First Things First?

My second grandson, Nate, turned seven this past spring. Since he was five, he has been intrigued by fabric and fascinated by sewing. The last several times he has visited here, I've worked with him using Bernina to make some simple quilt blocks, of which he is so proud.

I told him at the get-go that when he was eight if he was still interested in sewing, I would buy him a machine. But he had to wait until he was eight.

Awhile back I bought a Hello Kitty machine, thinking it would be a good light-weight travel machine. As it turned out, it IS a good light-weight travel machine, but once you've sewing on a Bernina for twenty years . . . .  I bought a new lighter-weight Bernina for travel and set Miss Kitty aside for when Nate turned eight.

Just around the time that school let out, Nate's mom told me excitedly that the LQS was having a week-long sewing camp for kids nine and older. Nate has a friend who also wanted to sew and when my DIL contacted the shop they told her that the class wasn't full yet, and they would take the two seven-year-olds if they could find an assistant teacher. They did, and the report I received is that Nate produced and brought home a new project every day!

My daughter was going down South to visit her brother, so I sent Miss Kitty along with her. I included about 20 FQs that I had won in a game and a treasure I'd found on Amazon. It was a small wooden box containing sewing essentials, just the kind of thing a kid would adore. Under the lift-out tray I included extra bobbins for Miss Kitty, a package of blue-head pins, and a 1/4" foot.

My daughter reported that Nate was, of course, delighted at the gift. He turned first to the little box of goodies, rummaged around, and then cried out, "Where's the seam ripper? You GOTTA have a seam ripper!"

Sherry assured him that certainly Grandmom would have included one and there it was. THEN he was able to turn to examine the machine!