Why?

I know you'd all rather see the cute bag I'm working on (and it is CUTE!), but it's not done and I've had some thought percolating in my head that I want to set free. This is my medium.

I've been thinking about why it is that I sew, and love to sew. I've only really been bitten by the sewing bug for the past year. I've been able to sew for as long as I have conscious memory. I remember Mom letting me use her machine to make Barbie clothes when I was a kid, and I took a sewing class for Home Ec in Junior High. I suspect that I was the only eighth grader to make her own 5 pocket jean style denim miniskirt. As an adult, I've always been in the midst of some great educational venture, and sewing wasn't a big part of that, although I made sorority letter shirts in college and a few costumes in Medical School. This last year I have suddenly discovered how much I really love to make things; real things that people can use and love.

I observed yesterday, as I was blogging about the shorts and working on this bag (which is not intended to be for me - no room for sippy cups), that I really enjoy sewing for other people. Other people and not myself. Since I have always been an essentially selfish person, this realization surprised me. What?? I would rather make a pair of shorts for my good friend's kids than a cute skirt for myself?!? That is so not me! But I think it might be the emergence of a better me. A better me who seeks to serve others through the medium of creating. That idea really excites me and makes me grateful that I have the opportunity to become a better person. And I get to make really cool stuff, and give it to people. That rocks.

OK, OK. you want to see the bag. Well, it is almost done. Here is a preview.