Hello, hello and welcome to the weekend update from Bonjour Quilts. Read on for all the news!
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What I’m Sewing…
I’ve been busily sewing up some blocks for a quilt for the day bed we have in our spare room. The quilt will be a bit of an odd size because I’ll be using it as a cover rather than a quilt. By that I mean it will stay on the bed, covering up the mattress until someone actually comes to the house to stay. Then I’ll make up the bed properly with sheets and a twin quilt. So I need a quilt that’s kind of in between a throw and twin size.
I need this quilt to be big enough to tuck in around three edges of the mattress (the cushions along the back of the day bed means it doesn’t really need to tuck in there). I will be putting two more cushions along the back there, so it will be a solid wall of cushionry. I’m all about the cushionry.
One of the great things about sewing your own quilts is you can create tailor-made sizes that best suit your own home. As well as working out the size that works for me, I also realised that the size of the room means that the day bed will always be viewed from the side (that bed will not be moving). Never from the foot or head of the bed, as it were.
Most quilt patterns are designed so that the design runs from top to bottom of the quilt, as most of us stand at the foot of the bed to admire our handiwork. And that’s how I originally envisioned this quilt I’m making (you can see the top-bottom orientation below:)
I need the pattern orientated to the left-hand side of the bed, so that’s what I did. Luckily these are square blocks so it was simply a matter of rotating them (had they been rectangular, like this quilt, it wouldn’t have been as easy). A quick re-sketch in my Quilter’s Planner and I had what I needed. Well, I thought I did.
Turns out there there was something else I needed: more fabric!
I needed more of the greeny-lemon yellow (citron, chartreuse) prints to pair with the teal lattice. I found an Aussie quilt shop with a good citron selection, made an order and I’ll be back sewing these blocks in the coming week.
The citron prints and Ruby Star Society Speckled in Teal make a lovely, bright pairing. I’m currently calling this my Kite Lattice quilt, due to the pattern formed by the blocks. More to come on this one later.
Around the Interwebs…
This artist creates the cutest mini-art collections on paint sample charts. They’re absolutely darling.
I love, love, love all this bright, modern embroidery! You can buy some of her mini pieces, or sew your own from a pattern.
Come for the seaweed art, stay for the Australian landscape photos. Beautiful, all round.
If you’re in the UK, get yourself to the Festival of Quilts, Birmingham pronto, before the weekend’s over!
Looking for a fun sewing challenge? Join Ange of GnomeAngel for her free Churn Dash Challenge, starting 12 August.
A great article on hobbies: We Let Work Define Us, Why Not Play?
Reader Quilts…
I always love to see quilts you’ve made from Bonjour Quilts patterns so please keep sending them in!
My photo well is starting to run dry, so if you’ve ever made a Bonjour Quilts pattern and would love to share your work, send it my way. This is a favourite section of the newsletter for many people; it’s just great fun and inspiring to see other peoples’ colour and design choices. Your wonderful quilt could spark someone else’s great idea, wouldn’t that be nice?
Either email (Kirsty at BonjourQuilts dotcom), or tag me on Facebook or Instagram.
Do you remember my recent Flower Block Tutorial? Well, Cheryl has already sewn up a complete quilt from this block:
She has used fabric she’s had in her stash for quite a while (yay for stash busting!) I love the fussy cut cat centres, the diagonal colour grouping and the cornerstone sashing. ❤️
I’m still in love with Marion’s dreamy ocean Diamonds in the Deep. A lovely combination of blue and green with matching batik centre squares.
Somehow I missed this lovely blue/green version of the Mountainside quilt in last week’s Mountainside round-up. This fantastically floral version was sewn beautifully by Marcia.
I love the warm, earthy hues used by Donna in her Go West quilt.
Elaine has used both solid and patterned fabric to great effect in her Triangle Trove quilt. I love how she’s pulled the solid colours from the printed fabric – it all ties together in a classy and elegant bow.
And just because it’s so much fun to see alternate versions, here’s Gina’s sunshine filled version again. Ahhh! (And check out that quilting.)
And this was my original version when the pattern was first published, in navy, gold, aqua and fuchsia.
Janice’s version of the Up and Away quilt looks fantastic in red, white and blue.
Chez Bonjour…
It’s all about the Olympics at Chez Bonjour! Being in Australia, most of the action happens when we’re asleep, but we enjoy waking up and watching all the recaps (bonus: it’s a quicker way to watch so we have time to view a greater variety of events). I do find it a little anxiety-inducing sometimes, especially after watching 10 video clips of winning/losing by a hair. It’s a rollercoaster of a way to wake up!
The husband and I had a mid-week degustation dinner at our local surf club, as part of the Sunshine Coast’s The Curated Plate. The Curated Plate is a month-long celebration of local food and wine; if you’re in the Queensland area you should check it out. If you’re not, you should come for a delicious foodie holiday next year! It was a brilliant 5-course meal and I must say, Dear Reader, that this little quilter was a little tipsy afterwards. The event did end fairly early (school night and all) so I had time to drink some water and shake off the sillies before bed. Woozy on a Wednesday, who am I??
I got down to the beach during the day this week, too. Everyone’s really enjoying the mild winter weather here on the Sunshine Coast.
Cats’ Corner
Our two Burmese cats, Tigger (orange) and Lulu (brown) say g’day (and not much else, because they’re always sleeping). They’re still seeking out the sun in these winter days.
At night they like to sleep right under the covers, sometimes at your feet, sometimes behind your knees. It’s a pain when you have to roll over (side sleeper here) but we all roll over with infinite care because no one wants to disturb the cat! There are 5 people in the house, all vying for a cat hot-water-bottle at night. Most mornings the first question we ask each other is “did you have a cat?” Safe to say these furry little squirts have us completely at their mercy.
Have a great weekend
I hope you’ve found something interesting or inspiring here today. It’s my hope that you’re able to catch a few moments for yourself over the weekend and spend some time sewing (or dreaming of sewing, sometimes just as good and a lot quicker!)
All the best, until next time,
Kirsty x
So glad to see you are working with your new pattern, currently “Kite Lattice”— I do like that pattern, and love the teal and citrony colors. Hot, Hot, Hot here in Arizona; 115 today!!
Oooof, Pam, 115? You really do need some cooling citron colours in your life! Take care and stay cool.
Pleasure as always to hear what’s going on in your neck of the woods. The kitties are lovely!
Dinner sounded yums as well! Will be trying the new quilt soon – too hot here to make any mental choices! Never thought to turn the pattern sideways! Thanks!
Hi Joan, the quilting can always wait for cooler weather. Reading is a much better option until autumn comes!
Great blog post as always. That link to the article on the value of hobbies is a wonderful read, and rings true in many ways as to why I started quilting, the joy I got from that first group I joined, and now 13 years later why I continue to create and learn new things.
Thanks for the link!
So glad you enjoyed it, Celia. I really love hobbies, but I also like the way they kind of make you find a fun, new community too. It’s a really great bonus benefit.
https://www.gia.edu/citrine
Hi Kirsty! Me being a jewelry maker, your colors in your kite quilt inspired me to look up the gem colors closest. Here is Citrine, pretty close to citron.
I was looking for a good comparison for chartreuse but there isn’t one category. Its’ usually related to quartz.
As always, love to read your blog posts.
Rose
Hi Rose, citrine sounds lovely. I think you can get some lemon-yellow sapphires, too, but I bet they cost a lot more than citrine. As for chartreuse it might be easier to buy a bottle of the liqueur!