Collaborate

Collaborate: To work together, especially in a joint intellectual effort.

Each summer (for the past several) my niece and I have collaborated on her 4-H clothing projects. I'm happy to help, especially when I think of the hundreds of hours that my Auntie M. spent helping me with my projects.

Twinkletoes (my niece) is more of an artist than a seamstress, so she enters a division called "artistic clothing". Here is how our collaborative efforts work: (like how I can use different forms of the word collaborate - just to tie in with the title?)

1. Twinkletoes chooses a pattern and buys some plain white silk.

2. I cut out the pattern using her appropriate measurements and then send the pieces back to her.

3. She uses her special artistic magic, some dyes and some resist to create all kinds of unique designs on the fabric.

4. Twinkletoes sends the now colorful pieces back to me and I stitch them together to create her masterpiece.

Here is a photo of this year's creation:

Grand Champion, Artistic Clothing division.

I love it when a joint intellectual effort comes together!