Fabric Baby Gate...Love is Patient, I am Not!

I live in a home that we have dubbed "The land of many stairs."  It was built in the seventies; that was the style: stairs to the living room on two sides, stairs up to the bedrooms, a few more stairs into the master bedroom and yet another step in the bedroom to a sitting area.  All told, my home is on six levels!  I absolutely loved it when we moved in, but once my youngest, B, started walking she has wanted to do nothing but go up and down all the stairs.  So frustrating!  If you have ever tried putting a babygate on a stairs, you know that if you succeed it is only going to lead to gashes in the wood and a pinched finger or two.  Again...frustration!  So I came across a different solution (ta-da):

I left the bottom step open because my girls will sit there and read books or do puzzles, or try and jump off...but I'll pick my battle on that one, so up one step it goes.

The design is quite simple.  I wanted it with fabric on both sides so it was sturdier and so my stitches didn't show.  I made basically a giant pillow with ribbon sewn on and then flipped it the right way sewed up the little hole and voila!

Ha---Voila???  Voila---who am I kidding? I had my three year old with me...it was far from voila!  As I was making this I tried, oh Lordy did I try to be patient.  My three year old girl, M, happily danced around (and on) my fabric, she happily tried dancing with the scissors.  I had to search for the pieces of ribbon probably a dozen times because to her, they were perfect to lay down and do hurdles over.  When i finally got everything clipped and pinned she had to sit on my chair while I sewed, had to hold the pins, had to cut the ribbon had to get out "favric" scraps and "cut like Mommy."  I just could not get a break.  I was getting so frustrated and asked several time if she would like to rest and watch a movie.  She was having none of it.  Then, THIS HAPPENED!

Yep, you are seeing that correctly, the bobbin which was brand new had a raised piece that caused a HUGE knot in the whole machine.  Notice how the color matches the fabric just so....well, that didn't last long.  I ripped that thing out, cut a big strip off of the top of the fabric, threw in another bobbin with dark green and proceeded on.  M at this time became fascinated with a thimble and I was about to throw in the towel.  Dark Green bobbin it was.  No more did I fix that frustration and the needle started catching on the ribbon.  "Can I just get a break here!"  I have a million things to do, I had to make dinner when B woke up from her nap and I could not have her running up and down the steps.  Meanwhile M is back to trying to quietly cut my fabric.

"Love is patient....Love is kind."  PATIENT....KIND?!  I just wanted that stupid gate DONE!  However, I knew this verse, my subconscious knew this verse and it just rang through my head. First Corinthians chapter thirteen verse four  "Love is patient, love is kind..."  

I looked at these little hands, trying desperately to cut fabric with me and realized that she wasn't trying to annoy me, she wasn't trying to make the job take ten times longer, or frustrate me.  She was three and just loved having time just her and I.  Here I was sulking about how annoying the situation was instead of taking it for what it was.  I stay home with my kids so I could often have moments like this.  Where I can sit with my kids and do projects and show them that above everything else I love them, and God loves them even more.  

LOVE IS PATIENT!  LOVE IS KIND!  Well, I certainly love this little girl, so I had to be patient and kind.  We got a good twenty minutes laying out fabric, putting "beautiful jewel pins" in and talking about what our favorite color fabric scraps were.  The project got done, but at the end my sweet little girl declared when her daddy walked in the door, "Daddy, look at what Mama and I made!" was what I will remember!  I am so grateful that my father in heaven is a lot better at being patient and kind with me than I am, and I am equally grateful that words that I sometimes so desperately need are written so I can call them to mind when needed!

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.


An extra picture on how to layout the design.  Best luck and comment with any questions: