Wednesday, February 25, 2009

A New Experience

I remember when we first started gardening 8 years ago. I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the whole concept. I would get confused about when to plant certain things and succession planting and the whole nine yards. It was more than I wanted to think about at times. My husband was the ever patient teacher, and soon I took over most of the gardening chores. I am now the reminder to him on things concerning the garden.



Now, I am starting a new endeavor; one that I don't have quite as much faith to turn out in the end. If I felt overwhelmed when we first started gardening, I feel doubly overwhelmed now. The only reason I am doing this is to bail my husband out with my daughter. You see...it all started on the evening we went Christmas shopping. We weren't even shopping for our daughter. We had already completed her gift list. We were heading down the aisle that had real artist pencils to purchase for our nephew. To the right of the so called pencils, my husband had an epiphany. He picked up a sewing machine and put it in our cart. "What are you doing?", I quickly asked. I am buying Hope a sewing machine for Christmas. I remind him that Hope's Christmas shopping was completed and we needed to purchase for the other children on our list. He told me that he knew she would be thrilled and he wanted to do this special thing for our daughter. "And who is going to teach her to use this new machine", was the next question out of my mouth. He assured me that he would be the one. It would be a daughter father thing. That was all well and good. He did teach her the machine. He has spent countless hours with her reading the manual doing all the things that I never learned to do.

He recently asked me to take her to a new fabric store in our area and let her choose material for her and him to make a pillow. I decided that wasn't that hard. I could drive the girl child to town and purchase material. Simple enough...well, it didn't quite work out like I had it planned. Simple is never really simple in my world. When we got to the store, the lady was so very nice and encouraged Hope in her new hobby. She suggested that we come to the new quilting class to learn basic stitches and how to sew. The idea is that one time a month the class meets to teach basic sewing by making a quilt square. At the end of the year, there will be 12 quilt squares made (so they say, but I'm still not quite sure about that), and then the next year we will all be ready to make a quilt. Hope was thrilled to be invited to a REAL sewing class with a REAL teacher and other REAL people. She promptly asked her Daddy if he could take her, but his REAL job seemed to interfere with her plans. Guess who that left??? Yep, that left me the REAL mom who NEVER learned to sew. I decided that if I could learn to garden surely I could learn to sew. So off to the sewing class we went. I purchased a few cool tools. I made one cut with the wheel roller and then I cut my finger. That took me all of about 10 seconds. The good thing about it was I didn't need immediate medical attention like the teenager next to me who also cut her finger with her new device. 3 long hours later here is what I had to show:



It took me T.H.R.E.E. hours to make this. It isn't even the same size. Tell me how can I measure EXACTLY and come out with two pieces totally different sizes? I don't know. I even invested in the handy dandy cool ruler thing, but obviously it wasn't very useful.

THREE hours of my life to make this. I could have cleaned the whole entire upstairs in three hours. I could have made a very nice meal in three hours. I could have planted a lot of plants in three hours!!! Now I am committed to sewing class for the next two years of my life!!! Can you believe it? My husband's Christmas gift to our daughter has taken hours from my life. I think I should demand retribution. For every hour that I suffer through sewing class I should get a free hour of something fun. That sounds fair to me. Of course, Hope is doing a bang up job at sewing class. Perhaps the teacher just had pity on her for having such an inept mother. Whatever the case, she did spend extra time working with Hope. What did I get for my efforts? The teacher sent me back to the iron because I didn't even iron my "square" good enough. Hope kept asking me if I was having fun. I don't know why the girl child would ask me such a question. I should think that the wrinkles in my forehead should give away the fact that I was a bit stressed. I didn't want to lie to the child, but I found myself growling something about I would rather be having fun in the garden. Yes, retribution is definitely what I need...and two Tylenol for next month's class...and maybe some private sewing lessons!
grace and peace,
julie


10 comments:

Mountain Mama said...

Once again - hilarious!

Nice quilt (or whatever you call it).
ashley

Unknown said...

could be we have the same problem?took piano for 2 years then the teacher fired me(pupil),said she was robbing me and i just wasn't piano material. huh?

Amy Ellen said...

It gets better trust me!!! You just have to keep at it. And yeah rotary cutters are kinda dangerous. And yeah it is so easy to get different sized strips even with "perfect" cutting. I started quilting 22 years ago I think and if I don't go slow and pay enough attention I will still mess it up.

Granted I do not quilt everyday, but still you would think I could do it blindfolded after that long nope. But seriously it does get better. Just gotta watch out for the cutter. OUCH!

Hugs
Amy

PS I still am not the best about ironing and will try to get away without it. It kinda makes it easier if you do iron though, LOL. Good Luck

Tracy said...

I'm taking 4H sewing with my daughter! I've quilted for several years, but garment sewing is a whole other issue for me.

I'm proud of you.

Hang in there :)

Paige said...

Sister Julie, you should call my mom! Lol. Even though my grandma was a closet seamstress, mom never picked up much more than sewing on a button. As with everything, practice makes perfect! Hope told me about her sewing lessons; I'm glad to hear she's having fun!

Marci said...

Ah, I see that God is giving you another chance to lay down your rights and wants to serve your husband faithfully. :) It will be so worth your time. You are very creative and adding this as a skill to your life will enhance your creativity even more. Plus, you are getting to spend lots of time with your precious daughter (of which I do not have one).

There, do you feel better now? :)

TnFullQuiver said...

Ashley,
It is suppose to a square the size of one quilt square. After working on it for so long, I decided that I didn't even like the fabric that I chose! Go figure!!

Amy Ellen,
I pray that you are right. I am going to trust you and keep on trying. Too bad you aren't close by to give me private lessons!!

Tracy,
In for a penny, in for a pound. I have to hang in there because now I have spent money on all the gadgets that are required to cut a straight line and make perfect measurements. The only good thing about it is that Hope is truly enjoying herself.

Paige,
When i need a sympathetic ear I will give your mom a call!! Not only is Hope having fun, but she is actually make real squares!

Marci,
I am hoping that I can get it. If I can at least semi-master it, then I know I will have accomplished something that has always managed to kick me. You see, this isn't my first time trying to learn. I am very thankful that Hope and I can do this together. Not only do I enjoy spending time with her, but she can also help me. Plus I have made a commitment to her so I will have to stick it out this time around. If after two years I still can't sew, then I'm going to be done.

Kay,
It does sound like the same problem!

grace and peace,
julie

idigpotatoes said...

Patience! and a good 1/4 foot for the sewing machine....do you have a 1/4 inch foot on your machine?

Thanks for the great blog, i stumbled on it looking for a wheat bread recipe and it has quickly become part of my day. (the only non utilitarian website, that i didnt give up for lent)

VoiceInTheWilderness said...

I hope you will post more of your work as you progress. Your photos look just like my attempts at quilt squares. And I stink at ironing, too.

I had a sweet older lady at church give me an "easy" dress pattern and fabric to make a dress for my daughter. She assured me that I could do it, so I tried. I eventually gave up in tears and had to admit defeat. I thought about stapling it together and cleverly covering the staples with something just to show her I gave it my all, but never did.
Alas, alack! Keep at it, I know you can do it!

TnFullQuiver said...

idigpotatoes,
My 1/4 inch foot was off!!! That made it look horrible. Thanks for the advice and now I have that fixed. Thank you for the nice comment on my blog. It means a lot to me.

Voice in the wilderness,
We will have too wait and see what i end up with. If I keep at it I am sure I will post pictures. I am planning to conquer this issue of sewing in my life...i hope. Thanks for the encouragment!

grace and peace,
julie