Sew Anyway!

This day holds a lot of memories and emotion. As I'm sure many of you can, I can recall the exact moment, where I was, who I was with and what I was doing when our world was changed forever. 

Much has happened in my life in the past 10 years to change my perspective on a lot of things. And the truth is, the great losses in my life have probably been the greatest teachers, helping me to learn better what is most important and to cling fully to those things while allowing the other to pass by.

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This week my girls and I were sewing with a new pattern. The enthusiasm was high and I knew the challenge was at least equal, but we set out to tackle the unknown anyway. The pattern was a bit more difficult than even I had predicted, and I could see the discouragement creeping in a bit for my sweet girl. I struggled with a balance of wanting to be real with her about not giving up, always doing our best and benefiting later from the results of facing our challenge, while wanting sewing to be something that she loves. All who have learned to sew understand that that love grows through practice and discipline like in every area of life, but to convey that to my child when she was feeling defeated by something that originally brought her excitement....well, just not the right time for the "practice makes perfect" speech ya know?

Nonetheless, we persevered. And much to her delight and surprise even her experienced sewing mother made significant mistakes!

May I in introduce to you, Scipper & Skamper...

Our Seriously SCREWED UP Squirrels!

So many different things went wrong with these little guys, I won't even list it all! LOL! But the one that helped us laugh it all off...

We sewed the tails on upside down!!! And sissy's even got caught a little in the side seam when she finished it. So much for trying a complicated new pattern with 3 younger siblings running about and constantly interrupting! We're gonna save the next for for a "girl's day"!

Interesting thing though, the next day I came across this delightful blog named The Empty Nest and in her header, Janet has the phrase, "Look for the imperfections...for their lies the beauty." I immediately showed it to my daughter and we both smiled and agreed. Our little friends most definitely didn't turn out as we had envisioned them, but somehow, the character they have far outweighs our vision, frustration or disappointment. The baby instantly hugged the one I made and carried it about the rest of the day, and Scipper has slept snuggly beside my daughter each night. ;)

So, point being...don't get caught up in the perfection of a project to the point of loosing your joy. There will be those times that everything falls into place and then those where it just doesn't, regardless of effort. Shake it off. Laugh it off. Embrace the memory that it will become. And...

SEW ANYWAY!