SPRING HAS SPRUNG

"DECK THE HALLS"

Saturday 5th December saw Nora suited and booted at some ungodly hour maniacally preparing for the latest Secret Sewing Club event.

During the day 26 children attended the christmas sewing workshop.

The results were amazing.

Each child could choose from a star, heart, christmas tree or stocking,

and then decorate it with a variety of special goodies from Nora's own haberdashery cupboard.

Once the fronts and backs were sewn together, stuffing and a decorative tie added each child had a work o beauty and a joy to be beholden to hang on the tree.

It is fascinating to watch children work in a creative way, seeing which ones are rule breakers and which ones follow the guidelines to the letter.

Thankfully with a little encouragement and prodding in the right direction they all broke the rules a little.

Although the workshops are for age 6 and above, I do allow younger ones to come so long as they are accompanied by an adult.

Though many of the parents opt to stay and join in the fun too.

Decorations by Eartha 7, Edan 6, Leon 5, Marianna 6, Florence 6, Samuel 6.

I love the precision Ertha brought to her Heart and the colours Leon used in his star. All the children's work is wonderful but these two are unusual in the way they could both visualize the overall effect of the decoration they were using before embarking on the project.

Most of the younger children like to grab the nearest shiny thing and add it to all the other shiny things already crammed on to their decoration.

Freya 5, Emilie 7, Felix 7, Toby 8, Sophie 6, Olivia 6.

The best bit of this class was watching Sophie and Olivia being typical little girls and having to do exactly the same thing on their stockings, and getting a little upset if the other got too far ahead, or they couldn't find exactly the same beads as each other.

Mia 6, Ella 6, Isabella 6, Phoebe 6, Lily 7, Esme 4.

Every time I run these workshops there is one really larey class, it is not that the children misbehave, it is just that a chemistry occurs between that particular mix of personalities, this is always the class that giggles the most, it is always the class that produces the most varied and random pieces of work, it is always the class that will not stop asking questions, and it is always the class I enjoy the most!

Kia 9, India 7, Max 6, Connie 5, Alice 3, Claudia 6.

Alice was the star of this class for me. she was a last minute addition as some one dropped out. I was not sure about having a 3 yr. old in the class, but she proved me wrong. She showed such determination trying to master a new and quite complicated skill on her own refusing any help from her mother. I also had two quite accomplished young seamstresses in this class, Kia and India managed to make two decorations each and it was great to see the calm enjoyment they both gained from creating something beautiful.

So after 4 workshops run more or less back to back Nora retired to the sofa with a box of chocolates and a large gin and tonic to enjoy the few moments of peace before her munchkins returned from their day out with Grandma.

Phew!