Apr. 23, 2008 - Handiwork

One year for Christmas, I wanted to make my mother a cross stitch picture.  I found just the right pattern, it was the words of Amazing Grace with a lot of delicate border work and it was going to take quite a bit of time to make.

I gathered all the different colored threads and material that I would need for it, and with much anticipation, I sat down to begin working on it.  All of a sudden, both girls were on either side of me leaning over the material watching me work with thread and needle.  Now they had seen me do different projects before, but for some reason, this project fascinated them.  They were 5 and 3 and wanted to be very involved in it. 

The problem was, this was for a Christmas present and I didn't have a lot of time to do it in.  Every time I picked up the cross stitch, the girls were right there wanting to "help" make it.  I let them do a couple of stitches, thinking that it would satisfy them, but it did not.  They just wanted to do it again.  After a few days of this, I realized something had to be done. 

I decided I would make them their own little sewing boxes and they could sew every time that I sewed.  I found a couple of shoe boxes and rummaged around in my sewing supplies for items to fill them with.  Things like buttons, felt, ribbons, embroidery thread, scrap material, burlap, yarn, scissors, sewing needles, straight pins, spool of thread, etc., all went into the boxes. 

So the next time I sat down to work on the cross stitch and the girls were leaning over my work, I told them I had a surprise for them.  I pulled out the boxes and presented them with their own little work baskets.  I wish I had thought to take pictures.  It was precious.  They were so excited to have their own sewing boxes, they didn't care that it was a shoe box or that everything I put in there were scraps and leftovers.  It was their own and they loved them. 

I put my cross stitch away for awhile and we examined their boxes together and talked about all the different things they could do and make.  There wasn't any planned thing for them to make, I just wanted them to play around with the needles and thread and see what they could come up with.  I pulled back out my cross stitch and the girls sat on the floor by my feet and we all happily sewed. 

They made all sorts of little things. They sewed little pictures onto the felt, sewed buttons all over little pieces of material and made little pouches.  It was so fun to see them work on little projects with no set plan, just their imaginations.  The stitches were all different sizes and directions, but they were still so proud of the things they made and so was I.  There was the usual little dramatic scenes when the thread tangled or got knotted up, but we just stopped what we were doing and tried to fix it the best we could.  I showed them when my thread would get tangled or knotted so they would see that it happened to me too. I was able to get the cross stitch done in time for Christmas and the girls started a lifelong love of working with their hands. 

When we started to officially homeschool, anytime I read aloud to the girls, I would have them quietly work on something with their hands.  They could sew or draw, later adding in crocheting or knitting, whatever they wanted to work on, sometimes they just made things with legos, just as long as they were working on something with their hands while I read.  Their skills have improved dramatically with time and they don't always need to have a pattern to come up with what they have in their minds.

I had Emily Rose take this picture yesterday so that you could see what some of the things were that I had put in their boxes.  Twelve years later I still have items like this around waiting to made into something.  Here are a few links to some of the things they have made lately.  Breezy hasn't posted too much handiwork, mostly her art, which she did get a lot of practice from during those reading times.  I will have to look around and find some of their early work and post those, too. 

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Comments

Apr. 24, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Anonymous

Oh Robin, you just brought back a bunch of happy memories. When I would go visit at my grandma-on -the-farm's house she would have little things like this for us. We had our own "crayon" boxes, that were made out of large match boxes. She gave us our own cups to decorate with the red tape that bound the bananas and other stickers that came on the bananas. I always felt extra special when I was there, and I always learned something new.
Thanks for bringing back those happy times to my mind. :)
Love,
Marie :)
Lord willing we'll see you Sunday.

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Apr. 30, 2008 - Robinlyn,

Posted by Juldos

I can just imagine your daughters blogging someday about their special boxes someday.
I can remember my own mother making a box for me and teaching me to embroider when I was young.
Bethany and I knit together; but I need to teach her other forms of handwork and sewing.
Happy Day!
Julie D. (who can't believe I'm just now meeting you!)

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