The very best

Today, I need to tell you about the best teacher I've ever had: Todd. Surprised? Don't be. I don't know that I'd given it much thought before this weekend, but he really is the best.

We did a couple DIY projects over the weekend that I could never have attempted without him, primarily because they included mathematical skills, precision, and knowledge of how to operate a sewing machine. Before a few days ago I possessed none of these things. I still don't have mathematical skills or precision, (let's not get unrealistic) but I do now know how to basically operate a sewing machine! I feel very accomplished, very wife-ish :)

Anyway, back to Todd being the best teacher I've ever had. I realized this weekend that he is able to teach me and that I'm able to learn from him for three main reasons:

1. He can do things I wish I could do.
2. He is willing to teach me things.
3. He doesn't get aggravated or annoyed if/when I don't catch on or when I make mistakes.

Not everyone gets to live with someone who can do things, and I get that. Maybe I should take that off the list because it is kind of an unfair advantage. But the other two are legit. He really is willing to teach me anything he knows that I want to know. He'd even sit down and teach me all about building websites or using Photoshop if I asked him. He's just...willing.

And, best of all, after he's taught me and explained and reexplained, he doesn't get frustrated when I mess up! Do you know how liberating that is? He just says something like, "it's ok, we can fix it," or "you're doing fine," or "that looks great!" Who couldn't work under those kind of conditions? :)

Todd has confidence in me. And this weekend it dawned on me just how valuable that is in any teacher.

But enough gushing...let's get to the results of all this excellent teaching! Our "big"project, our piéce de résistance, deserves its own blog post which I hope to have up later this week, but let me just say that it's something I've wanted to do and am so pleased with how it turned out!

After we mostly finished our main event, we spent a little time doing some smaller projects. First of all, we were given a Boppy pillow by some friends who were also given it second-hand. I guess they didn't want it or already had one or something, so they passed it along to us. I was prepared to use it as it was, but Todd said, "do you want me to re-cover it?"

Here's what it was covered in originally:

Gross, right?

Todd pulled the pieces off and we pinned them to our new fabric. We cut those out and then he figured out how to sew them back together, and even managed to put the zipper back in! It was the first zipper he'd ever done and it turned out great! He let me do most of the sewing on the machine (but not the zipper part..no thanks).

The finished product:

Soooo much classier :) I'm glad Todd suggested re-covering.

The last project of the weekend was made with the leftover fabric. Todd wanted to make some placemats and came up with these:

He made the first one and then taught me so we could both do the rest. It was really very easy and now I'm inspired to make more...maybe something Christmassy.

To sum up, I'm grateful for a friend, teacher and husband who is willing and patient. It makes all the difference :)