quilting Archives | Bonjour Quilts

Fleur Baby Quilt

May 6, 2018 By Kirsty 12 Comments

I do love a good mini quilt, but there does come a time when the walls don’t have room for any more. What to do with the pattern then? You could join several together to make a table runner, or you could include the block in a baby quilt.

This is exactly what I decided to do with my Fleur Mini Quilt pattern. Putting four blocks together with some disappearing nine patch blocks makes for a fun 36.5″ x 42.5″ baby quilt.

I had some purple fat quarters (this fabric* and this one*) from Alison Glass’ Chroma fabric line left over from another quilt. Given that Ultraviolet is this year’s Pantone Colour of the Year, I thought it a good idea to make some purple blooms.

I made 3 blocks with the darker fabric being dominant, and one block with the inverse.

The four blocks were sewn in a column and set amongst some scrappy disappearing 9-patch blocks.

Because of the dimensions of the quilt it was quick to baste with a length of yardage. I quilted it on my machine with simple wavy lines across the horizontal axis and made binding from the leftovers of the light and dark purple fabrics.

I machine sewed the binding for this quilt with a zigzag stitch. You can find a tutorial for how I like to do this here. It certainly makes for a quick finish.

I have an project information sheet for this quilt – it builds on the instructions already in the Fleur Mini Quilt pattern to show how to turn the block into a baby quilt. It’s a free download for anyone on my newsletter list (you can join by putting your details in below):

And of course, this project sheet download would work with any pattern (a mini quilt or a standard block) you already have that finishes at 10.5″ (11″ unfinished). It’s a great way to quickly turn a few feature blocks into a lovely baby gift.

That’s it for today – happy sewing to all of you.

Don’t forget the 2018 Pantone Quilt Challenge is now open for entries. If you’ve got a purple-themed quilt, why don’t you enter too?

Fleur Baby Quilt

Dimensions: 36.5″ x 42.5″

Country: Australia

(*affiliate link)

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

Scrappy Kites Mini Quilt Pattern

May 22, 2017 By Kirsty 11 Comments

If you’re looking for a quick project to practice your half rectangle triangle (HRT) blocks and use up some scraps, well I’ve got the pattern for you!

This free mini-quilt pattern is called Scrappy Kites.

It was known around our house as Star Destroyers (à la Star Wars) for a while, but the kites won out in the end.

I’ve used a variety of yellow fabrics, some Kona Snow and Aqua and 3 Carolyn Friedlander low-volumes to make this version.

For some fun, I decided to make one of the kites aqua and frame another with aqua on the opposite side.

I kept the quilting nice and breezy which is what kites prefer, I suppose. Wavy line quilting with my walking foot is one of my favourites – I just use the block seams as the basic grid and I fill in from there. A few windy whirls and swirls would have looked good too, but I’m not a FMQer so maybe someone out there could try that for me?

The binding was a fast affair. I used a yellow zigzag fabric and machine sewed it with a zigzag stitch.

There are plenty of opportunities to play with colour in this design.

Here’s a ready-to-colour-in picture if you’d like to experiment (just right click and “Open Image in New Tab” – you can then print it from there.)

Here’s a rainbow version I was playing around with:

I think the inverted blocks add a bit of interest, but if you prefer straight up and down colour how about this one:

Which do you prefer?

If you’d like to make your own version of this mini-quilt, you can download the pattern below.

The HRTs in this pattern are compatible with Bloc_Loc rulers, but they are by no means necessary to make this mini-quilt. In fact I have a tutorial that shows you how to trim HRTs with just a standard quilting ruler, easy peasy.

I hope you have some fun with this – and as always, I love to see your work so let me know what you get up to!

Find me on Instagram here or Facebook here.

Happy sewing!

Kirsty x