Jewel Burst Raffle Quilt

I am finally finished the Jewel Burst quilt I made for my church's Thanksgiving Raffle. I was planning on finishing it early summer, end of July by the latest, but life got in the way. You know, other projects, kayaking, paddle boarding, floating in the water, bonfires, board games, a wedding quilt and baby quilt to sneak in - all the important things. But I knew I had to finish it before the end of summer so it could go on display at the back of the church. Plus school was about to start in a week and September is always busy.

I don't believe I shared any pictures of the finished top, as I normally do, as it was a grey and rainy day at the lake, in our little cottage. The triangle measurements were giving me trouble and I was getting frustrated and ready to scrap the pattern writing I was doing. Since then, the quilt has turned out, so sometime soon (no promises of when) I will be finalizing the pattern and looking for some testers who are willing to make some minor tweaks if necessary. I'm toying with the possibility of a tree skirt pattern as well, as suggested by the owner of my local quilt shop.

I went with Kona Bay Hibiscus for the background, which I used to back my first Jewel Burst Quilt. I chose a variety of greys and whites for the focal fabrics, including some Botanics and Color me Happy. Those seem to go with everything. For the backing, I used a batik for the first time. I LOVE it! I think it would make a great whole-cloth quilt on its own.

I did the same straight line quilting inside the jewel burst, marking it with a water-soluble pen this time. I echo quilted around it, using variegated thread, then did some free-motion loops and double double-loops to fill the negative space. I quilted the inner triangle border with straight lines (without marking ;) and free-motioned a wishbone pattern in the outer border. I'm very happy with the look of the variegated thread and the quilt in general.

For comparison, here are the two Jewel Burst quilts together.

Overall, the quilt comes together fairly quickly and I think has a big impact for a simple design.

I'm linking up over at TGIFF and Show Off Saturday!