Story Time: Before the Little Black Cat

Back before my senior year of high school, I went to a summer program at a college in my state. It was supposed to be for 'the best and the brightest' students in the state; one thing was for certain, I felt like a complete idiot compared to the geniuses that showed up. Every student there was assigned a major and a minor to do for the five week program. And fate is funny sometimes because my minor was...you guessed it, Quilting. It was taught by a little man with a scruffy mustache who did not fit the quilter stereotype. He taught us some basics about the machines and cut us loose with the goal of making a quilt. With our time frame and resources, he wanted a mini quilt size at the very least.

I was stoked to learn more sewing than the meager skills I picked up in Home Economics earlier in school. Funny thing is, I was the worst in the class. The teacher scared me away from the rotary cutter with stories of cut fingers. My machine was constantly acting up and not sewing right, getting jammed and just being a pain in the butt. A guy in the class who was deemed the Machine Mechanic was constantly fixing it for me! My little quilt is absolutely awful and probably the smallest in the class because I struggled so much. All in all, it was a good thing we weren't assigned grades in this program because I most certainly would have failed.

My little quilt got tossed on my bookshelf at home and forgotten about, collecting dust. (As a side note, I still have it! And yes, it still sits on my bookshelf after all this time.) Four years later, I was gifted a sewing machine by my future mother-in-law after I saw something on Pinterest I wanted to try and make. It was my husband's great-grandmother's old Kenmore sewing machine and, thankfully, still had the manual and all the parts included. I set up a card table in my parent's living room, plugged everything in, and opened the manual. The rest is history. :)

I don't know what was different. I don't know what changed. I'm just thankful I wasn't afraid to try again after being so bad! I had actually forgotten the experience completely until today. I was in the car with my husband and was letting my mind wander. Next thing I knew, I was regaling the tale of how bad I was at sewing back then. "Isn't it ironic that I went from being the absolute worst to sewing for fun?" We got a good laugh out of it, but I will admit it gave me some warm fuzzies. Now I cut almost everything with a rotary cutter. I know how to work my sewing machine better than any other piece of technology I have. I'm actually proud of my quilts and love sharing them with others. It's always a good reminder to know that failing once doesn't mean you'll always fail. It just means you need to try again.

Happy Fourth of July, y'all! Hope you've had a safe and patriotic day!