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.
www.prettypleatquilts.blogspot.com

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!
www.prettypleatquilts.blogspot.com

 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!)

Regina Quilt Show 2014

The Regina Quilt Show was in May, but I was only able to get things ready for this post now! Time flies when it is finally nice outside.

I came in first in my category for Recycled Quilts! Woo! The prize is just enough to pay for my banquet ticket.

My first prize quilt: The Font Quilt. It was made out of recycled dress shirts and uses templates and spray paint. I have yet to find someone else who uses spray paint on their quilt!
www.prettypleatquilts.blogspot.com

Unfortunately none of the kid quilts won. :( We had three in a category of seven and not one of them placed. This was quite disappointing because I know who I would have given ribbons to.

But seriously, we were quite surprised by this, especially after seeing the other quilts. The one that came in second place was professionally quilted! By an adult quilter that won a bunch of prizes for her fabulous quilting! Well!

My girl with her jeans and dresses quilt. Also next to her brother's Pea Shooter quilt (the green and purple).
You will notice that we didn't get a ribbon although we are surrounded by then. That one to the right of the photo is just square blocks and quilted by a professional. I'm sure you know what I think!
www.prettypleatquilts.blogspot.com

And then there was the fact that my small children (7, 6 and 4) were up again 13 year olds. I really wonder what information the judges knew because in the children's category, shouldn't age be somewhat of a consideration?

My G with the quilt she made for Felix. The comment by the judge was that she should have picked a darker fabric for the name. I tried to steer her in that direction, but she wouldn't listen to me! :)
www.prettypleatquilts.blogspot.com

Maybe I need to be a judge! I feel like my friend and I spent the vast majority of our time going around and trying to figure out what the judges were seeing--why did this quilt win over that one?

Let's chalk it up to another learning experience.

Making Quilts with a 5-Year-Old

It has come as no surprise that my little girl wanted to make a quilt.

My big girl making her own quilt, the Heart Rag Quilt.
www.prettypleatquilts.blogspot.com

So we started one. I designed the pattern, then we went to Fabricland to pick out some fabric.

She traced the hearts and cut them out using little Fiskar scissors. Then we appliqued them on and stuffed them with stuffing. (We are using Crayola Washable Markers, so let's hope they stand up to their name of "washable.")

It went well. I like the pattern I developed because it is simple enough for her to do 100% of the stitching, but also not going to take us months and months to do.

The pattern is now available on Etsy. Teach your kids to sew. There is nothing more exciting than making something for yourself.

Argyle Rag Ruffle Pattern

If you've ever been given a rag quilt, you probably love it!

I know that I am lucky enough to have an aunt who has made special rag quilts for each of my children.

What I also know is that same rag quilt will be dragged around the house, washed, dragged, washed until it is literally... um... rags.

The first part to go is the fringe, the part that was ragged to begin with. How can we give the quilt the same "raggy" look but without losing it after 50 washes?

My answer is a looped rag quilt! On the edge, instead of a 3/4" seam that is snipped, there is a loop that gives that wonderful rag look, but without as much fraying.


Argyle Rag Ruffle quilt with awesome lopped ragged edge for more durability!
www.prettypleatquilts.blogspot.com

And if you have very tactile children (like I do), then the loops are lovely little places to put fingers through as you curl up for a nap.

You can see the pattern and buy it here. The first ten people who buy it and then make a comment on Etsy, will get 50% off their very next pattern purchase!

An Alphabet Quilt with a Spray Paint Twist

"The Font Quilt." It is finished and ready for the Regina Quilt Show.

Font quilt with spray paint letters.
www.prettypleatquilts.blogspot.com

It's made with spray paint and old men's dress shirts. And fonts. Lots and lots of fonts!

Now I love fonts. I love the art of them. I love the constraints. I particularly love that they are 100% copyright free. So I can blow them up and print them and use them anyway I choose.

The Font Quilt
www.prettypleatquilts.blogspot.com

I have always felt particularly that I am not much of a sketcher. (I used to say, "Not much of an artist," but I quit saying that some time ago.) Ask me to draw a cat and you will get something with a round body, four legs which may or may not look like a bear. Or a dog. I might add whiskers to give you a better clue.

But I love fonts because I love design. It's like asking a ton of different people to draw a cat, but instead of a cat, you are asking them to draw an "A." And the A must be recognized as an A. Other than that, you are off on your own.

So fonts are fun. Fonts are beautiful. And I am paying my tribute to the font world here with my original design.

My Epic I-Spy Quilt with Pleated Border

This quilt took me almost two years of work.

Mind you, I wasn't working continuously--I did have to cook and do laundry--but I did work on it a lot.

Each square is hand appliqued on. Each block is fussy-cut. Each border block was pleated. (Have I mentioned that I love pleats?)

I had this little Le Kit box (a pencil box from the 90s) that I put one square in. So when I was out and about with my four kids (only four at the time!*) I would sit on the sidelines and stitch. And stitch. Eventually, there were 24 blocks that each had 16 little hand appliqued squares on them. That's 384 little hand appliqued squares.

 *And now I'm feeling old because my daughter has stared to quilt! You can see what an instructional quilting video from a 5-year-old looks like here! (Don't worry--it's edited and only four minutes long.)

Detail blue pleated borders in I-Spy Quilt
www.prettypleatquilts.blogspot.com

At the Regina Quilt Show, this quilt won Best Use of Colour. (In Canada, we spell "colour" with a "u.") Before this, I would have gladly told you that I had a terrible sense of colour. But then I won this prize, so I had to quit saying this.

Red Pleats and detail of I-Spy quilt
www.prettypleats.blogspot.com

I love colour! And I love pleats! And rainbows! So vote for my little quilt as best in ROYGBIV!

Also, please look at my other entry here for Modern Quilts where I use spray paint (gasp!) on a quilt made of recycled dress shirts!

Thanks for coming by.

An Instructional Quilting Video from a Five-Year-Old Girl

My little 5-year-old made a quilt for her baby brother, Felix.

Having recently discovered the fun of iMovie, we decided to film part of it. Then I cut it into a four minute masterpiece.

Okay, masterpiece might be a bit of a stretch. But we did have a lot of fun doing it. For extra hominess, you can hear my furnace coming on and off in the background. I think we need a sound studio! I'll run this past my darling husband...