Forget what I said last week about not wanting to wake up any earlier. Two mornings this week I woke up really early and had some blissful morning work time before Bracken woke up. I plan to do that more often. Yesterday was my favorite. I read through part of the manual, got the bobbin wound, the machine threaded, and I started sewing. Sewing! Now, let me tell you, it’s been so long since I’ve had a working sewing machine. Maybe even a few years before Bracken was born. And I’ve missed sewing on a sewing machine so very much. Hand sewing is relaxing, but to me there’s nothing like the quick progress you can make on a sewing machine. Yesterday morning I was on a mission to finish a gift before we needed to leave the house. The three of us left for Florence and when Bracken and I dropped Jeff off for his physical therapy appointment, we also delivered this little baby hat to Jeff’s physical therapist. Simply put, she is wonderful. When I found out she was expecting a baby girl, I wanted to bring her a little something. (Jeff has made some good progress in physical therapy, but the way, and we still have a long ways to go.) The hat was made from a felted wool shawl. It was a thrift store treasure I found one day, with some moth holes here and there, and I knew I wanted to give it a new life. I felted it in the washing machine and I saved it for a special project. When I was searching for hat material yesterday, it was just the thing. I used the pattern for Family Sweater Hats in Amanda’s book, Handmade Home: Simple Ways to Repurpose Old Materials into New Family Treasures. What a wonderful pattern! So simple and perfect for someone like me who is just getting back into sewing again and wanted an instant project. After sewing the hat, I added a wool flower and a Wooly Moss Roots button in mahogany wood. Jeff helped me pick which button to add. I thought for sure the sewing machine would wake Bracken up since he was sleeping in the room right next door (and the walls are not very thick), but he just kept on sleeping. And by the time he woke up I had a finished hat. It’s the first thing I’ve made on a sewing machine in a long, long time. As I looked down at that hat on the corner of my sewing table, with the faint light coming in the window, I felt elated. I’m finally breathing some life into my crafting space again.