Friday finish- Sunkissed Jewel Box

Hooray for finished quilts.  If you have been visiting this blog the past few weeks you will know I have had a run of finishes to share but I have now almost come to the end.   That doesn't mean I have run out of UFO's, but I have done all the ones which were easiest to finish/where I had fabric already set aside for the back. (In the photo below you will see I didn't have quite enough of the main fabric so I joined in a pink spot in a very similar shade).

So here is my finish for this week, Sunkissed Jewel Box, so-called because that was the name of the tutorial by Mary Lane Brown from Moda Bakeshop (here). She called her Jewel Box quilt Sunkissed because that was the name of the line of fabric she used: I made mine with a mixture of Lizzie by Anna Griffin and Verna and Hunky Dory by Moda, but I am sticking with the same name as the Bakeshop tutorial for my quilt. Those are all old lines of fabric as I pieced the top way back in May 2011, almost 6 years ago,as you will see from this post....

Never mind, it's finished now, and I am pleased with how it has turned out. The quilt measures 67" x 82". I quilted it in the same way as the Thimbleberries Jewel Box quilt, also a recent finish, blogged about here. However I used a different method for the border, the start of which you can see in the photo below.

Basically the border is stitched with a zigzag which is then filled in on either side with parallel lines echoing the zigzag, spaced an inch apart. Easy to mark and easy to stitch with not too many ends to tie in.

Here are a couple of photos to show you the huge variety of fabrics available when you mix several compatible collections: my recollection is that I used some yardage and some charm packs rather than the layer cake suggested in the tutorial, and that I tweaked the method and made four-patches rather than using the strip piecing technique shown. I always think that part of the fun of patchwork is finding solutions which enable you to achieve the result you want with the materials you have to hand, whilst being inspired by the wonderful work of others and the information so freely available in books and on the internet.

The quilt is bound with striped fabrics from the Anna Griffin/Lizzie collection.  I didn't have enough of the blue stripe so the quilt is bound half in the blue and half in the green.  I made the binding when I pieced the quilt so it's a miracle that I was able to lay my hands on it after all these years. Which is not the case for another quilt I have recently finished quilting but can't complete because I just cannot find the binding strips I know I have put somewhere 'safe'; I am going to have to hope that they turn up when I am looking for something else! 

And here's a photo just because I am so pleased with how my pots of tulips are looking at the moment - I am particularly delighted with the soft golden apricot one with the pink feathering, which I believe is called Jenny (I bought it from Sarah Raven).

Despite good progress on tackling my WIP backlog since January, I still have many UFOs at various stages and need to push on with them in the months to come. I am off to the Nantes quilt show in two weeks' time and must take stock of outstanding projects so that I don't go too mad buying new kits and fabric.

I promise to take lots of photos and do a roundup as I have done the past two years (here, here, here and here, if you'd like to look at previous photos, lots of photos!) - it is so lovely to look back and be inspired all over again by the amazingly talented people there are who share our passion for making with fabric.

Enjoy your weekend wherever you are and whatever you are doing. We have sunshine forecast so hope to be out in the garden as much as possible, enjoying the tulips while they last. Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday - do go and have a look as Amanda Jean has a tulip mini quilt for her finish.