Librariness

Today I took Sydney to the dentist (she loooooves her dentists, who are so supportive of my hippie-granolaness that the free samples they give the girls are of Tom's of Maine toothpaste), bought a case of beer at Kroger's (for beer bread--really!), bicycled both here and yon, trimmed the overgrown ivy on the tree in the side yard (up to a six-foot-level only, on account of arm reach limitations, so the tree sort of looks like Sideshow Bob now), re-hemmed a vintage dress I wore when I was Sydney's age but that Sydney, given much more free reign and scope for creativity and independent activity than I was at her age, cut up the lacy sleeves on (I'm thinking of hand-stitching on white beads now to mimic the sleeve embellishments of old), and watched two episodes of The O.C (Why, oh why, did I ever think that show wouldn't be AWESOME? I'd be happy to mother that poor little abandoned urchin--I hope the rich lady comes around), but the most, most, most important thing is that it's LIBRARY DAY! I have my second cup (okay, third) of coffee for the day and a slice of beer bread, fresh from the oven, spread with locally made cherry raspberry jam, and Matt and the girls are...actually, I have no idea what Matt and the girls are off doing, but they're not home, so here are the highlights from Library Day:

• Selina and the Bear Paw Quilt The book is actually pretty much a downer, with Selina and her family, Mennonites during the Civil War, having to flee to northern Canada, leaving behind dearly beloved granny, who gives Selina a quilt top as a farewell gift. In Canada at the house of relatives, Selina misses granny something terrible, but is comforted when she sees that the quilt on her strange bed contains many of the same fabrics as granny's quilts back home--the making and giving and using of quilts, they bring us together, y'all. The awesome thing about this book, though, is that the border to each illustration is an actual quilted border--I read the book through quickly, then pored over it again to steal some ideas for my own quilted borders.
• Mother Earth and Her Children: A Quilted Fairy Tale The illustrations for this book are off the hook. The story is a German folk tale, but the illustrations are all close-ups of sections of this ginormous awesome quilt that a very gifted artist made to retell the story. Seriously, off the hook. Willow warmed my heart when we were looking at this book together by saying, "Momma, let's us make this quilt today." God, the child has no concept of reality.
• Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding! It may surprise you to know that I am a lousy gardener. Lousy. I have no patience, no tendency to follow rules, no strategy for labelling what I've planted, no regular system of watering, and when it first starts to get really hot outside, I'm done. Our yard looks like crap. But I can change, I tell you, I can change. With lasagna gardening, I can change.
• I have been so excited for this book that I asked the public library to order for me, and it finally came! I heart Built by Wendy, and I plan to read this book with my very first pattern in hand, a Built by Wendy shirt pattern, no less--how can success not be the result?
• ReadyMade: How to Make [Almost] Everything: A Do-It-Yourself Primer This book might be a little hip and industrial for my tastes (how many loaves of beer bread would it take to make their beer can room divider?), but I always love the possibilities inherent in ReadyMade's designs, and their recycling methodology can't be beat.

What's your favorite recycling methodology?