Winter Break Boredom Busters and A New Found Love of Sewing

Sewing on the new sewing machine

School is back in full swing, and it should start getting back to normal around here soon (I hope!). Winter break can be a doozy as most moms know. It snowed here for a few days and there wasn't a lot of opportunities for outside play, which meant we needed to get creative with activities for the kids. The week before Christmas flew by in a flurry of wrapping, shopping and baking. We made all kinds of goodies and spent some good quality time together. We didn't even take any pictures that week, or Christmas for that matter. I might regret that some day, but honestly it was just kind of nice to live in the moment as opposed to capturing the moment.


As previously arranged between Santa Claus and myself, I received a new sewing machine for Christmas (cue squealing like a little girl). I really needed a new one as my trusty Brother CS6000I ended up with a bent shaft a few months ago. It was an abrupt and sad end to what I always believed to be a comfortable relationship. I must say, there are better ways to say, "I no longer want to be with you." But, alas, it was time to say goodbye.  This ended up being a good thing for me, as I really, really love my new sewing machine. It has all of the bells and whistles I wanted, and was significantly less expensive than the other one I was considering. And, because it was so economical, I was OK with letting the kids use it too.  They have their own Singer Simple, but it can be a bit cumbersome for the kids to use as it comes unthreaded easily and requires the use of the foot pedal. Also, it is completely manual and requires a ton of attention to detail. It seems counter-intuitive to let your kids sew on a newer, nicer machine, but it turned out to be a really good thing and here's why...

The kids are discussing their sewing projects

Brendon has always been interested in sewing, making lots of projects over the past few years, but Danika never got into it. She always said she couldn't do it and it was too hard. Considering how hard her machine was for her to use, it was no wonder she thought it was "too hard". Surprisingly, as soon as I let her use my new sewing machine, she sewed her little heart out! For days, she sat at the sewing machine creating a multitude of projects.

First quilt!

Pillow

She made her first "quilt"(Sorry for the grainy Iphone photo), found clothes to mend and made herself tons of "pillows" stuffed with scraps from projects I had been working on.





As she got more comfortable with her new found sewing skills, she made another quilt and a headband for herself as well.

















It is a joy to see my children get into and explore a passion of mine, it makes me very happy. Beyond that though, it is so good for their developing brains to put down the technology and get creative for awhile. I can't wait to see where this new found love of sewing takes her!