Two New Colourways for Argyle Rag Ruffle

I am so pleased to offer two new colourways for the Argyle Rag Ruffle quilt! Colour is something that I truly love to play with, but I still struggle with!

There is now this bright yellow and grey! I love these rag quilts!

And there is also the soft blue and brown for snuggling with.

I am in the process of looking for a wholesale distributor for my patterns. If you would like to distribute Pretty Pleat Quilts, please contact me! Or, if you are a store and would like to buy wholesale directly from me, I am happy to accommodate that also!

Snuggly Snowman Pattern is for sale

Now at Cindy-rella’s is my newest pattern, Snuggly Snowman. I am so happy with this pattern!

Snuggly Snowman photographed on snow!
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It uses this beautiful white minky on the back which makes it extra snuggly. You can’t see from this photo, but all the white is made from this super soft minky.

The snowflakes are of my own design, but you could also use the 7” template from AccuQuilt (which they also carry at Cindy-rellas).

Cindy-Rellas is Awesome!

I have found the most perfect place in Regina to sell my patterns. In fact, it is my first place selling patterns and I couldn’t be more pleased.
You can see their website here.
Cindy, the owner, has been so generous with her time and advice. She didn’t seem phased that I have never actually sold any patterns in a store because everyone needs to start somewhere!


Cindy-rellas quilting store is the first place in Regina to carry patterns by Pretty Pleats
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I am so very excited to be working with Cindy in her store. As you can see, she put my quilt on display at the front with the sewing machines. I would really like a new machine! :)

My pleated apples quilt is the first thing you see when you come in!
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My finished shirt from the summer

I finished my shirt. I am not sure how I feel about it. It doesn't fit quite right and the lattice smocking (although very, very cute) is NOT STRAIGHT. (Whose fault is that?)

Darn.

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This is why I buy clothes at the store instead of making them at home. The last time I bought clothing, I got a t-shirt at Old Navy for $0.97. How can I make something that fits me for $0.97?

(Here is where I get into the ramifications of buying a shirt for $0.97 which, of course, are many. There is the whole worker situation in Bangladesh or wherever, not including the environmental cost of this shirt and the fact that most everyone has dozens of clothes that they are not wearing. I am not much of a shopper, but I do have a number of plain t-shirts that I wear every day. But I try to be conscious of the fact that we need to be careful about the things that we buy and how it impacts the world more broadly. End of rant.)

So I remade the shirt. I got rid of the smocking. I couldn't handle doing that again as I needed to wear it soon.



Me and my handsome husband at the wedding.
This is, unfortunately, the best photo of the two of us together.

Anyway, I'm both happy and annoyed. Annoyed that it doesn't fit as well as one that I buy from the store (most notably because I can TRY IT ON FIRST before I buy it). And happy because this sucker is finished and I was able to wear it to my uncle's wedding. (His first wedding; 50 years in the making.)

(As a side note, what do you get for your uncle who is 50 and getting married for the first time? Do you get him a gift? Well, we decided to make him two Angry Birds pinatas. Yes, they were awesome, thank you! Way better than a gift card to The Keg.)



My original Angry Birds bride and groom, his and hers pinatas!
Also, a lot of fun when the bride give a hard whack to the groom piñata!
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I'll stick to quilts, I think. My only goal in making those is to make them flat. If you don't count the pleats! :)

Sewing myself a shirt

My dad was in Beijing and bought me half a meter of silk.

My girl in the plaid dress I made her. 2009.

What do I do with this? I am not a clothing sewer. I can't remember the last time I made clothing for myself. I do remember making a dress for my little girl (before she started sewing her own things). And once I made pajama pants for my darling husband. I'm not sure why. It just seemed like the thing to do.

Now I'm not sure about everyone else, but I find that if I buy a pattern and then make it, it never fits. It's huge. Always. I make my regular size, which in every store is SMALL.

As I looked at the pattern, I wondered: maybe this is because for the actual bust for the small size is 43". Hello! 43"? What am I? A model in a girly mag? I am a small! I come with a small bust.

I measured my bust right now with a metal tape measure over all my clothes and it came in at 35". And I am at the height of my milk production with a six-month-old son. If you had asked me back before having kids, it would have probably been 25". Seriously.

Anyway, I have a plan to use this pattern to make a smocked top. Just the smocked part since the pattern is for a child. But I am not making it from a pattern. They will just make me look like I am wearing a mumu.

I Have Lots of Time for Quilting with Five Small Kids

And here's how:

Baby Felix sleeping on his new blanket.
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My baby, sleeping on a blanket in the living room. There is a type of magic that comes out when you have five kids. That fifth one is special (as well as the first four, of course).

I have a bouncy chair that I keep in the basement where I sew. He bounces. He giggles.

But what do I do with the other kids? I'll admit that I do the bulk of my "sewing machine" sewing when my darling husband is home.

I also do a lot of hand sewing with the kids are around--at the side of the playground, waiting for gymnastics, sitting at the table while they do a puzzle. Then I can listen to them tell me about their Minecraft world (ugh!) or their new Rainbow Loom project in minute detail (double ugh!) or whatever is on their mind. My hands are moving and I am listening to them.

I try to listen to them, even when I am not really interested, although I struggle with this. I have a very limited tolerance for Minecraft talk.

I'll admit that I would love to spend an hour every day sitting in front of my sewing machine, but the truth is, my sewing machine is in the basement facing a wall. And I am not interacting nor engaging with my children whatsoever when I am doing this.

So I don't do very much quilting these days on the machine. I do a lot of it in my mind, though, planning and dreaming of colours and techniques. I hope this comes across in my patterns at least! :)

And I imagine that one day the kids will be older and I will have more time to work on my projects. I am not eager for this, but I know it will come anyway...

Teaching My Sons to Sew

In addition to my daughter, I have FOUR sons. I'm not sure how that happened...

My oldest son (aged 7) sewing his Plants vs Zombies quilt.
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I should disclose now that we home school, so we have a lot of time to pursue such things. And because we home school, my sons are less likely to know that no one else sews! Boys or girls for that matter. I remember sewing in home ec in grade 7. Now my oldest is only in grade two, so we are starting them young.

Even my four-year-old son got in on the action, but he was much more interested in going to the fabric store and picking out the colours.

I was very proud of them. They really stuck to it. And since it is a type of creative construction (like Lego), they seemed to really enjoy it.

They are pretty pleased with themselves. It really was a group effort, but it came out well!
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 I'm hoping to make a pattern available so that you too can make this quilt with your sons!

(I imagine that Minecraft would also lend itself well to quilting. If you know of anyone doing this, let me know!)