This morning I was in the office early working on a few projects for upcoming articles when Evelyn strolled in and sat in the chair next to me, watching intently."I want to sew." She said after a few minutes.
"What do you want to sew"
"Beads, and shoes." She replied, pointing at her half finished beaded tennies.
She hasn't shown much interest in sewing before this. I used to make her sewing cards that would get a few rounds of yarn, but then they would languish, forgotten, in the basket. Briton will, occasionally, show an interest in making something for himself, but his patience run thin quickly. So I've been waiting for this, for my slightly more chill child to want to sew like mama.
She's still too young for most of the projects I've had lined up in my head for her, and teeny tiny seed beads seemed a little tough for a first sewing project, so instead I pulled one of the embroidery hoops down that I have hanging on my wall and had her draw a picture on it that we could embroider.
Tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth, she drew a picture of herself onto the felt. I threaded some embroidery thread onto a fat needle and we started sewing. At first she wanted help pulling the needle up though the back but after a while she got the hang of it. In fact, I was surprised at how well she did sticking to her own lines. When it was finished she told me that she would put Briton next to her, except not today, because she was done now. And off she trotted to hang it back on my wall.
I love it, it's like a little happy smile above my desk.
I remember being entranced by a pillow on my grandmother's bed that featured a drawing that I
had made sometime in my toddler-hood which my mom had embroidered as a gift. Even as a teenager I was always a little thrilled to find that pillow still on the bed, a little memory of a tiny me. Maybe someday she'll look at the hoop on my wall and feel the same.