Sew Buttons on a Rubber Duck

I have a sewing machine. I've taken a sewing class. Other than the purse and letter pillow I did in the class I haven't sewn a thing. Not even all the things piling up that the kids have asked me to sew. I've known that would take hand sewing and all my hand sewing up til' now has been crap so really I didn't want to pull everything out just to do a crappy repair job that may or may not hold. This morning I pulled out my sewing machine and basket, set it on the table, and set to work googling how to fix tears in fabric and found this gem (if you click on the link Google gives you at the top it will give you the option to download as a PDF which will have the illustrations) . I realized I didn't know how to stitch and that's why my repairs looked crappy. So four cub scout patches later the first one being pretty darn bad as I figured out exactly how to do the stitch through the experience and the last one being so beautiful you can hardly see it, I can do a stitch! Yay me! I also repaired Shawner's stuffed leopard gecko whose tail had ripped, two pairs of pajama pants, and Justinbustin's cub scout hat - that one took sewing through plastic! Thank God for thimbles.