Who was that Masked Bear?

During Grandma's visit in January, we dusted off  my sewing machine that had been sitting all alone in the hallway closet for the last 2 years (except for the short stint when James took it out of the box while I was gone and left it on the table for me to read the instructions and learn to sew). 

It never happened.

First, I don't know how to sew plus I find sewing machines a little intimidating.  When I was in middle school I had to take home economics and we had to learn to sew.  I could never apply the right amount of pressure to the pedal and my turtle pillow looked a little scary and would be perfectly at home on the Island of Misfit Toys (if he were a toy).  Why we couldn't sew square pillows, I'll never know. 

"It's like driving a car." The teacher explained as she sat in the chair and gentle pushed the pedal.   Hmmm... I was 12, 13 at the oldest, I actually had never driven a car.  So in addition to having nightmares about a half sewn turtle pillow chasing me around, I started  having nightmares about driving on sidewalks and people screaming and jumping out of the way. My parents had to force me to get my driver's license when I turned 16.

(Why do I own a sewing machine then?  Because, now that I know how to drive and give the gas pedal just the right amount of pressure...I'm ready to tackle sewing (I think) and because it was a gift...a lovely gift...

and I'm ready to give that turtle pillow one more go...except he will be square because I don't need another turtle pillow on my couch.)

So, why did it never happen?

(2)  Before I could read the instructions, my sweet little John lost a very important part of the sewing machine while he was tinkering with it (or so we thought).

(3)  I'm not a "sit down and read instructions kind of person"...I'm a little lazy.  I would rather someone come along, dust off my sewing machine, and show me how to thread it and use it...which leads me to Grandma's visit.

She's not intimidated by a sewing machine at all, not one bit.  She pulled it out the box, made sure all the pieces were in the right place, picked out some thread, threaded the machine and could have sewn a thousand turtle pillows all without instructions. 

 Of course she was really sewing rice socks because our house is so cold.  I loved that she took the time to pull out my sewing machine and teach the girls (who have been itching to learn how to sew for a while now) and  of course me to sew.  Except, I missed the threading lesson and the actual how to sew part because I was cooking these:

So I still don't know how to sew, but Cardin promises she will show me how to thread the sewing machine and James said he can always print the instructions for me.  (  =

The girls have been begging me to pull out the sewing machine again.  I'm not as brave as Grandma but I did let Bella use the sewing kit to sew up a  hole  on the back of her teddy bear.

 She did an excellent job.

She also decided to give him some improvements...hehehe