added two longer, right-angle triangles to the bottom, using the Hex n' More ruler to trim the block to the jewel shape.

I sewed 1" white sashing around all sides of the jewel, attaching one piece at a time, then pressing and trimming it before adding the next. I was going to do a multi-coloured hexagon at the centre, but when I noticed how the gold lines in the navy fabric would point to the centre when sewn together, I opted for that instead. Plus, when combined with the top of the jewels, it made a nice star shape. 

I sewed another piece of white sashing to each of the navy triangles, then sewed them to the top of the jewel.

To cut the white triangles, I needed to cut them the same size as the bottom part if the jewel with the 1" sashing added. So, I measured the height of the triangle and cut a strip of fabric that height.  I used the triangle of the Hex n' More ruler, placed on the fabric so that the top of the triangle lined up with the top edge of the fabric. Then I placed a regular ruler against the side of the Hex n' More and took the Hex n' More ruler away to make the cut. (Confusing? ;)

Each of the jewel units got a white triangle on either side to make a giant triangle. The units were sewn together in two sets of three, then the two new units sewn together. Et voila! The centre Jewel Burst.

Next up I made border of triangle shards, with 1" sashing between the pieces. I added more white pieces around the centre block to make it square and then make it big enough to fit the borders. I added half square triangle blocks in the corners to finish the border off.

I always think that borders will go on fast and before you know it, it's 2 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon and I'm still in my pyjamas finishing a border that I thought would be done before breakfast. It's all those seams that need careful pinning! My points turned out pretty well though, so I suppose the pinning was worth it.

This ended up being one of those times when my iPhone photos tuned out better than my Nikon photos. My hockey bag in the background and all! My dad kindly stood out in the cold holding the quilt up while the wind blew it around, but dusk was falling and the sky was thick with clouds, so the photos were dark.

I tried again today, but it was rather cold and windy (-25*C) and the evening sun was casting long shadows on the snow. Once I thawed my frozen fingers out I decided these were good enough!

For the backing, I picked out some Kona Bay Hibiscus - a deep purple that matched nicely. I'm going to quilt it myself, so I've been scribbling and sketching away, trying to find a combination of straight-line and free-motion designs for the centre block and negative space. I don't want the quilting to be too dense. I haven't quite figured out what I'll do with the triangle border yet. I hope to keep it simple, but this is still the most ambitious quilting I've tried, so it should be interesting!

I already have plans for another Jewel Burst Quilt and plan to write a pattern in the process :)

I'm linking up with Show and Tell Tuesday

To see the finished quilt, go to this post.