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Wow, what an exciting month I've been having! It all started with a visit from my nieces. It was their first time to see my newly re-organized sewing room and I had been promising them some of my scraps for the paper dolls they like to make. I handed them a big bag and before I knew it, they were laying out a quilt! Piece by piece they were creating rows of my left over fabrics. I decided, "Let's put these together!" The girls had never sewn before and we had a blast! I snapped on my quarter inch foot and manned the iron as they sewed the scraps they found into strips. Once each strip was constructed, I helped them sew it onto a piece of batting. A sort of quilt as you go. By the end of the day, they had a quilt! I put a piece of backing fabric on, right sides together, sewed around the edges, turned it and steam-a-seamed the opening closed.
The girls really got the bug! We went through all of my projects and I showed them what I had made with most of the scraps they were having so much fun with! Maddie loves texture, so I couched funky yarns on the quilt. While I was helping Maddie on one of my machines, Mary Beth was playing on my Creative Vision. It was so amazing to me how quickly she figured out how to navigate the machine! She was doing lettering, created a little pillow with eyelets on it, so clever and creative! By the end of the weekend, the had a cute quilt to take home along with a few other little projects. To top it all off, I went into my sewing room after they left to clean up and found the thank you card Mary Beth made for me. She had pieced together a few pieces of fabric and stitched two lines of text, "Thank you Aunt Sara, Love Mary Beth and Maddie!" How cute is that? Talk about touching my heart and renewing my passion for sewing!
I used to teach kids classes in my mom's quilt shop and some parents would drop their kids off and say, "I'm so glad you offer this class so my daughter can sew on your machines. I don't let her touch my machine, she might brake it!" Every time I heard that I felt a twinge in my chest. My mom taught me how to sew when I was four years old, thank God she wasn't afraid to let me touch her machine. Come on, is your child really going to do anything to your machine that you haven't already done? Be honest, we've all jammed up our machines a time or two!! The other story that hurt to hear was when a parent would let their child sew, but only on the 25 year old boat anchor that had been replaced, you know what I'm talking about! If we don't enjoy sewing on that old thing as an experienced sewer with lots of tricks, how can we expect a novice to enjoy it and want to keep on sewing?
I really think that we sewers have an obligation to spread the joy of our hobby. Since sewing isn't really done for necessity anymore (how many of you sew because it saves you money? HA!), we need to let people in on why we do it! I sew, because it relaxes me and I still think that a hand made gift means more than what I can buy in a store. How about you?
Hopefully, each of you has had the opportunity to share your passion for sewing with someone new and found it as rewarding as I did. If you haven't, try it out! And, please don't be afraid to let that person touch your "Baby!!"
Until next time,
Sara
