School project....

I thought I would share a project that my son did at school. It's a rock:

Isn't he cute? I ended helping with this project because my son did not complete during the sewing portion of his class. He was extremely frustrated with the school machine and his teacher. He claimed that she yelled at him every time he a problem which apparently was non-stop. So, I volunteered to let him bring the project home and use my machine. He proudly brought home the pieces of the project (apparently the teacher had taken it apart) and said "Here Mom, you can finish my project for me." To which I laughed and said "I don't think so. This is your project and you are going to complete it. You will use my machine and I will show you how to thread it properly and you will make you project."

First thing I did was pull out the instructions and the pieces. I decided very quickly that it needed to be broken down even more than what the teacher had done. I saw why my son was having a problem. When I pulled the bobbin from the bag, it wasn't properly wound. The thread was very loose. When working on the frog stitches, I could tell that the stitch length was way to small. It was at the default 2.5mm. Blah! Now when the kid sat down to sew, I realized that he was scared of the machine. He would not put his hands near the needle. No wonder he couldn't get it to feed the project correctly to get even stitches/seams. I also realized that I had to remain very calm. I would explain what he needed do, show a little, and walk away. If it needed to undo the stitching, I would tell him that was it for evening. Over the course of four days, we finished his project.

Remember I said that I wasn't going to sew for him. Well, please notice that the rock has feet. Yep, that meant that there was a tiny little circle that has to be sewn to tiny little legs along with tiny little shoes and he's afraid of the needle. I gave up sewed those sections for him but he did do the rest. In the end, I'm proud of him for putting forth the effort. He HATES sewing because of all the problems he has had at school. I would have gladly volunteered had I know that the teacher didn't have any help with a class of 30 kids. Of course, I would be able to help her all day maybe just one or two classes.

Now, for opinions. This project was considered to a Level 3 project which for my son means that it is the third project he has ever completed. Each sewing session has had a least one school year between and only lasts about 4 weeks. Does this look like an appropriate project for a beginner? Fur and tight little curves. I admit I was a little bit intimidated by this project because of the fur. What are your thoughts?

Off to work on my project...lol.

Happy Stitching!