I Spy…an opportunity!

The three-day weekend wasn’t really a holiday for me because I ended up working about 9 hours.  As an AmeriCorps member, you are required to do a 6-hour service project on Martin Luther King, Jr. day.  We combined three AmeriCorps study groups and made fifty-three “I Spy” packets for Head Start as well as car maps and file folder games.

Of course, the best thing about doing service is knowing that you’re helping someone else, but I was really grateful for the service project because it gave me a chance to learn how to use my sewing machine!  I bought it for $40 at a garage sale last summer and it is NICE, complete with carrying case, threaded bobbins, instruction manual, and everything.  I was too exhausted from pregnancy during the summer to try to figure it out but I finally pulled out the manual a few Saturdays ago.  All the numbered buttons on the machine really intimidated me, so after a few pages of trying to figure them out with the manual, I put it aside for another day.  At the project on Monday, however, I didn’t have to read the manual! There were five other sewers who helped me thread it, refill a bobbin, and troubleshoot.  So great!  

After making several “I Spy” packets (I think I only made 5 of the 53 - oh dear), I came home and made two miniature ones.  I didn’t have any hard plastic so I used one side of a zip-lock bag for the see-through part. I cut out a square of fabric about an inch bigger (on all sides) than the plastic square and sewed the plastic into the fabric on three sides to make a pouch.   I found 15-20 little things around the house (a sticker, a lego, a couple of colored beads, a mini-craft stick, a paper clip, etc.) and took a picture of them. Taking a picture of the items is important because kids that can't read will be asking you what the list of I Spy items is unless you have a picture for them to check against.  Then I put in about 1/3 cup of rice into the pouch as well as the 20 items and sewed up the top.  Voila!  Our own “I Spy..” packets!