Island Batik Vintage Reimagined - Jewel Box

For the March Island Batik Ambassador challenge, Vintage Re-imagined, I wanted to work with a vintage block that I could create using one of the Island Batik precuts I had and I also wanted a block that could showcase all the fabrics in the pack. 

I decided on the Jewel Box pattern.  I had a stack of 10 inch squares of Island Batik's Moroccan Bazaar I purchased last fall that was perfect for the "jewels". The other fabrics were provided to me by Island Batik for being an Island Batik Ambassador.  I used a full three yards of the solid black batik and half a yard of the Orange print for the binding.

The Jewel Box block is made up of a smaller four patch blocks. In the Encyclopedia of Quilt Blocks by Barbara Brackman this four patch block has many names, with one of them from dating back to 1884:

 Hour Glass

Railroad Crossing

World’s Fair 

Jacob’s Ladder 

Double Four Patch

New Four Patch (1884)

Buckeye Beauty

Going To Chicago.  

After doing some research on the internet I learned the name Jewel Box was popularized by Eleanor Burns in the late 1990’s.  The actual Jewel Box block is made up of four smaller blocks. By rotating them with the color of the HSTs on the corners it creates the Jewel Box block.

For this quilt I was able to use all but two of the 10 inch squares with very little waste. I cut the 10 inch square in half and used that half to get two 5 inch squares for my half square Triangles.

Then I cut the other half into two 2 2.25 x 10 inch strips to make the four patches. I cut the black background to match.   I needed 160 HSTs and 160 Four patches.

I laid out the HST and four patches on the design wall trying to make sure I didn't put the same fabric next to each other. I sewed a couple test blocks and then started sewing rows together in strips.

Hobbs Batting sent some fantastic 80/20 black batting to use as an Ambassadors so I tried it out on this project and it turned out great! My "jewels" are poppin'.  

Can you see the black batting in the above picture on the edge of the quilt? 
It blends right in with the 2.5 inch border. 

The quilt measures approximately 61 x 75.

If you want more vintage re-imagined inspiration check out the blogs of the other ambassadors.  You can find them all here: 2019 Island Batik Ambassadors. 

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