{update: not suitable for dogs}

We won't know what's what in our herb garden anymore. But not to worry, it won't matter, really, because Bella will probably eat all the plants tomorrow. 

{diy: cross-stitched garden markers}

Thanks to the lovely weather, we got planting last weekend, and have set ourselves up for a rather tasty year with some favourite herbs. (That's hhhhh-erbs, just to be clear.) To be sure we remember who is who, and don't end up eating our flowers, I made each plant a little marker out of clay.

All you need is a packet of modeling clay (I used Sculptey), some alphabet stamps, and a needle and thread. A 2oz packet of clay (which costs 30 - 50 cents) makes 4 garden markers.

The trick to adding the cross-stitch is to sew through the clay just as soon as it's cool enough to handle (about two minutes after it came out of the oven). Be careful, it's rather hot at first! If you wait more than ten minutes, though, the clay might be too hard already. My advice -- bake them in batches of three or four, to allow yourself enough time to sew them all before they harden.

I'd love to know what you've been planting this year, and am eager for any tips about what grows well in Texas!

{astronomy for beginners}

(outside, about 3pm)

TILLY (pointing at the sky): Moon!
ME (sighing): No, it's daytime. It's the sun.
TILLY: Moon!
ME: Sun!
TILLY: MOON!
ME (looking up to see that yes, the thin sliver of a moon is out, and wondering how to teach her to tell the difference between the sun and moon now that my one rule has been broken): Uh...

-     -     -  

(driving home from a friend's house one night)

TILLY (pointing): Star, star star, star...
ME: Those are cars.
TILLY: Car, car, car, car...


(Image from AGC916)

{read read completely read}

(above: Tilly's abstract art on the inside of our book)

This week, I've been mostly reading:

• Simplicity Parenting (by Kim John Payne) -- because we need simple. We need less. It's not just less toys that are covered, but less distraction overall, which has made space this week for deeper breaths and peace and time. The section on family rhythm really struck me -- we're not often reminded how important the things that we do over and over again are. A few favourite thoughts:

"Meaning hides in repetition: We do this every week because it matters. 

We are connected by this thing we do together."

"Family is not disparate relationships between individuals and machines, 

in seperate rooms of a house"

"I take necessary (speech) to mean 'more important than silence'. 

What enables us to read a word is the white space all around it."

• Two Girls, Fat and Thin (by Mary Gaitskill) -- because I wouldn't let myself read Veronica (by the same author) again. Such a real world is created that its facts are blurring into my own.

• Month-By-Month Gardening in Texas (by Dale Groom & Dan Gill) -- because, at this point in my life, there are only two plants I haven't killed. A scraggly mint in a pot in the back garden, and the world's most amazing rose bush in our front garden (which we can thank the previous owners of our house for). I hope to end this year with these, and a few more.

So here's to more white space, less weeds. 

{language for beginners}

A few of our daily exchanges, now that conversation is (sort of) possible:

TILLY (pointing at a picture of a pig's nose): Snah!

ME: Yes, that's his snout.

TILLY (pointing at my nose): Mummy, snah!

-     -     -

TILLY: APPLESAUCE!

ME: How do you ask?

TILLY: APPLESAUUUCE!

ME: Can you say "applesauce, please"?

TILLY: Yes.

ME: Can you say "please"?

TILLY: Yes.

ME: If you want some applesauce, you have to say "please".

TILLY: PASTA!

-     -     -

TILLY: I-O-I-O?
ME: Old McDonald had a farm, ee-i-ee-i-oh. And on that farm he had a...
TILLY: Em!
ME: Em?
TILLY: EM!
ME: The letter 'm'?
TILLY: Yes.
ME: Okay. With an 'm', 'm' here and an 'm', 'm' there...

{a valentine's party}

This year, we got more than our fair share of hearts, as we hosted a Valentine's party for Tilly and her friends. Oh, to be one again, and get a dozen cards from your favourite people!

Of course, most of the photos turned out to be a blur of children bouncing off the walls and each other. Here are some of the sweet moments in between -- you'll just have to imagine the rabble of other children just outside of the picture, and add in about two-hundred pompoms. (Yes, the kids loved to dump them out, but, admittedly, Terri and I started it by trying to get a 'raining pompoms' photo with poor, unimpressed Jackson)

One of Tilly's best friends couldn't make it, but sent along a little Valentine's card with a photo of himself in it. It is now officially the most looked-at piece of paper in our house.



Hope you had a lovely day, too, and were lucky enough to enjoy a festive cupcake or two!

{a chevron quilt}

This is a quilt for a friend's first little girl, Autumn, who's due this month.

Chevrons, from a selection of the best of the Freecycle fabrics (surprisingly, no cats made the cut), and long patchwork stripes, which were leftover from the binding of Tilly's signature birthday table cloth.

Tilly performed her happiness-stamping ritual in her most cheerful (clean) pink crocs. It was really quite hard to part with. 

{yarn bombing comes to texas}

A little birdie just told me that a yarn bombing of the Texas A&M campus is underway, featuring the artist Magda Sayeg, of knitted-bus fame. For the trippiest website you've ever seen, click here. (But maybe give it a miss if you're epileptic, or have had more than two cups of coffee today).

There'll be info sessions taking place:

Tuesday, February 7th, 1pm, Rudder 402
Thursday, February 9th, 6:30pm, Rudder 410

Tilly and I plan to stop by tomorrow -- a room full of yarn bombers sounds like quite an experience in itself!

{fashion with a face}

Dear Freecycle, 

I'm sorry I gave up on you. Two weeks of mass emails about other people's rubbish was too much for me, as was the disappointment of never EVER being quick enough to claim any of the loot. But clearly, you are a goldmine of garbage, a treasure-trove of trash. You deserve more patience. Take me back?

Love, Astrid.

Lucky for me, I have friends who Freecycle, and last week, Kathryn managed to claim three bags stuffed full of fabric scraps, which I happily picked up and sorted through.

In the bags were lots of tiny scraps, in every colour of the rainbow, a giant piece of beautiful Christmas linen, patterned with holly, and... an enormous variety of CAT FABRICS!

I gasped (having never seen cat fabric in real life before).

I laughed (having always wondered who, exactly, ever owns the $9-a-yard designer cat fabrics in the Hancocks magazine. Me, now, apparently).

And then, as I pulled another, and another, and then yet another whiskered face out of the bag, I started to panic. Where would they all live? There simply aren't enough shelves around here to house an extended feline family.

And so the cats stayed piled in the living room, judging me with those little black eyes, until the next morning, when Tilly found them and let out a very very loud miaow.

And so how could I resist making her a little "miaow-miaow" skirt with one of the scraps, plus a little grey binding? I sewed it up this morning, while she was (supposed to be but not) napping, and presented it to her in her bed when I went to get her out. Never has crying stopped so quickly. 

So here we have Tilly's predictions for Spring 2012 toddler-wear: Fashion with a Face. And to accessorize, a giant stuffed beaver, of course.

P.S. After I wrote this, I happened across this adult version of the cat skirt. So if you want Tilly's look...

{brought you some red}

A few lovely reds that have been inspiring me this week. Life's not all stylish greys, you know. 

1. Wine tags by REDSTARink 2. Red-and-White Tribute quilt by Thelma Childers 3. Emily Barletta's stitched art 4. Red lighting via Design-Shimmer 5. Log cabin quilting from 1955 from A Piece of My Soul