Roly Poly Fish Heads

Story time! This is entitled "Why Amy Is a Great Big Sucker". A couple of weeks before Christmas holidays, my son's school sent home a form asking for volunteers to help with the school play. (I should note here that my son is only 3, and therefore too little to be in the play.) They needed people to help build sets, make programs, sew costumes...Hey! Sew costumes? "I can sew! I'll offer to help out since I adore the school, even though my son won't be in the play," I thought to myself. I filled out the form, and handed it back in.

Never heard from them. UNTIL. Wednesday morning I get a phone call saying that they are desperate for people to help them sew costumes, and can I come by between 8:30 and 3:30 to help. I of course had to reply that I would love to help, but I work full time, so those hours were a no-go. However, I added that if they had a project for me to take home, I would be happy to. They said "Oh yes! We could definitely use your help with the eel costume. Come on by anytime today & pick it up." An eel? How hard can that be, right? No problem.

I swing by the school at lunch time to find 3 women busily toiling over costumes with fabric glue and glitter. I walk in and introduce myself & they all gasp "Ooooh! You're the Sewing Lady!!" Ummm... Here's the point in the story where I should mention that my sewing skills are novice level at best - certainly not the calibur of someone to be given the moniker "Sewing Lady"! So with these 3 grateful looking ladies gaping up at me like puppies, I walked over to where they were storing the "to-do" projects. No eel costume. Instead I get handed three of these:



"We need two the same size as Kayti's, one the same size as Sam's, and one the same size as Holly's." Then she hands me a massive bag full of fabric and sends me on my way. Let's review: novice seamstress has just been handed 3 finished products and a bag of fabric and now has to reverse engineer them. Let me also add that these fish heads were all seemingly the SAME SIZE.

I dutifully took them home and began toiling away. My first batch was an absolute disaster, complete with weepy tears. Thursday, I tried again, this time with the attitude that "this is for a little kids' play - not an oscar nomination. They'll get what they get & they'll like it!" This yielded a bit more success. Friday, I kidnapped Kathy & between us we got all 4 of them sewn.



Yesterday, when I dropped them off at the school I pointed out to them that they hadn't given me the velcro for the chin piece. They promptly asked me did I have time to sew it on now. "Nope! Gotta go to work! Glad I could help. Good luck!"

Speedy Gonzales never moved so quickly...