Cross-stitching hoopla

This Sunday morning before church I taught Sarah and Matthew a basic embroidery stitch. They each were given a hoop, fabric, and needle. I let them choose what picture they'd like to stitch in floss. Sarah picked a butterfly. Matthew chose a pirate's symbol of skull and crossbones. He's been obsessed with pirates lately. :)

I was surprised with how diligent they were with the stitchery work. I knew Sarah would do well with it since she loves projects like this and several of her literature heroes do embroidery. She's been reading the American Girl's Collection about Felicity, a girl in the American Revolution. Felicity has embroidery lessons daily, so it's piqued Sarah's interest in similar arts. I was shocked that Matthew even wanted to try this. He's so active and boisterous, it didn't seem to match his personality one bit. It turns out he loves stitching! He sat quietly with his thread and worked for 2 hours today! It was like a mother's dream come true...something I had been sureonly happened in m ovies! I was sitting on my bed with Sarah and Matthew both happily and quietly stitching while Daniel napped. It was absolutely marvelous! Nathan came home from working at the church while this fleeting moment was occuring. I was so eager for him to come upstairs and see our industrious little moment!

Matthew loved this so much, he asked me if he could spend his allowance money on picking out more embroidery floss and fabric for more projects. HIs birthday is this week, so we agreed he could pick out some of his own colors at the store. He's so excited about this!

I suggested we hang up their handiwork in their rooms. Matthew always say's no to this idea. He'd prefer to stick his favorite creations in his 72-hour backpack so he can take them with us if the house burns down. He never wants to put his work on display. It takes a lot of coaxing to convince him that the house most likely will not burn down, and it would be a real shame to lock away his creations forever in a backpack where he can never see it.