Being in Your Season… or how to make new mittens from old sweaters.

Her with her grumpy face and teal hoodie.

The older sisters left for dance classes… bags brimming with praise, ballet slippers and tap shoes.

They leave in a flurry of pinks and purples all in a blur of smiles.

She stays behind with her grumpy face.

She mopes around… left with the babies and boys.

While the toddlers build train tracks we begin together… just her and I.

We take what we are given and we turn it into something which will keep us warm.

Neither one of us are in a season of packed bags or tutus.

I trace her hand like a million mothers have done and I have done, what seems a thousand times before. We add an extra allowance… and a little extra beyond that so she can have all the freedom she needs to learn.

We all need the little extra to learn… especially when everyone seems to be in the season we want to be in.. we need to learn to look around and make the best of where we are…learn a little extra.

So she shoos her brothers away. They clamor around bumping her elbows.

She draws the line when they take out her pins to use as swords.

We lay  and pin her templates to the  cuff of the  inside out sweater.

Her little hands are perfect for the sleeves.. we will use the rest for bigger mittens.

I cut it out and take off the template… handing it back to her pinned and ready for sewing.

I show her how to stitch.  We use the big needles so she is sure to see  where she is.

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She takes to it no problem.  Her stitches are small.

She says she doesn’t want snow to get in.  So she goes over some of my sloppier stitches.. making  them stronger.

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While she sews the second one… much better then her first.  I pull out my paints.  We turn on the music.  Her and I.

She isn’t grumpy any more and she isn’t asking when her older sisters will be home.  She knows she got to do something they didn’t and  Mer is pleased with her work.

She stitches and I paint.

Both of us left behind and together, while others are off out in the world in a season we are not.

There will always be people in a season you are not in…. and often it will look so much better then where you are… but it is all about perspective…. what you make of it.  You will never truly get out of the season , where you are… unless you sink in.

In our season we sit , stitch and paint and try to make something beautiful to keep us warm.

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~For more Tutorials and Art Related posts:
Loving my Family through my gifts.
Passing on Gifts from Generations.
Stitched out of a Ditch.
How to Preserve a gift… or how to make beeswax leaves.
A Thanks Filled Board tutorial.

~For more Inspiration in your day:
Shhh.. You are loved
On days we need to Refocus
Because we are raising Super Heros.