Blog | Bonjour Quilts

Feeling Cross scrappy quilt block

February 15, 2018 By Kirsty 15 Comments

How about a patchwork tutorial for a scrappy quilt block? Here’s one I’ve been playing with over the past few days called Feeling Cross.

I’m not actually feeling cross….far from it. Without a doubt the hardest part of quilt-making is thinking up names for the blasted things. I regularly show my husband and children quilt layouts and drill them for naming inspiration:

“What does this look like to you?” (painful tickles if they answer “a quilt”)

“What does this remind you of?”

“How does this design make you feel?”

Or when those all fail, “Gah! What am I gonna call this???”

After my 13 yr old and I couldn’t come up with a name I figured Feeling Cross was apt and left it at that!

If you’d like a PDF copy of this scrappy quilt block pattern, just fill in the fields below and it will be automatically emailed to you.

Here’s what you’ll need to make one 9.5″ (unfinished) block. Once sewn into a quilt, the block will measure 9″.

First up, let’s sew some HSTs:

Take the 4 dark blue squares and match them with 4 green squares to make 8 HSTs. Press toward the darker fabric and trim to 2.5″.

Then take the two light blue squares and match with the remaining 2 green squares to make 4 HSTs. Press toward the darker fabric and trim to 2.5″.

You can now sew 2 dark blue/green HSTs, 1 light blue/green HST and 1 white 2.5″ square together in a four-patch:

The arrows on the blocks above show the seam pressing directions, so that the seams will nest within the four-patch.

Once you have 4 four-patches, sew them together either side of the shorter sashing pieces. Then sew the two halves together either side of the longer sashing piece:

And there you have it!

I think these blocks make a great scrappy quilt when joined with sashing (and the bonus when using sashing is you don’t have to press your seams a particular way to ensure the blocks nest).

The sashing in the version above is cut at 1.5″ wide to finish at 1″.

I’ve used the same three colours in my blocks, just rotating them through each position in the block to give a point of difference.

A 4 x 5 block layout like the one above would give a 41.5″ x 51.5″ crib quilt.

If you make one of these blocks (or your own scrappy quilt), make sure you let me know!

And again, if you’d like the PDF, you can receive a download below:

Patchwork Heart Block

January 29, 2018 By Kirsty 5 Comments

February’s nearly here! That means it’s time for candy hearts, patchwork hearts, all the hearts. Yuck, right? 🙂

I had some Alison Glass and Carolyn Friedlander fabrics in various shades of purple lying around my sewing table and decided they needed to become a heart patchwork block. Teamed with a variety of low-volume fabrics, I think this Valentine’s heart is sweet without being too sugary, if you know what I mean.

I made this entirely from 2″ scraps – it’s a great way of using up all those small offcuts.

I have a PDF download that takes you through the construction of this block, if you’d like to make one/some yourself. It also has some tips on choosing your fabrics to make sure the plus-sign pattern comes out, and a couple of options to use multiple blocks to make larger quilts.

How to chain piece

Sewing all the rows together is much quicker when you chain piece.

Here’s how I do it: after laying out all my squares I label the first square in each row with a sticker and then stack each row, in order, into a pile. I then take the first two piles to my sewing machine. I sew the first row’s first two squares together, then the second row’s first two squares together (do not clip apart as you go, just feed both pairs through one after the other).

Then I can clip the first row’s 2 squares free and feed them back through the machine to sew on the third square. Then clip the second row’s 2 squares free and feed them back through the machine to sew on the third square. And it just goes on from there, alternating the rows and sewing each consecutive square to the row.

If you get a bit muddled as to which row you have in your hand, or which pile to take your next square from, no worries, your sticker will tell you. And the sticker also alerts you to which is the first block, so you don’t accidentally rotate your row and start sewing later blocks to the start of your row (been there, done that.)

Don’t have stickers? Use bits of paper with numbers written on them, pinned to your first squares.

Don’t have paper? (whaaaa?) Use your phone to take a picture of the two stacks you’re working on, no 1 on top, no 2 below. Refer to your picture whenever you get muddled about which row you have in your hand (and which stack you should be choosing your next square from).

When you’ve finished row 1 and row 2, move on to row 3 and row 4, then row 5 and row 6…..until you’ve finished them all.

As soon as my 6 year old saw this completed panel he declared it needed to become a patchwork cushion for his bed. Fair enough!

I quilted the patchwork panel with wavy lines in a light grey thread, and then turned it into a pillow with a zipper back. (The back is just fabric, not quilted.)

It’s already in use and receiving a lot of love in our home.

You can get the PDF for this Patchwork Heart Panel by putting your name and email in the boxes within this post.

Happy sewing!

Starcrossed Quilt Pattern

November 20, 2017 By Kirsty 1 Comment

I have a new pattern to show you, called Starcrossed. It first appeared in Issue 83 of Australia’s Quilters Companion magazine earlier this year.

Starcrossed is a throw sized quilt that comes in at 67.5″ x 67.5″.

The version you see here is made with Kona Storm (navy), Ash (grey) and some of Elizabeth Hartman’s pretty Paintbox Basics in teal, mint (or aloe, as it’s called) and yellow.

I also used an Elizabeth Hartman wideback to back this quilt. Stars on both sides!

The quilting pattern is a lovely swirling affair, quilted by Fiona Bell of The Quilting Fairy. She did such a wonderful job.

I think this pattern would make a wonderful holiday quilt in festive colours. I will think about that for a bit while I’m lounging by the pool this Christmas 🙂

I’d also like to try this with solid colour stars (without the white square in the middle), just to see how that looks.

If you’d like a copy of the Starcrossed pattern, you can find the listing here in my shop.

Thanks for reading and happy sewing,
Kirsty

Fussy Cutters Club

October 20, 2017 By Kirsty 2 Comments

Angie Wilson of Gnome Angel has written a book!

It’s a ripper, as we like to say in Australia (meaning it’s great) so you should get yourself a copy – either via Amazon* (US) or the Book Depository (the rest of the world). You can also find all sorts of good info on the book (including details on the International Swap) at the Fussy Cutters Club website.

Reading the book, I was definitely inspired to try several projects (Angie’s advice makes fussy cutting achievable for anyone). I loved the idea of a rainbow of flying geese as seen in the Flock of Seagulls table runner project, but there was one problem – I don’t use table runners!

The two tables in my house that can accommodate a runner (dining table and coffee table) are always being used for painting, Lego, matchbox cars, board games and colouring-in. A table runner would just be pushed aside for the majority of the day. So what to do?

My solution to this problem was to convert the table runner into a baby quilt. That way I would have a bright and beautiful quilt to give as a gift.

I made the table runner from scraps and had a lot of fun deciding on my colour order.

Once the table runner patchwork was made I used it as a central panel and extended it into a 39″ x 49-1/2″ baby quilt with disappearing nine patch blocks.

If you’d like to do the same, I’ve got a PDF download that explains how I made mine (you’ll still need Angie’s book to make the table runner panel – my instructions just cover making it large enough to be a quilt). Pop your details in below to receive the PDF.

I used a Denyse Schmidt fabric for the backing and quilted with wavy lines, guided by the patchwork.

I used a mix of teal offcuts to make the binding.

I think it makes for a fun, scrappy and colourful quilt!

There are lots of people joining in to welcome Angie’s book into the world. Check out all these other stops on the book tour:

7 October 2017 – C&T Publishing
8 October 2017 – Lisa @ Sweet Little Pretties
10 October 2017 – Alyce @ Blossom Heart Quilts
12 October 2017 – Kerry @ Kid Giddy [GIVEAWAY]
14 October 2017 – Cat @hellofromcat
16 October 2017 – Molli Sparkles [GIVEAWAY]
18 October 2017 – Peta @ She Quilts A Lot
20 October 2017 – Kirsty @ Bonjour Quilts
22 October 2017 – Nicole @ Snips Snippets
24 October 2017 – Bernie @ Needle & Foot [GIVEAWAY]
26 October 2017 – Kristy @ Quiet Play
28 October 2017 – Lucy @ Charm About You
30 October 2017 – Sandy @ UpStairsHobbyRoom [GIVEAWAY]
1 November 2017 – Raylee @ Sunflower Quilting [GIVEAWAY]
3 November 2017 – Bec @ Skyberries
4 November 2017 – Angie @ GnomeAngel

I hope you get the chance to try some fussy cutting projects of your own!

Until next time,

Kirsty x

*affiliate link

Triangle Twist Quilt Pattern

October 8, 2017 By Kirsty 1 Comment

Earlier this year I had a quilt pattern published in Issue 44 of Love Patchwork & Quilting.

I’m excited that this pattern has come home again to Bonjour Quilts.

The design is called Triangle Twist and it uses HSTs and log cabins to make a fun triangle-filled pattern.

This version was made with navy, peach, coral, grey and taupe/tan. The pale fabric reads as a white(ish) solid, but it actually has a tiny dotted scallop pattern all over. All of the fabrics are from Dear Stella.

The backing fabric is from Dear Stella’s Foxtail Forest line by Rae Ritchie. It’s just adorable.

Little forest critters having a party in a tree house. Does it get any better?

This is a lap sized quilt that measures 57″ x 68″. The fabric requirements are attached to the shop listing.

I had this quilt long-arm quilted by Kelly Elliott at the Quilt Machine. It’s a bit of an abstract Art Deco-style design that blends in with all the angles of the quilt design.

You can find this pattern in the new Shop for US$9.

I hope you’re enjoying your weekend – happy sewing!

Kirsty

Skull Patchwork Block Tutorial

October 1, 2017 By Kirsty 11 Comments

I’ve got a free Halloween patchwork block pattern for you! How about a skull patchwork block?

It’s October – so it’s time to sew up all the spooooky projects you’ll no doubt find popping up all over Pinterest.

This pattern is for a 9″ x 11″ (finished) patchwork skull block. It would look great in a quartet for a cushion, or en masse in a Halloween lap quilt.

I’ve made mine with an Anna Maria Horner floral background (no one does florals quite like her) to give it a bit of a Day of Dead vibe.

This block is a good little scrap buster too. You can use up a fat-eighth in the background and a 10″ square for the bones.

If you’d like to make your own, just pop your email address in below and I’ll send it to you. You’ll also be signed up for my newsletter which will let you know when all my free tutorials are published.

I have some other Halloween sewing projects too:

A Halloween drawstring treat bag

An appliqué skull pillow (hmm, I might have a skull fetish :-/)

Wishing you all a wonderful October and tons of sewing time,

Kirsty

Scrap Fabric Embroidery Tutorial

September 5, 2017 By Kirsty 2 Comments

This Scrap Fabric Embroidery Tutorial was first published on the Liberty of London Craft Blog in 2014. As it’s no longer available there, I’m republishing here at Bonjour Quilts. Enjoy!

This appliqué-and-embroidery project offers a way showcase your favourite fabric scraps so that you can see and enjoy them every day.

Project Requirements (affiliate links*):

8 inch Embroidery Hoop
Linen
Fabric Scraps, pressed
Embroidery Needle
Embroidery floss
Doube-sided fusible adhesive
Water soluble pen
Paper and Pencil

Take your pencil and trace the inner circumference of your embroidery hoop onto paper. Using this template and your recurring shape of choice (in this case, one inspired by Moroccan tiles), sketch how you intend to fill your hoop space.

Once you’ve settled on a design, use your pencil to trace the required number of shapes onto the paper backing of your fusible adhesive. Be sure to use pencil as pen will melt and run under the iron. Once complete, cut the shapes apart into rough squares and then iron them onto the reverse side of your wrinkle-free fabric scraps, according to the adhesive’s instructions. Once cool, you can cut the shapes out as per your pencil marks.

Use the water soluble pen to trace the inner circumference of your hoop onto your ironed linen. Remove the paper from your fabric shapes and arrange them on the linen as per your paper design.

Once you’re happy with the layout iron them in place.

Embellish your fabric shapes with the embroidery stitches of your choice. This is not only decorative but helps to further secure your shapes to the linen. In this case I sewed along several of the edges of my shapes, and for my single red tile I carried the stitches out further onto the linen.

Once your stitching is complete, clean away the soluble pen circumference (I used a damp kitchen sponge). Give your piece an iron face-down on top of a towel (to prevent flattening your embroidery stitches). Then mount your linen in your hoop.

Your piece is ready for display as is, but if you’d like to wrap your frame as I have, you can find instructions for that over in this post (as well as how I like to finish the back of my hoops).

And there you have it – a beautiful piece of handwork to show off your favourite pieces of scrap fabric.

Happy sewing!

*These are affiliate links, which means if you purchase through the link I receive a small, but much appreciated, commission. This is at no cost to you – Amazon pays for it (thanks, Amazon :). These commissions help keep Bonjour Quilts’ website expenses paid, so thank you!

Peta Peace – A Piece of Cake

August 18, 2017 By Kirsty 7 Comments

It’s always fun when someone you follow writes a book. It’s even more fun when someone you actually know writes one.

I’m so happy that my real-life friend Peta’s book is now available! Welcome to my stop on her book tour.

A Piece of Cake has 14 beautiful and easy-to-sew projects that use layer cake (10″) squares.

My 11 yr old was in need of a table-topper for her bedside table, to match her yellow log-cabin quilt. I handed her the book and told her to choose her favourite pattern (I was planning to adapt it to mini-size if she chose one of the full-size quilts). Lucky for me, she loved the Spin Pillow pattern, which meant very little size adjustment was required.

Together we chose some yellow (Karen Lewis) and light grey (Alison Glass) fabrics to match her quilt, and then she left me to it.

I love these Karen Lewis Blueberry Park fabrics – so saturated and with just enough pattern to keep them interesting, but not overpowered.

I sewed up the block very quickly, and swirled the centre seam to help it sit nicely.

I kept the border the same as the background fabric and reduced the width by about half an inch so the panel would fit my daughter’s bedside table.

I quilted this one with wavy lines using my walking foot and with only the seam lines as my guide. It’s such a therapeutic pattern to quilt – very relaxing!

And finally, I used a thin binding (my binding strips are only 2″ wide) in the darker mustard yellow.

I love how it turned out – very cheery and pretty, but understated as well. And best of all, my daughter loves it too. Phew.

The book tour is only just getting started – don’t forget to check in with all these lovely quilters to see more goodness from Peta:

14 Aug: Sedef – Down Grapevine Lane

15 Aug: Jemima – Tied with a Ribbon

16 Aug: Samantha – Aqua Paisley Studio

17 Aug: Andy – A Bright Corner

18 Aug: Kirsty – Bonjour Quilts <—- You are here 🙂

19 Aug: Lisa – A Spoonful of Sugar Designs

20 Aug: Alison – Cotton Factory

21 Aug: Carrie – Moda Fabrics

22 Aug :Nadra – Ellis and Higgs

23 Aug: Angie – Gnome Angel

24 Aug: Tara – Tara Sews

25 Aug: Jules – The Creative Retreat

26 Aug: Kristyne – Pretty by Hand

27 Aug: Kimberly – Fat Quarter Shop

28 Aug: Lissa – Moda Lissa

29 Aug: Amy – Diary of a Quilter

30 Aug: Kerry – Kid Giddy & Cat – Hello from Cat on Instagram

31 Aug: Jane – Modern Makers Retreat

1 Sept: Kate – Never Enough Hours

2 Sept: Jodie – Vintage Ric Rac

3 Sept: Sharon – Patches Indooroopilly (in store & online!)

4 Sept: Amanda – Material Girl Quilts

5 Sept: Amber – A Little Bit Biased

6 Sept: Xanthe – Wife Made

7 Sept: Rachel – Family Ever After

8 Sept: Jenny – Martingale

9 Sept: Amy – Nana Company

10 Sept: Peta – She Quilts A Lot

And don’t forget to buy yourself a copy of her book – available at all fine book and quilt stores!

10,000 subscribers! How I smashed my newsletter goal with ConvertKit.

July 24, 2017 By Kirsty 4 Comments

How’s that for a sensational headline 😉

This month I had my 10,000th reader sign up for my newsletter, thanks to ConvertKit*, the software I use to send my emails/newsletters. My first though when this happened was “Woah”. My second thought was “I’ve got to tell other crafters how they can do this, too!”

If you have a blog or are considering one, or if you’re thinking about starting an email newsletter then read on. I have plenty to tell you.

Like most people, I started my email list with Mailchimp. It was free, it was pretty and it was free. Did I mention it was free?

Mailchimp wasn’t as intuitive to use as I would’ve liked, but I muddled through and had an email sign-up box on the side bar of the blog by April 2014. I think it said “Sign Up for my Newsletter”. Rivetting stuff.

My very first email newsletter went out in June 2014 to 62 people, which seemed like a lot back then.

To encourage readers to sign up for my newsletter I had a free quilt pattern PDF linked to my Mailchimp sign-up email. Whenever someone confirmed their email address they received this free pattern automatically, which was pretty nifty. I didn’t have to sit by the computer and attach and email the file every time someone signed up.

In 2 years I managed to grow my list with this free pattern offer to well over 2000 subscribers.

The date was now April 2016 and I really needed a new email newsletter provider. Mailchimp was no longer free as I had over 2000 subscribers, plus it was starting to cramp my style.

I wanted to put an email sign-up box within a blog post, not just in my side bar. This was beyond my capabilities with Mailchimp (not to say it can’t be done, but I do not have coding skills).

And most importantly, I wanted to offer more than just one free pattern to my readers. I wanted to offer a free pattern or printable tutorial for EVERY blog post (or close to every post) that would send out automatically, with no action on my part. Again, I couldn’t do this with Mailchimp.

So I shopped around and made a PROs vs CONs list of all the email newsletter software out there. And, long story short, I chose ConvertKit*.

ConvertKit was created by a blogger who couldn’t find software to do what he wanted, so he made it himself.

The features I love in ConvertKit:

It’s easier (for me) to use than Mailchimp.
I can put sign-up boxes in my blog posts and have a different PDF attached to each one. Without a doubt, this has exploded my email list!
I can set up an automatic email series to send out based on different triggers. For instance, I have a 3-email “welcome series” that goes to everyone who signs up to my email list. This has really taken my understanding of my audience to a new level.
I can automatically have subscribers tagged according to an action they might take. For instance, if someone opts-in through my wholesale sign-up box, they get tagged with “Wholesale List”. Then, if I have an update just for wholesale customers, I can send it to only them. I can tag someone when they purchase one of my patterns (yes, ConvertKit “talks” to my SendOwl pattern purchase software, so cool) so I don’t have to send my “sale ending soon” emails to anyone who’s already purchased. Clever!
A really helpful FAQ/help section, with articles and videos. Their customer support (with real, live people!) is also well done and timely.
Statistics. Sometimes I like to get nerdy. I like to see how each of my individual sign-up boxes are performing:

And all my newsletter emails (called “Broadcasts” in ConvertKit):

And there are more layers to drill down into to see how things are performing, for those who like that sort of thing.

The benefits of ConvertKit for me have been:

Greater interaction with my readers. We all know blog commenting is dwindling – it’s hard to know if what you’re writing is striking a chord. My 3-email welcome series has been so good for introducing myself and the blog, and making sure readers find all the interesting stuff hiding in my archives. It also gives me the chance to ask if they have any quilty dilemmas I could help them with. From this I can gauge the topics and the level of detail my posts should have. I’ve also had some wonderful email replies from people just saying hello, telling me about themselves and showing me what they’re currently working on (always so much fun to see). Nancy, the truck driving quilter (she quilts in her truck!!) is amazing.
Better service for my readers. As I mentioned above, I can tag readers according to an action they may take. I don’t have to annoy people with further sales emails if they have already purchased. If you’ve already been through my welcome series, you shouldn’t ever see it again. If you haven’t opened an email in 90 days, I can send you an email asking if you’d like to be removed from the list so your inbox isn’t filled with email you don’t want to read. In the future, I could send out an email asking which of 2 subjects interests you the most, and based on the link you click you’ll receive an automatic email series on that subject and the option to purchase a pattern. Nice!
Achieving my email list goal 5 months early. As I mentioned, it took me 2 years to gather 2600ish subscribers with Mailchimp. I signed up for ConvertKit in April 2016 and doubled my list by the end of that year (5500 subscribers). For 2017 I decided to set a big goal – to reach 10,000 subscribers by the end of the year. By crikey, I did it by July 21st, 2017.

Now, I would like to point out that I am not a Super Blogger. If you’ve followed me for a while you’ll know that I tend to put out blog posts every 2 weeks at best, every 2 months at worst. But the posts I do put out, more often than not, have a free download offer. People come to that post via Google or Pinterest or a link, and if they like what they see they pop in their email address and get the free PDF. Then they automatically get my welcome email series and we go from there. Every one of these posts collects email subscribers for me every day (and night), on autopilot. They don’t gather huge amounts of people, but because I have quite a few of them, which I’ve just built up over time (which anyone could do), the outcome is 4,500 subscribers in 7 months. In fact, today (3 days later) I’m already up to:

10, 106 – Wheeeeee! As an aside, when you hover your mouse over the bars (see below), they show you which sign-up is responsible for those subscribers. Cool.

I’m not doing anything very different since leaving Mailchimp except using ConvertKit* to offer multiple free PDFs. Remember those lessons on compounding interest in Economics class? Well, this is the same principle. If you put out a new post every 2 weeks or so with a sign-up box in it, they will start to bring in more and more subscribers. Every one of those posts lives on at your blog and continues to bring you new readers, who if you are lucky, will share their inbox with you.

I also went back to my old posts and updated all of them with free downloads. In some cases, the PDF was just a copy of the blog post itself, so not much work was required. I routinely have people ask if I have PDF versions of my posts as they like to save and print them to use at the sewing machine. This solves that need and brings in more subscribers at the same time. Win, win 🙂 If you’ve already got free patterns or tutorials on your blog, you could easily spend a few hours and add a free PDF download offer to those posts and get the compound interest effect working for you.

Email is where the party’s happening. People are spending less time reading blogs (unless your email directs them to your post) and only a small percentage of your Facebook or Instagram audience will see your posts. I don’t know about you, but I check my email every day. And I read every single thing I get. If you want to connect with your readers, their inbox is where you want to be. They will appreciate being up to date with everything you’re up to!

So, if you’re a quilter/sewist/crafter who is struggling to build your email list, you would benefit from having ConvertKit as your email software. We crafters already, naturally, have plenty of posts that are perfectly suited to having PDF download accompaniments – so why not take advantage of that to build your list?

I’m very happy to be an affiliate for ConvertKit* as it’s a product I use myself. If you think it might be a good fit for you, too, feel free to shoot me any questions you have via email. I’ve got plenty of experience using ConvertKit in a craft blog scenario and should be able to help.

ETA: I’ve got a screencast video here that shows you inside my ConvertKit account (the “back end” inside the software) and exactly how I use it.

Happy blogging, and may your lists be large 🙂

P.S. If you’re not already on my list and would like to see ConvertKit in action from a reader’s point of view, sign up via the boxes below (you can easily unsubscribe once you’ve seen how it works):

* As mentioned above, I’m an affiliate for ConvertKit, so these links are affiliate links. If you decide to use ConvertKit via one of these links, you will be helping to support this blog (thank you!) and my door will always be open for any questions you may have.

Facebook vs Instagram

July 5, 2017 By Kirsty 23 Comments

Is Instagram your jam? Or maybe Facebook is where you spend your social media time?

I’d love to know either way so that I’m putting my efforts toward the one you all prefer!

Please know that I have no intention of changing my focus on blog posts or my newsletter – they are still the most important methods of communication in my book.

But social media…boy, I’m finding it hard to stay on top of that one at the moment. I think I could be more productive if I only had one channel to focus on.

So, please let me know by checking the answer that best applies to you below:

How to chain piece

The features I love in ConvertKit:

The benefits of ConvertKit for me have been:

Social Media Survey