Bob's first sewing project:

I've been sewing since age 7, and Bob's mom's been sewing for years as well. But Bob has never sewed, not even his boyscout patches.

Monday I wasn't feeling well, so I laid in bed most of the day with an upset stomach and a headache. Bob organized some left over messes from the move for most of the day. (What a fun Labor Day. So much for a great 3-day weekend.)

After a little while I noticed it got really quiet. I knew Bob hadn't left, but I got curious. So I walked out and found him sitting at my craft table with a rectangle of fabric in front of him, carefully smoothed out. He looked up at me sheepishly.

"Whatcha doin'?" I asked.
"Attempting to make something." Then he added, "I'm not sure what to do next," he admitted.

I had complained about how annoying my little method was for saving grocery bags earlier that day. Every time I open the cabinet under the kitchen sink, the grocery bag filled with other grocery bags falls off of its little hanging place on the back of the cabinet door. So Bob went on to explain that his mom has a fabric grocery-bag holder, only it's this huge tube of fabric. He decided that we didn't need one quite that size, so he was trying to figure out how to do it himself. I think he wanted it to be a surprise, but realized he needed my help and wasn't sure how to ask.

So I gave him suggestions. I'd go back and lay down, and a couple of minutes later he called me back out to help him again. That happened a few times, and then a little while later he walked into the bedroom and proudly presented the finished product:

He did a great job! 

And even though he used some of my vintage fabric that I got from Nin's attic without asking, it didn't even matter by the end. After I threaded the sewing machine and showed him how to use it briefly, he did the rest all by himself!

It looks so good that we're not putting it under the kitchen sink like we had originally planned. It's hanging in the bathroom on the hand-towel rack where it adds a little fun color to the corner by the window.

Not bad for his first sewing project!