sewing 101

last week was a fun sewing extravaganza for me.  i hadn't had time to sit down at my machines in what seemed like forever, so it felt good to whip out a few projects.

the old lady, my co-leader and i had taken a quickie trip to downtown l.a. to pick up some fabric to make backpacks for the troop.  we figured it might be nice for them to have something to use for upcoming outings, and thought it would be extra fun to customize them.  and so with the magic of my co-leader's brand new embroidery machine and free tutorials found via pinterest, we have these:

the girls are gonna love those, along with the t-shirts and sweatshirts we're getting ready to customize for them.  it'll be awesome.

i also managed to finish my very last mermaid tail (just for now, i'm sure).

this has been cut out and just waiting to be sewn up for weeks - obviously, since you can totally tell it's a valentine's day-themed fabric.  oh well.

and last week's girl scout meeting was a super fun one - we took the girls to the local sewing studio where my co-leader and i had spent some time last summer for a lesson.  we'd taken them to joann's the week before to pick out their fabric, and they were excited to learn how to make their very own pillowcase.  one of the moms had picked up some fabric for her son and asked us if we'd be able to do a pillowcase for him, and so i sewed it up really quickly at home just before the meeting.  this seriously took me like 10 minutes to finish:

the bean was super excited for this meeting.  although she got to do a little sewing with me a few months ago, it was nice for her to have an actual lesson from someone who actually knows what she's doing.  and after learning how to thread the machine, she got to practice sewing straight lines - a very useful skill, i might add.

it was, as usual, chaotic and crazy and loud and fun.  the girls had a great time overcoming their fear of the machines and learning some basic skills.  and we loved the girl scout uniform-themed board that the ladies in the studio had created for us, along with some healthy snacks for everyone:

even the old lady was inspired to learn how to make her own pillowcase, although she might have to settle for learning from me at home.

and i'm not gonna lie, i kind of really want an embroidery machine now.  like really really really. it's also a regular sewing machine though...so i could pass on my current sewing machine to the bean and everyone would be happy!  it all works out!  right?  RIGHT?!?