Hobo Bag + Life Lessons!

Shopping at Hobby Lobby is dangerous.  They have way too many cute things.  We were shopping for something and ran across a panel kit to make these cute hobo bags, and they were clearanced down to $5.  I thought, "Hey, this will be a fun thing to do with Kendra!" and she wanted to do it, too.  Never mind the idea of redeeming myself from a less-than-stellar mom moment.  You see, a while back Kendra had a church activity in which they were having the girls sew little quilt squares and put them together into quilts.  I have a machine, so I offered to bring it and help out.  Let's just say my patience wasn't my strong point that night when Kendra repeatedly didn't sew straight.  Sigh.

So onto the HOBO BAG!  First, I taught Kendra how to iron the fabric.  She'd never ironed before, and there are still many ironing lessons to come but this flat fabric was a good place to start.

 Then the sewing part---Kendra did the straight line work and I did the curves and harder piecing together stuff.

  And, of course, every novice (and even expert!) has to pick out stitches sometimes!

 Let the record show:  Kendra does NOT like to sew.  Nope.  Not one bit.  This was the second attempt, and it was equally unsuccessful in the straight-line department.  Tears ensued, frustration occurred, but I insisted that she finish what she started.  There was drama, feelings of inadequacy, and then more drama when the frustration led to remembering (and crying about) some instances in which two of her (really good) friends had made her feel inferior by telling her she shouldn't try certain things because "maybe she isn't really that good at it".  Really?  All of that while sewing?  Goodness, the way a girl's brain runs sure is strange sometimes!  After some unplanned discussion about determining her self-worth based on what SHE knows about herself and not what others think, we got back to sewing.  The sigh of relief when she finished her part was HUGE.  No, I don't think we'll have many more mother-daughter sewing projects in the future.  But, we do have hobo bags!  And maybe even a little better way to handle friends who try to tear you down so they can build themselves up.  Maybe.  Sigh.  See?  Hobby Lobby can be dangerous!