Hollow Jewels Finish and Pattern Release

I have my first quilt finish and my first pattern release of 2020 to share today! Hollow Jewels was my Island Batik ambassador project for November, but it was only a top when I shared it then. It feels good to have it be a finish now 😊 Go back to the November post to see the sweater that inspired this fabric pull.

Hollow Jewels is paper pieced and I used freezer paper for the first time, which is a total game changer. I have a couple more paper pieced quilts coming up and you can be sure I'll be using freezer paper for them!

As per my usual, I couldn't really decide how I wanted to quilt it. I thought first that I'd quilt something dot-to-dot style in the diamonds in the middle of each jewel shape, but then I realized that if the jewels are hollow, then we'd be seeing right through them to the background. That made me want to quilt all of the black with the same design and I spent a lot of time thinking about what design to use. In the meantime, I quilted back and forth lines in each of the jewels, with matching Aurifil 50 wt thread.

As you can see, I finally decided on randomly spaced straight (ish) lines through the background, in Aurifil 2692. I started out in one section, just randomly quilting lines. Then I realized that if I wanted it to look like the jewels were on top of the background, the lines would have to be relatively straight from the top of the quilt to the bottom and there was no way I could just wing it and have that look right. So out came my long ruler and my Hera marker so I could mark the lines from section to section and keep them looking somewhat the way I had envisioned. It's by no means perfect, but it looks way better than it would have if I hadn't taken the time to mark the lines.

I rarely quilt straight lines with my walking foot, which is one reason they're only straight-ish. Using my free motion foot allowed me to go back and forth, traveling along the stitches around each shape, without needing to turn the quilt eleventy-billion times or stopping and starting for each line. I'm willing to embrace the wonkiness of my free motion quilted straight-ish lines in exchange for simplifying the quilting process.

I chose Island Batik's solid grey for the backing and the quilting looks so cool on the back! I'm not sure it really looks like you're seeing through hollow jewels to the background, but I'm still pleased with it.

When I finished the quilt top, I wondered if I'd have the pattern or the quilt finished first. Well, it was the pattern by a long shot! Thankfully, the quilt is finally finished and Aiden and Zachary were willing to strap on their snowshoes for a quick photography session a few days ago. There isn't much fancy quilt styling happening when it's -6 C (21 F) and I don't think we were even outside for 10 minutes for this session.

This quilt will be a wedding gift for Paul's nephew and the wedding isn't until August, so I'm way ahead of the game for once!

Hollow Jewels is perfect for confident beginners (and more advanced quilters) who want to create a jewel-studded quilt using foundation paper piecing. The pattern includes instructions for baby (45" x 54"), throw (54" x 72") and queen size (90" x 90") quilts. It is available at the introductory price now through January 24th.

Click here to buy your copy now

It would be a great help if you would pin this image so other quilters might find it, too. Every little bit helps when you're a small business! Thank you so much for your support!

I'm linking up to celebrate this finish with TGIFF, NTT, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop and the Beauties Pageant.