This week we continue to experiment and innovate. As I get to know the women better, the sewing truly becomes a comfort zone where their intelligence and creativity shine through. Learning a new language, especially for adults, is difficult and I'm sure frustrating. Each week as their skills increase, our conversations are richer and more nuanced. I occasionally say something silly like: "we are going gangbusters!" and they all just look at me expectantly. I remember this is an idiom and try to explain, usually unsuccessfully except to get across that it is really good.
In Hudson (on the left,) we have a large table (in the board room) to work on that we cover with all of our materials and notions. The coffee nook is better than the floor, where we keep the iron! By next week the participant's project pictured on the right might be an entire quilt! She has a great deal of sewing machine experience back home in Afghanistan.