Wahoo, it’s the weekend! Which means it must be time for another Bonjour Quilts update. Grab yourself a nice drink, sit back and enjoy a relaxing read.
What I’m Sewing…
This week I’ve been doing some can’t-show-you-yet sewing, which I know is frustrating from your point of view! This project will be public in May, so you’ll be able to see it all then. In the meantime, I have a don’t-give-too-much-away photo. These fabrics are all Ruby Star Society, from their Starry fabric line*. Gorgeous colours, and the little stars are a great addition.
Probably for the best that I was sewing something I couldn’t photograph much this week, as it’s been really rainy. We only had one day with nice natural light, which was when I took this photo (above).
The rest of the week has been very gloomy, leading to very grainy photos and very sleepy cats (above). Great weather for napping though!
Around the Interwebs…
For all my fellow Aussies, the Australasian Quilt Convention (AQC) will be held in Melbourne on 10-13 April. All the details, and tickets, can be found on their website. And if you’re in Cairns don’t miss the exhibit of historic, hand-pieced military quilts at the Cairns Art Gallery.
If you’re looking for an excellent block-a-day quilt-along, look no further than Angie’s 100 Days 100 Blocks. Sewing starts 1 July, so still plenty of time to choose fabric and get ready!
If you love Moda’s Grunge Basics fabrics then you’ll love that they’re on sale at the moment at the Fat Quarter Shop. There’s not only tone-on-tone beauties, but also very cool spots and these amazing stars.*
A reader (thanks Amanda!) suggested Ellen Giggenbach’s art to me, and it’s so bright and beautiful! This is the print that I bought for my sewing area.
Here’s a great DIY tutorial to help you display small collectibles in style.
An interesting article on the power of creating helping with anxiety.
Boy, I wish I could crochet like this (I can’t crochet at all, who am I kidding). Here’s some gorgeous embroidery to inspire and some of the prettiest natural collections I’ve seen.
Coming soon… another fabulous quilt pattern bundle from the team at Curated Pattern Bundles. I’m excited to be participating in this bundle, titled Stars Aplenty. More to follow!
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.
Julia made the Zed quilt pattern her own by making it scrappy (99 blocks, no fabric the same). A masterpiece!
Ruth Ann sewed up this Window Panes quilt top with a very clever layout. It represents the elements of her 4-generations family home, with rows representing ocean, sand, timber and gardens. I always love hearing about the meaning sewn into your wonderful quilts.
Lisa sewed up an amazing Scrappy Lattice quilt, complete with her own added borders. A fantastic scrap busting project.
Tricia created a beautiful desert-palette Go West quilt. Absolutely dreamy.
Chez Bonjour
I ducked out between rain showers to check on the garden. We have some pretty yellow flowers hanging over from the neighbour’s house (not sure what they are):
Our grevillea bushes are pushing out some flowers too:
And the cheeky lemon tree has also gone into flower and they smell heavenly. Unfortunately I have to take all the flowers off because we’re not supposed to let it fruit until it’s more established (it’s just a bubba).
All the rain also means mushrooms have been popping up all over the place.
These specimens are found everywhere…mushroom for improvement.
Then I found this golden beauty…he seems like a fun guy:
And a carpet of teeny-weeny mushrooms. Do I think they’re cute? Morel less!
And in closing, here are a few recent photos of the cats, taken on our one sunny day this week. Tigger loves to lounge on the scratching post, particularly the middle level which is shaped like a donut (it has a hole in the middle). He looks very svelte from above, but looking underneath gives away the truth!
Lulu refused to pose so I had to get one of the kids to hold her up for me. Even then, maintaining eye contact was an effort. She is such a booger, doesn’t she know I’m the one who feeds her?!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Stay dry and warm (but not too warm) in whichever hemisphere you’re visiting from today. I hope your weekend goes wonderfully and that you find some time to yourself for a bit of sewing. All the best!
Until next time,
Kirsty x
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Thank you Kirsty for your blogs. They are always interesting…and fun.
Love your humor, but what is a ‘bubba’? (Here in the south in the USA, that’s actually name, lol).
Rose in VA
Yes, I’d forgotten about that (I remember Bubba Gump Shrimp from Forrest Gump!). A bubba is just a nickname for baby. So if someone’s expecting, you’ll be excited that a new bubba is on its way! Our lemon tree is only about 12 months old, hence a bubba :)
Love your blog, makes the weekend sunny even when its snowing or raining again!! It has been a long gloomy winter and spring hasn’t exactly sprung into action here in parts of Ontario, Canada.
Your photos of outdoors, flowers, cats and quilts are wonderful!
You always inspires me to do something!
Thanks for all the work you do to make your blog happen and to make us all smile and laugh!
Take care!
Aww, thank you for such a lovely comment, Pat. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the newsletters – and I agree, it’s always fun to see what’s happening in the opposite hemisphere. I can’t believe you’re over there in snow while I’m here turning on the air conditioner!
Fun Guy Fungi cracked me up! Almost choked on my chip!
Nothing like a pun or a dad’s joke to start the day!
The yellow flowers from your neighbour’s tree are most likely from a rainforest cassia or bush senna.
I did a bit of googling and turns out it’s Easter Cassia. In our region it’s listed as an invasive species (weed) that came from South America. Such a pity as it’s very pretty!
This is my year for stars. I’ve collected so many patterns of stars…who knew they could be so different! And will try that for all the “too big to toss- too big to be “something” Thanks for the inspiration! And now a little inspiration from the kitties – time for a nap! (Chicago also has rainy, cloudy misty weather and even the clouds are dark and flat.
Hope you enjoyed that nap, Joan. I love that this is a starry year for you – never a bad year for stars to be honest. Pretty, reliable, and who doesn’t love a star? Not me.
I look forward to your newsletter and enjoy the quilting news/info. But what I really pore over are the pictures of plants and the outdoors that you post. I live on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state, a coastal area and it’s fun to compare. Plus you have flowers I’ve never seen before. Thank you
Thanks for letting me know what you enjoy reading, Judy. I’ll be sure to try and pop any good garden photos I have into the newsletters. It’s fun to document what we’re growing, so we can remember the garden as time goes on.
good morning to you down under!
Very punny – thanks for a great start to my day!
Thanks Debi, glad it gave you a smile!
Hi Kirsty
I always look forward to your blog on Saturday morning: great information, beautiful quilts and photos, and the cats of course. The one today of Tigger’s belly from below made me laugh out loud and that reminded me of the “quiltskipper.com” site of Jenny Lyon who does a “snort of the week” picture each blog.
Thanks for the time you spend putting this together and thanks for starting my day with a huge laugh.
So glad you enjoy the newsletters – and Tigger’s belly!
Thanks for brightening my day, Kirsty!
Thanks for dropping by, Karen!
The mushroom was a fun guy (fungi)! I get it and I agree – he was pretty amazing! Love your newsletter!
Thanks Dee, glad someone got the puns – goodness knows it took me ages to get the morel one!