Wise owls

"He respects Owl, because you can't help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn't spell it right."

A.A. Milne

It has been half term break, so as is becoming traditional Flaming Nora held another little sewing bee.

This time it was the turn of the owls.

In they came hooting and flapping, making friends with an assortment of lovely young ladies from south London.

The girls stitched away all morning with fantastic results.

I loved the fact that the first class all chose the same coloured owls to make and yet they have such different expressions.

In fact they remind me of a bunch of naughty school kids, giggling and

up to no good at the back of the bus.

Humm!

Well I guess there is a lot to be said about stitching a little bit of your own personality in to every thing you make!

In the second class the birds were set free.

We even had one daring lass who broke out from convention and made that wisest of wise the Brown Owl.

Its great to see just how much all the kids who attend my classes are progressing,

their sewing is becoming less of the random stitches of beginner, and more the confident sewing of someone really enjoying themselves.

Considering that the children start as young as 5 and go up in age from there, they are all showing great talent.

The current "craft revolution" we are living in is fascinating and slightly surreal to watch from the inside.

As some one who doesn't remember a time when she didn't know how to sew, comes from a long line of tailors and has only ever earned a living sewing,

its an amazing thing to observe.

It has also firmed up in my mind a thought that has been floating about for many years.

Ask most women of my own age (fourtysomethingish) if they can sew and most will say not really, or they are very rusty.

How ever they can sew because they learnt it at school, any increasingly enjoy taking it up again as a hobby.

If you ask the same question to some one 10 or more years younger, most used to look at you askance and say "God no!"

Sewing just wasn't being taught in the same way or being given the same importance as it used to be at school.

Thankfully so many people are now coming back to this wonderful, and enjoyable skill.

What I dearly dearly hope, and what I try to achieve through the children's sewing workshops is to learn something in a practical and fun way.

Learning isn't all about academic brilliance.

Some of it must surley be about finding a skill that will bring you enjoyment, make you happy and help you to relax.

The most amazing thing about sewing is that you will never stop finding out new things, the children have taught me so much, especially about bending and breaking the rules.

Its something you can enjoy as much at 5 as you do at 90, and something we can enjoy doing together.

Lots of Mums like to come to my classes with their children because they really love the idea of creating something together.

So as I pack away my soap box for another time I will leave you with this little thought.

A wise old owl sat on an oak:

the more he saw the less he spoke:

the less he spoke the more he heard:

Why aren't we like that wise old bird?