Sewing

My fondest memories of my mom include her cooking and sewing. When I was a child, it seemed like she was at her sewing machine every day. She taught me how to sew baby doll clothes. It seemed like all moms sewed back then. Lisa, Amy, and Shannon were my neighbors and their moms sewed. I'm sad to say I didn't really pay attention to those sewing lessons and I lost everything I ever learned.

I think my mom would be proud of me now. A few years ago we were visiting my friend, Rochelle, and she started showing me all her albums from 4-H. I had no idea what 4-H was. She said she was involved from 3rd through 12th grade and she still uses just about everything she ever learned from 4-H. I thought that would be great for Lauren so when we got home from Rochelle's I started searching for a local 4-H group. I found many websites, but was so disappointed not to see anything about sewing. I assumed it just didn't exist anymore. I gave up.

Last summer I ran into another friend who mentioned 4-H and she said there IS still a sewing group. The good news is kids can't start 4-H until 3rd grade so Lauren didn't miss a thing! We went to our first meeting in August and I was surprised to find that about 30% of the families go to our church. Here are some pictures of Lauren's first project:

I have to say I think I had as much fun as she did. We started planning on making some towels for Christmas gifts:

Then I was inspired by some dance bags I saw at the dance studio so I made the girls these:

 

And then I got the bright idea on Pintrest to make some clothes for Lauren's new American Girl doll:

Next, I made a sleeping bag for the doll, but I don't think I took a picture yet. I have tons of patterns printed from Pintrest and hope to sit down and make more help Lauren make them soon.

On a side note, I remember when I met Stephen's parents for the first time and I noticed that his mom, who was born and raised in the San Antonio area, had the exact same sewing machine and cabinet that my mom had! I never realized how odd the chances were until I tried to find their sewing machine and cabinet on the internet. I have searched thousands of pictures and finally found the cabinet, it sure brings back memories for me: