From the hands of Matt

For the last few months, I've seen a fabric lump around the house. The fact that I never did anything with it (like toss it out) doesn't speak well of my housekeeping philosophy or routine (if I even have one). Finally a few weeks ago, I happened to notice Matt fiddling with it. I asked him if the fabric lump was his. He said, "I lost the pencil bag you got me at the beginning of the school year so I made this one to replace it."

It's a pencil bag? No wonder it was lumpy. I asked to examine it.

He had taken scraps and a zipper from my sewing room and fashioned it into this:
I like that he didn't ask for help with it. I would have been a lot more finicky about how it looked if I was a part of the creation process. This is the most ragged sewing job (and it involved STAPLES) I've seen but I can't help but LOVE IT. Why do I love it? Because Matt solved a problem by himself, he used materials he found around the house, he came up with his own design, he is not afraid to let his sewing be seen by other people including his friends, and he allowed me to photograph it. (also it reminds me of the time he patched his own jeans--can't find the post about it to link to it though)

Here is the zipper part. Can you pick out the staples? (Ha!)
It does actually open.
YES he brings this to school. I don't know what other kids have said about it, but maybe I'll ask Matt today.