The Next Useful Thing

This morning I'm paging through my new Close to My Heart catalog and feeling inspired to break out the scrapbooks and card-making supplies (currently gathering dust in their handy storage drawers). It reminds me of when I first started sewing...

Whenever I get involved in a new activity, it's easy for me to get excited and caught up in collecting all the "necessary" tools, accessories, etc. It starts out innocently enough--I create a simple project using the most basic equipment, find it fun or fascinating, and decide I want to do more. But then I get stuck because it's got to be perfect: I'll just wait until I have one more tool, take one more class, find the perfect materials. Or pick the "right" project... I can't decide what to do next! When I first started sewing, I shared this with a friend who suggested simply, "do the next useful thing."

That very evening Scott walked through the door and said, "I have an interesting challenge for you..." He wanted to adapt a store-bought seat pad to fit in his new truck. Bells went off in my head--could this be The Next Useful Thing?! (See what I mean, about the universe using every possible venue to get my attention?) It involved removing the binding, cutting the pad to size, and replacing the binding. Together we measured, cut, and sewed. It wasn't glamorous; we did it with ruler, marker, scissors and the straight stitch on my 30-year old Kenmore hand-me-down machine. But in its own way it was creative. It worked so well we made another for the passenger seat.

A couple of weeks ago we stood in the middle of the Dockers outlet store, frustrated by the lack of choices in Scott's size. He's between two waist sizes, which when you add that he is also between lengths, makes it difficult to find slacks in colors he likes! After stepping out of the fitting room wearing another too-long pair, he looked up suddenly and asked, "can you shorten these?" I was dumbstruck. After spending the last year learning to make entire outfits, why hadn't I thought of taking up a hem?? This was The Next Useful Thing.

Yesterday I finished hemming the third and final pair of Scott's new slacks. Somehow this brings me immense satisfaction. My handiwork benefits the person I love the most; Scott's everyday world is made just a little bit better by this small service. Sometimes I think he doesn't notice or value my activities or skills. But then he asks me to do something, something important to him, that demonstrates his confidence in me. The rest is gravy.

Think I'll go see if he'd like some breakfast... :)