Emma took her Promise and officially became a Brownie just before Half Term. Bless her, she managed to memorise the Promise and Law, then froze up and couldnt remember the Law at the right moment (it was the opposite an hour before at dinner time - ah well). Anyway, she was given her badges and necker (scarf?) and Brown Owl instructed her that Mum could sew on most of them but she should do one of them. While Emma has a fairly sizable rebellious bone, it is usually reserved for mum & dad, so of course what Brown Owl says is Law! We finally sat down on Sunday and I showed her what to do, and she was off, enthusiastically tackling her first ever sewing job. She got half way around the biggest badge then asked me to finish it. That's it, I thought. But no, she wanted to do the other three. All I had to do was finish them off each time. While she was sewing the last one on, I grabbed the camera.

My mum was never much good at dress making (I still shudder at the memory of some clothes she did make) but MIL was a good dress maker in her time, back when making your own was both the norm and necessary. Maybe Emma has inherited her talent? I know I have inherited my mum's inability - I gave up needlework at school after two years and did metalwork/woodwork instead (as I was less awful at them) before I could give them all up!