A Happy Sewing Circle

My sewing pal, Valerie talked me into co-teaching a tote bag class. We were expected to teach how to make this. 

I made this last summer.

However, the only person who signed up for the class was someone who had sewn two pieces of fabric together once before. Our student was my pal Joy--who is an overthinker and task oriented. She isn't used to enjoying the journey and likes to appreciate the end result. I've tried before to teach her to sew and found out that I don't have the right skill set for that. However, I knew Val did. So, once Joy entered the shop and we found out nobody else signed showed up, this became a two-on-one sewing class. 

I can only speak for myself here, I had a great time with these two ladies. It truly is a blessing to laugh for three hours with people I like, while doing something I love. We didn't get through a tote bag, but Val did teach Joy the basics of a straight seam. Perhaps in the beginning of the year, if Joy is up for it, I'll go over and show her how to make the second side of her bag. And if Valerie has some time, maybe I drag her along. 

Joy's first side of her bag.  

As a side note, during the class, Sherman began texting me. He was shopping for Polly's Christmas gift and sending me photos of his options. Joy, Val and I looked at his selections and decided the dude is probably overwhelmed and stuck in some sort of gift-giving hell. Plus, if he took four seconds to channel his inner 13-year old self, surly he'd see the design on the pocket of the jacket he was looking at as a penis. Right? I mean, it seemed obvious to us 50-somethings who couldn't unsee it. To save him from himself, we threw out a few ideas.