My Jewel Box instructions

Several people have asked how I got from the design to the instructions to make this Jewel Box quilt with the medallion center and pieced border, so I'll show you how I planned it out. First, the picture of the EQ design I made. If you don't have EQ, I certainly recommend it, it's great.


I divided the design I made with EQ into nine sections to make it easy to sew. I'll assemble the nine sections at the very end, like a huge nine-patch, so I'm not dealing with a king size top until the final seams.

Then. looking at my sections, I counted out exactly what combinations of blocks I'd need to make the four corners. For each corner section, I will also need 6 solid navy rectangles to complete the border edge.


The middle of each edge section needs just two solid navy rectangles for the pieced border, but also had the most different block combos:


And the center of the quilt was the simplest, needing mostly blocks with the navy blue, except for those 4 white triangles at the corners:


If you don't like half square triangles, don't start this quilt... I made 396 white-to-a-color hsts and 184 blue-to-a-color hsts to use in the whole quilt, then divided them up into 9 piles (and nine ziplock baggies) to spread out the different fabrics to the different quadrants. I was afraid if I didn't, I'd end up with a glob of lime green or red in the last corner... lol

I used a paper template to make the half square triangles. You can print them free on your computer from sites like Block Central. Here's a link to the size I used in this quilt:

Half Square Triangle paper

In order to make this bright and scrappy, I used some 4 inch squares I'd ordered on eBay to make the hsts, plus cutting into my stash of fat quarters. The only fabric I bought is the navy blue that makes the pieced border. Even the white on white used in the quilt is scrappy. It's been a great stash buster.

I made a lot of the sixteen-patches using Bonnie Hunter's leader/ender method, but I also sewed together strips cut from fat quarters to strips from the navy or white on white fabric, then pressed them and sub cut them into two-patches. If anyone is counting, I needed 784 white-to-a-color two patches, and 512 blue-to-a-color two patches to make my 16 patch blocks. :D But I AM making a king size, and that's a lot of bed to cover. This will be my summer quilt, bright colors and lightweight batting in this one, when I get it quilted.