Who Needs Skills When You've Got Friends?

The good news is that I've got my book slings all finished and hung up and everything. The great news is that they look fabulous. (Pictures to follow, once the comforters I ordered that will hopefully look really good with the book slings are delivered. I promise.) I really couldn't be happier with them. The only bad news in all this is that I somehow managed to pull this off without lifting a finger. And I feel slightly guilty about that. But not guilty enough to stop enjoying how much I love the book slings!

I had every intention of forcing myself out of my fear-of-crafts shell. I really did. And I did buy all the stuff I needed (although I did make Craig come along for moral support-- I'm just not good at shopping). And then Jen was so sweet and offered to let me do this at her house with her. That was nice, as I'm a firm believer in safety in numbers. She also suggested we go ahead and sew them, since they'd probably hold up better that way. Jen has a sewing machine and said we'd be able to make it work. And because I hate to leave anyone out of things like this, any person I talked to pretty much got invited to come along.

Which was how we ended up having Nina there, too! And it took about thirty seconds of watching Jen and I ponder aloud how best to cut our fabric before Nina announced that she had actually worked as a seamstress. In fact, she had sewn the costumes used by the BYU-I Ballroom Dance team. Yeah. Just for the record, I did NOT know that when I invited her to come along. Had I known, I would have had some awful inner debate over whether it was better to invite her, knowing full well that I would end up letting her do all the work, or whether I should try to actually do it myself and possibly learn something. But since I didn't know that, no inner debate ever took place, and I did what comes naturally to me. I let Nina do everything.

And she did a great job. Her seams are all really straight, and she even hemmed it for me since I didn't have pinking shears when I cut the fabric. And watching someone sew who actually knows how to use a sewing machine is really fun. I'm so impressed. Some day if I ever have time and money, I want to hire Nina to teach me a few lessons-- nothing complicated, just the basics, like how to thread the needle. If that goes well, I might ask her to show me how to thread the lower needle, too. (But that is admittedly a very big "if.") It's also interesting to me how people who do know how to sew have no concept of just how clueless someone like me is. Every time Nina would do something I didn't know how to do, she'd laugh as if I must be kidding because how can you not know how to thread the needle on a sewing machine??? Trust me, I don't. I wasn't exaggerating. At all.

Anyway. I still don't know how to sew. Nina very graciously offered to show me how right then, but I declined. Too much pressure with not enough warning. (And Jen had already been planning to show me, so I have two really awesome, talented friends right here!)

But I do have two really lovely book slings and the kids are thrilled. And Craig hung them up for me yesterday and everything. (I never had any intention of hanging them myself, so I don't feel as guilty over that. Craig did offer to let me do it, but I just laughed at him. I know he's too much of a perfectionist to risk me putting them up crooked!) So the project is already finished!

And I wasn't lying when I said I didn't lift a finger.

The funny thing is that, as much as I love these slings, what makes me even happier is knowing that I've got all these friends with so many great skills that they're willing to share.

Thanks, Nina and Jen! And Craig! And everyone else for your general encouragement! We should do this more often!