Wowzers Wednesday--Day Eight

Where to start?  Hmm...  I had a big time WOW yesterday at the last activity days with the 10 and 11 year old girls.  We're making skirts using the instruction sheets I posted here.  I knew it was ambitious to think we would have them done in two sessions of an hour and 15 minutes, but boy did I underestimate the time while overestimating their skills.  Sheesh!  I felt pretty confident about it all because I used to teach sewing to 30 students at a time.  "There are only eight girls and besides, I made a worksheet!"  Ha!  I forgot what it was actually like to teach kids to sew.  Ten and eleven year old girls aren't particularly successful with crash courses.  Nor do they actually read their instruction sheets when their leader is there to tell them what to do.  What they actually do is sit and stare blankly at the machine until I look up from the girl I am helping and notice they have become vegetables.  Here was my favorite exchange:

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Me:   How's it working?  Do you need help?
Girl:  Yeah.  The machine's not sewing.
Me:   That's no good.  What's it doing?
Girl:  Well it doesn't have a bobbin.
Me:   What happened to the bobbin?
Girl:   I took it out and then I lost it.

Seriously?  I never got an explanation as to WHY she took the bobbin out in the first place.  Not that it matters, but...seriously?  Anyhow, if someone were to ask me when I plan on doing more sewing with the girls the answer is never.  Ever.  Aside from the bobbin thing I also had more than one girl sew seam allowances that varied from one inch to running off the edge of the fabric.  Those seams don't iron very well.

So that was the bad wowzer.  There was also a really, really great one!  We had an activity at the church for the ladies that are 18 and older.  I was working away at the serger (we were making pillow cases for a veteren's home being uilt here in town) and one of the ladies there came over to me and said, "You look like you're just melting away."  At first I was confused and wondered if that meant she thought I needed to take a break from the serging.  The way she was looking at me didn't mix with that   conclusion.  Then it dawned on me: she noticed my weight loss!!!  I think that bumps her up to best friend status.  The kicker to add to it was that two of the other ladies around us were nodding their heads and asked how I was doing it.  They noticed too!  Woot!  Big, big, big, BIG encouragement and boost to the ol' self esteem.  It makes me think I can do this!  So exciting!