(I can't believe I'm calling Emma a teenage, but there you go. It's the truth, hard as it is to admit.)
Emma kept busy while we were snowed in by sewing a friend (Jinx, 1st photo) to go with Patch (2nd photo) that was made before Christmas. She's quite obsessed with anything to do with Emily The Strange right now, and I have to admit, going through the many books she got for Christmas, I'm pretty taken with Emily too. Emily is a clever, sullen sort of girl with quite a goth look, probably the kind of girl many parents would worry about in real life.
The Art of Emily The Strange is a book we have all looked at since Christmas. It's great. Many artists have drawn their own tributes to Emily, and its a fascinating book for a budding artist like Emma. I love the idea that she saw pictures of Jinx and Patch in several of her Emily The Strange books and decided she would make her own versions. Just like that. She spent hours on Jinx. Sketching the shapes, making her own paper templates, cutting the felt just so, making felt colors work even though they weren't quite right because we couldn't go out to get more felt.
I was merely a consultant. I didn't contribute one stitch
I don't want to take her ability and her desire to make things for granted.
There are so many things girl's brains and bodies are taught at school, and in life. To be confident in who they are, be inquisitive, stand up for their beliefs and themselves. All this is very important for a girl.
But you know what I love? I love that when the day is over, or there's a little time to herself, Emma finds relaxation and enjoyment in picking up a needle and thread and making something she can see in her brain. I am grateful that Peter and I have limited her time in front of TV and computer screens and instead created an environment in which she needed to find a way to fill her time. We don't do many things right, many things. But this I think she will carry with her throughout her life.
Thanks for letting me show off her work. I'm so proud of her.
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And happy birthday to Peter. You, my friend, are amazing.
