Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Tiger Mother-in-Law

Anyone who reads this blog knows about my mother-in-law. And I guess it's no fault of her own that she must uphold the mother-in-law creed and keep her cheeky, addle-headed daughter-in-law in line. Yes, we've butted heads.

But she is also pretty cool too.

This little known fact came to my attention the other day.

My son came in from school with two pieces of cloth that needed to be hand sewn onto his gym shirts. I suck at this sewing thing. Majorly. But he needed at least one done by the next day, so I decided no matter how long it took I was going to do it. And I was going to do it grandly.

That was the plan.

And, indeed, it took nearly and hour and a half -- and many bloodied fingers later -- while I carefully stitched tiny stitch after tiny stitch. And I finished.

Ta-dah!



When you're concentrating on those tiny stitches you don't see when the whole thing goes askew or folds over. I nearly cried. I apologized to my son and told him to look at the bright side: at least I didn't sew the front to the back.

I called my mother-in-law who is pure awesome in all things sewing, gardening and cooking.

She said she'd gladly do the next one.

Behold!




Yep. I was like WTF? But I didn't ask how long it took (then I'd really cry). I mentioned my attempt and she demurely suggested if I wanted to she'd redo it for me. I'm sure she thought I'd say no. Instead I said, I'm bringing it over this weekend with a platter of sushi! I'll even wait to unstitch it until she gets a good gander. You know, everyone needs a good laugh once in awhile. Even mother-in-laws.

And so I dub her the Tiger Mother-in-Law.

Another example, I stopped by today and she said she was goofing around in the kitchen and made this:



Candies orange peels. She already had some in a Tupperware for me to take home.

And -- no surprise -- they're delicious!

15 comments:

JY69 said...

yeah MIL's are creatures to be wary of... ha ha! I have to live with mine...so no escape :( Did a damn good sewing job though...! They are good for that :) (mine is too...she used to sew kimonos....)

Grace @ Sandier Pastures said...

So when you become a mother in-law in the future, you know you have to know how to sew! At least you still have plenty of time! :-)

With sewing, I am lucky that I don't have to run to my MIL - my mom is a wonderful sewist (is that how you call someone who sews?) and she lives with me! :-)

NormalToEatPB said...

I hope the good outweighs the bad :)

Tigermama said...

I'm sorry but, I can't stop laughing at your sewing effort! I couldn't do it any better though so I probably shouldn't be laughing. :-) I hope you got some brownie points for the effort! My MIL tried to give me a sewing machine once and couldn't understand why I said no (it was before my kids went to yochien and I had no idea what was to come).

Kappa no He said...

T, yep, it's one of her hobbies. And I hope yours is easy to get along with. There's a certain generation here that is a special kind of "taihen", a category all its own.

Grace, I never thought of that! I'm going to have to eventually learn this? I'm jealous. It would be fun to live with my mom (and she's a sewist too!), at least until we drove each other nuts. But I miss her.

NormalToEatPB, me too!

Tiger, oh, those millions of bags that are needed for yochien! I made one obento bag, screwed it up, cried and went on hands and knees to M-i-L. We *still* use those bags. They're sturdy and good for all variety of things. ^^v

Mari said...

Thank you for today♬
I can imagine you are sawing(*^_^*)
Mil is a person at anytime should be respected(^_-)
Gambaro~!

Kappa no He said...

Mari,

Thank you! for the other day. And I forgot to give you something (pink!) but I didn't want to in front of everyone else. ^ ~

Gina said...

You and I have the same sewing skill. ;P I can't sew to save my life, though with the boys in school, I am forced to keep trying. ; )

Your MIL is amazing to sew that so perfectly. And candied orange peels to boot. She's a real keeper.

My feeling about my MIL is the same as yours as well. We've butted heads but ultimately I like her. But there were definitely times when I wished to throw her into the tanbo/rice field. ; ) But now I'm glad I didn't. ; )

Mary Witzl said...

I'm okay at embroidery, but I can't knit, crochet, or use a sewing machine for the life of me. Those horrible things I was supposed to sew for the kids in shogakko stumped me every time. Wish I had a mother-in-law like yours. And I REALLY wanted one about ten years ago.

Kappa no He said...

Gina! How are you? Well, I *did* receive a HUMONGOUS jar of marmaladed orange peels before we'd even made a dent in the first...

Mary, I wish I could embroidery. THAT is cool. No home making skills what so ever, this one. *sigh*

I did show my MIL my attempt at sewing and she didn't laugh out loud. A mild chuckle and a "Oh, I can fix that!" She was kind. ^^

Mary Witzl said...

You know, it could be that your mother has realized afresh what a good daughter-in-law she has. ;o)

Victoria Dixon said...

Fabric and I have a hate-hate relationship, so I so get this. I can manage buttons. Barely. Once tried to make curtains. I mean, it's just a straight lined hem, for Pete's sake! Fell off the curtain rod by the next day. I gave up after that. I can't tell you how many times I've put my mother's sewing machine in the Singer sewing machine hospital! If it's about paper, pen or pencil - or scrapbooking (still paper!) I'm golden. Otherwise, count me out!

Kappa no He said...

Mary, I was looking for the "like" button. Like! Like!

Victoria, I know exactly how you feel. I'm like doesn't at least some of that gene get passed down? And what the hell is a bobbin anyway?

Victoria Dixon said...

Beats me. ;D I always get this mental image of a red and white bobbing fish buoy thing, but I KNOW that's not right! LOL (Not a fisherman, either. Can you tell?)

KaBooM said...

Mine was good for sewing too, especially because i am even more hopeless than you in the sewing arena! Good post!