Quilts, Cushions, Birds, Cats, Crafting Links – it’s all happening here!

The last weekend of May – wow, how fast is this year going? All too quickly it’s rolled around to another weekend and so it’s time for another Bonjour Quilts update. Make yourself comfy and let’s dive into the newsletter!

What I’m Sewing…

I had some fun sewing with my youngest kidaroo this week.

I came across some lovely fabric at our local Spotlight – similar to Joann’s in the US (RIP) – printed with native Australian birds. When I mentioned this to my bird watching 13 year old and he asked if he could have some cushions for his bed in the fabrics. A reason to buy fabric? No need to ask me twice! Then he asked if he could do some of the making too – another big YES from me.

Cushion covers are a great starter project for a young sewists. Fairly quick, not too much fabric, and mistakes that are not too hard to fix. I walked him through the process and we discussed how it’s probably best that I put the zipper in, but that he could do the other sewing, turning and pillow-form stuffing.

And of course I made him do the ironing – there had to be some perk for me too!

As it was his first time using any sewing machine we started with a safety brief. Then I gave him a test square of two fat eighths pinned together. He got the hang of going around the outside with my quarter-inch foot, and the process of slowing down to remove pins.

I’m glad we did a tester as it took two sides before he got the hang of how to handle the fabric to maintain the quarter-inch seam. He enjoyed it and said it felt really steampunk (kids, ha!)

Then we got to sewing the real thing. I had already installed zippers on the back squares, and I showed him how to stop the seams from flipping as he sewed over them. I should mention my machine has an adjustable speed so I turned it to the low side, just to mitigate any accidental foot surges.

They’re not perfect but we both think they look fantastic. This was a great project to fit into a weekend and he quickly realised that he does indeed enjoy sewing.

I think a Sweet and Simple Squares quilt would be a good second, long term, project. Those who have been reading here for a while might remember that my daughter sewed up something quite similar during the pandemic. We used it as the backing for a Scrappy Lattice quilt. A Sweet and Simple Squares quilt would let my son have fun choosing fabrics, and practice chain piecing. Then he can tackle nesting and pinning seams, and sewing rows together.

Bottomless Bear Paw blocks…

I’ve finally sewn all my Bottomless Bear Paws quilt blocks together. I’ll wait until I’ve quilted it to do the big reveal. In the meantime, here’s Lulu trying to thwart my progress:

Lulu’s a whole mood here. We hear you, girl.

Around the Interwebs…

Liberty of London is celebrating it’s 150 year anniversary with a fantastic Patchwork Collective. I once had a tutorial published on the (no longer existing) Liberty Craft Blog – the tute is republished here. I also made a Liberty fabric hoop called Liberty or Death; a fun, easy project.

So many pretty embroideries to admire on Fleur Woods’ account!

Meg takes sewing to the next (3D) level.

I wish there were another 10 hours in a day so I could try lino cutting.

Reader Quilts…

I always love to see quilts you’ve made from Bonjour Quilts patterns so please keep sending them in! Either email (Kirsty at BonjourQuilts dotcom), or tag me on Facebook or Instagram.

Roz sewed up a bold and beautiful Colour Explosion quilt for her granddaughter. Happy to report she loves it! The soft, turquoise cuddle fabric backing is also a winner.

Check out this golden Diamonds in the Deep quilt sewn by Julie. What a stunner – it’s glowing!

Connie has been working on her Feeling Cross blocks since 2019 and has completed a whole quilt with them! I love the sashing and borders she’s added to the design. You can find the Feeling Cross Quilt Block Tutorial in this post. (Hard to believe that tutorial is 7 years old now, yikes!)

A gorgeous version of the Rectangle Log Cabin quilt sewn up in yellows and greys by Steph.

Vic’s baby size version of the Go West quilt is just so vibrant!

I love the contrast between this more neutral Go West version, rendered in Birch Fabric’s Charlie Harper line.

Chez Bonjour

I’m not sure what the universe is telling me but both the vacuum cleaner and the washing machine broke this week. I was able to fix the vacuum with a shop-bought replacement part, but the washer will be on the blink until new hoses get ordered in. Up to 10 working days, sob. Our first washing machine lasted 24 years before it needed a repair. This one barely limped into 4 years.

Fortunately there’s a laundromat about 5 minutes from us and I have plenty of books to get through (just finished Ministry of Time and it was fantastic).

Last newsletter was all about the rain, but I’m happy to report we’ve had a fair bit of sunny weather this fortnight. Nice weather means birding – so we planned another local expedition to see what we could see. Our 19 year old daughter came with us too, which was great.

I didn’t see a great many birds because I was holding a camera rather than the binoculars. But of course I really enjoyed the company, exercise and the greenery.

I’ve come to the realisation that I would need a very long (and heavy and expensive) lens to get much better bird photos. I don’t think I’m quite at that stage of my photography career (i.e. I have no photography career).

But this kookaburra didn’t seem to care when I snuck up on him.

And the flowers are happy to let me come in close too. So I guess I’ll stick with that.

Our walk was in a nearby suburb that backs onto a conservation wetland area. There are plenty of native trees and even some sections of mangroves.

We found a tree that encouraged a look out:

Our always-adventurous daughter was up there very quickly.

We even saw a royal spoonbill from this spot:

Other birds seen (but not photographed) included the spotted dove, masked wood swallow, little friar bird and a spangled drongo (epic name).

As the sun began to set the mosquitos and midges started biting so we wanted to get away from the mangroves. Our route back to the car went along an adjacent river which has a housing development.

I really liked this bright yellow boat!

We found various (imported) blooming beauties in the waterfront gardens. Here’s a New Zealand Metrosideros:

Some sweet smelling French lavender:

And an flashy South African Strelitzia, also known as the bird of paradise. It really does look like an exotic tropical bird.

This Strelitzia was interesting as it had flowers in several stages of the life cycle. Above, it is in full, radiant bloom. Below, it has started to dry out and the head of the bloom has split open to reveal seed pods.

The final stage shows the seed pods broken open – the seeds have been dispersed. There’s a joke about my descent into perimenopause in there somewhere, I’m sure.

Here’s a pandanus tree, which we find all around our local area. This one has a big green fruit on the tree.

Eventually the fruit ripens and turns yellow, looking very much like a pineapple. This large, head-sized fruit then drops down and breaks apart on the ground.

Sometimes the fruit just starts to disintegrate on the tree and drops its pods. They’re quite big and I believe they can be eaten (or maybe the seeds inside). I would have to do some research on that before I tried.

It was a fun afternoon! A great way to get out of the house, get some fresh air and see a few birds.

Cats’ Corner

Of course I couldn’t sign off without a few cat photos. Winter starts here in Australia on Sunday, and the cats have moved into sitting-on-anything-warm mode. This means my iMac and various laptops around the house. They love a lap when they first wake up, and of course they love their cat bed by the sunny window. Here are various shots taken over the past fortnight:

Have a great weekend

If you’re looking down the barrel of winter like me, stay cosy. If you’re on the other side of the world, I hope you’re taking time to enjoy some sunshine and warm weather! And if you get bored for any reason, time to start sewing. Sounds like the makings of a good weekend.

Take care and until next time,

Kirsty x

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