What Johanna did on Sunday

Johanna and her first quilt

What I've learned parenting Johanna for the past 9.5 years: Adventure happens. Fairly regularly. In all forms.

She and Eric have a routine on Sunday mornings, which is essentially: They get up early and watch Sunday Morning on CBS. Eric actually sets his alarm; Johanna is a naturally early riser, especially if it's a weekend. (Ha.)

So that's what I walked into yesterday, just innocently searching for a cup of coffee. (Cracked open the Mountain Thunder, Ann. It's lovely. Thank you.) Johanna wanted to snuggle. Then she wanted a blanket. Then she wanted to MAKE a blanket.

I have a box of quilting supplies that I haven't touched in probably six years. (Which reminds me, Mom, I have some lovely material I think you need to go through, and what you don't want, I'll rummage.) Johanna is a big fan of getting into this box periodically when a sewing bug hits. A couple of months ago she tried making a sock for her American Girl doll (one sock. It's Johanna). This time, she was searching for longer, larger material, but most of my stuff is fat quarters, so she ended up with a couple of pieces she wanted to sew together. She cut the thread and started making a go of it, but the thread was much too long and all that really happened was a bunch of tangles.

Well, I don't have a sewing machine, or I'd have set her up on that. But I do have some 18-year-old fusible tape that I bought when Eric and I were newlyweds and I wanted to "make" curtains for our bedroom. Ahem. They turned out terrible. Who cares, I was 23 and thought I was a genius, moving right along.

P.S. I used that tape to make Johanna's Halloween costume. We do what we can.

Anyway, I set her up with the fusible tape and after a quick tutorial on how to use it (including how to iron... I mean, she's nine and a half, that's totally old enough to brandish around a steaming hot small appliance, right?), she was off and running. She had it so down that I just stepped aside and started making muffins, near so if she needed me I'd be accessible, but giving her space if she didn't need me after all.

She didn't need me. :)

After the blanket part was complete, she decided it was time for embellishment. "I'll never be a tailor," she mused several times as she cut the tape to fit her tiny pieces, but I assured her that if she ever did take that route, she'd be on a machine, which would be a thousand times easier and faster than using fusible tape.

"This went much better than my sock," she said when it was all done. "I mean, that didn't even fit, and it was just for my American Girl doll."

Practice is everything, sweeting. And socks are hard.

So yeah, this is not really what I wanted to do on my Sunday, but she was so dang happy. I've discovered that when her creative juices are flowing, it's best to just go with it. Because being told you can't create when that's all you want to do? Is mean. (Says the compulsive writer.)

And her Grandma M. and Aunt Jan are going to be SO PROUD.