Suzy Learns to Sew

Suzy wanted me to show her how to mend the strap on her book bag with the sewing machine. I thought it was a bit tough for a beginner, so I did the actual mending, but showed her what I was doing.

Then I showed her how to:

• thread the machine
• insert the bobbin
• bring up the bobbin thread
• sew along a straight line
• sew in reverse to end your stitches
• turn a corner while sewing
• pin two pieces of fabric together
• hand sew an opening 

  

She was very motivated to learn and went on to create a simple shoulder bag, a doll pillow and most of a doll comforter which I think is going to end up as a sleeping bag instead.

And now she's ahead of Emily! LOL

The Other Stuff

Suzy and Emily are going to learn to sew. I might look for a curriculum or I might just teach them what I know. Which isn't everything, but it is enough to mend and follow a pattern.

David is going to do a half-credit of Psychology using a free online course from about.com. He will also write papers to flesh out the class. He is fascinated with psychology so this will interest him.

He is also going to continue his programming study at Code Academy online - again FREE. I am not sure where he left off, but once he is back to it, I'll post about it. He also applied to learn virus removal at Geekstogo.com so if he is able to join that program, I will post about that too.

We will continue studying karate twice a week on Monday and Thursday afternoons. We have been learning for a year and a half now and have achieved green 2 (4th gup). Looks like we are on track for testing for black belt near the beginning of 2015. David does plan to continue after he graduates from high school.

And then, there's soccer. Three of the kids are on teams this fall, two of which are travel teams.

Ripped jeans and then....

I ripped my favorite comfy pair of jeans this week. Bummer, right? Well, I always leave the ripped jeans sitting around a day or two with the idea that I could do some sort of craft from them.

Here's a cool idea for making Christmas stockings out of old blue jeans. I think I could do this! At least in my mind I can.... Don't dissuade me! (Check the entry above this one for a photo of one.)

I got that idea from THIS page which offers 25 things to do with old jeans. Sounds like a co-op class to me! LOL And I'd ADORE having a quilt made out of old denim. Hmmm.....

Oh, and WOW, check out this Flickr group based around the same idea - reusing old denim. There is a quilt there that is to DIE for. And a basket made of old denim and piles of other great ideas too!

My sewing machine is not working right. Time to take it to the sewing machine repair. My husband, handy as he is, doesn't seem to want to tackle that project. Maybe if I tell him how much it will cost....

Oh my, am I getting CRAFTY now? What is the world coming to?