Answering questions....

The first emailed question was about quilting the french braid quilt.   My quilt was done in batiks and  the runs were staggered when set together.  Each panel was about 9 inches wide, so it  had to be quilted down.  I did not want to use straight lines because the pattern is so angular.   As usual, I probably overdid it, but I used free motion to quilt a vine with curls and leaves.  There's a closer detail photo on the Free Motion Quilting page--scroll to the bottom.  Two reasons:  the curves and twirls create a lot of texture on the quilt once it is washed--I love the look of denser quilting on batiks, and the second....I like stitching curves.   I used meandering loops in the narrow strips between the black bands. 
 I have plans for a second braid quilt done just in florals---on florals curvy/wavy lines would be fine, because the pattern of the fabric will hide most of the quilting anyway. 
On the AK quilt, I saw a Moose, I also used a blended braid border.   I free motion quilted in large loops and swirls the border--confession time--to take in some fullness and stretching.  All braids have bias edges, and each time you touch it, it can stretch even when stay stitched.   

Second question  was about the jewel box quilt.  I went back and looked ......oops!   I started a tutorial  on the block construction and then apparently got side tracked and never gave details on finishing.  The finished quilt in shown on the Scrap Quilts page at the bottom.  Priceless Gems finished at 55 inches by 70 inches with a 4 1/2 inch border.  I used black for the background  and inner border strip and it required  2 3/4 yards.  All the other fabrics were scraps, so I do not have an exact amount used, but I would estimate about 2 yards for the rest of the fabric needed. The final border was whatever I had left of the black and 2 1/2 inch strips that were sewn into a piano key type pattern.  
Thanks, Jan, for the questions and catching my unfinished details.