Way back in the fall this imaginary talent of mine surfaced again and I decided to attempt sewing some fabric boxes. I found very simple and straightforward instructions on a crafting blog, ideal fabric in my mom's stash, and, after the fabric sat for 2-3 months in our spare bedroom, I did eventually begin. Naievely, I decided that I'd calculate and make a larger box than the one on the pattern (it would be so easy, right?) and I'd make two at once.
Well, I did eventually figure out the calculations (with a good math refresher) and cut out the fabric and interfacing. I was just going to borrow my mom's sewing machine and whip those boxes up, but then I read the instructions and discovered that I needed an iron, which we forgot in Nipawin. So I took all the stuff out to mom's to use her iron and machine.
Meanwhile, my mom watched all these preparations from a distance and marvelled that I was actually going to make these boxes. After recutting my fabric so it was actually straight, my expert mom guided me through the instructions. She helped me sew the easy seams and did all the harder ones herself, she figured out an easy way to make handles and attached them herself. In the end, she sewed pretty well all of the first box and all the difficult sections on the second one. In the end, the boxes turned out pretty neat. They are a great place to store baby toys (or the baby himself). My imaginary talent has been satisfied for at least a couple months. And... I'm so thankful for a mom who can rescue me when I dream too big.