Sharing my Love of Sewing!

Several years ago we moved from Oregon to Texas to be near our grandkids – we wanted to be year-round grandparents, rather than just holiday and vacation grandparents; what a blessing it has been!

A side benefit is we get to teach them things that we’ve learned and enjoyed. One of those things is my love of sewing. Our granddaughter, now 6, has been enamored with my sewing machine since she first saw it. Over the last year she’s been able to sit with me and ‘sew’ things – stretching to put her foot on the pedal and still guide the fabric with her little fingers. It’s been a joy to watch her – I can see already how much she loves all the fabric colors and textures, and know she’s just itching to get busy!

When we were Christmas shopping, I knew that I wanted to get her a small sewing machine. I didn’t want a ‘real’ machine, because it would be too heavy, and would have too many bells and whistles for her. And, I didn’t want a cheap toy machine because it’s just too frustrating when it doesn’t really sew anything.

We found a Singer Pixie Plus machine that is lightweight, but still has a sturdiness to it that looked like it could withstand some wear and tear. It also has eight different stitches to lend some variety to her sewing.

She’s had the machine since Christmas, and has used it some, but this week she decided it was time to work on a project. We decided on the ever-important pincushion!! I figured, with four straight edges, it was something that would be easy to show her how to make turns, sew a straight line, stuff with poly-fill, and then sew it closed.

She tried really hard, but a few times she ran off the edge – thank goodness for seam rippers. She took it all in though, and didn’t get frustrated. I think her very first project turned out perfectly  – I’m so proud of her, and can’t wait until she’s ready to take over the She and Me Designs sewing and quilting business 🙂

The sewing machine is perfect for her.  She’s able to reach the small pedal, and the machine is light enough that she can move it around on the table to where its comfortable.  I’m so happy that the machine sews well, because as all us sewers know, it’s incredibly frustrating when our machines are acting up!!!

Have you taught your daughter or granddaughter to sew?  What projects did you work on, and how did it go?  I’d love to hear your experiences, and some hints for some more projects.

Hope you are all having a wonderful January – if you are decorating for Valentines Day take a moment to hop on over to She and Me Designs to check out some sweet Hearts decorations.

All my best –

Linda

 

 

 

 

 

Adventures with the Grandkids!

One of our many reasons for relocating to Texas (beyond just being close to our kids and grandkids) was to be available to take care of the grandkids for extended periods when our son and daughter-in-law wanted / needed some vacation time.

Even though we spend a lot of time with the grandkids, it’s usually just a couple hours here or there, and ‘entertaining’ isn’t really an issue. I’m not particularly creative at coming up with interesting things to do, so keeping them busy can be quite the challenge! Fortunately they are pretty creative on their own 🙂 and then we have to clean it up!!!

We decided this morning, after a hearty French Toast breakfast, to take a little trip over to our 5th wheel so we could pick up a few forgotten items, and take a walk around. The kids enjoy feeding the ducks (wish I’d gotten pictures), and just running around the lake area!

 

 

It was nice enjoying it with them – they found a few bugs that they needed to check out, and noticed some beautiful white geese near the lake.  The few turtles that were resting along the lake headed for the deepest part as soon as they heard us coming!

All in all, even though we didn’t do anything extraordinary. we all agreed we had a good time – and to seal the deal Papa took us all out to lunch!  Back at home, Josh and I played pirates – I was Izzy!!   And Caroline drew a picture for me of our trek around the park, with a treasure at the end of the trail.  Notice at the top, it says, “Nana I heart you” – Awwwwww!!!!   I love them all so much!!!

Hope the rest of the week goes as well………….

Have a great weekend, and if you are spending it with your grandkids, I hope you’ll have some special adventures together as well!  Take care all,

 

Linda