A new favourite photo.

Abby and Maisie.

Nose to nose on the family room floor.

Every single year I am amazed at how quickly the world wakes up when the snow finally leaves. Our lawn, sadly, doesn't seem so keen on it this year but we've already got dandelions blooming so at least there is something colourful going on and I'm pretty sure I saw some patches of clover coming up and that will help the lawn. There are a few other volunteers around the yard, some will get to stay, others, like the dandelions, will be removed. The raspberries will probably be kept, at least until I get a domestic variety. There are a few birch trees coming up that we're thinking of keeping too. Their leaves are such a wonderful shade of green. I think it says "spring" to me more than any other colour coming out right now. Every few days, when Maisie and I get back from walking with Abby, I check the crabapple to see how it's doing. The buds have been swelling gradually and now they are starting to really open up. Lots of them too. In a few weeks our tree should be covered in pink blossoms.

I was a little late ordering my seeds this year so they are still in the mail. I spent part of Sunday afternoon getting the garden ready for them. Dead plants were pulled up and added to the compost pile, soil was turned and weeds were pulled out. My garden boxes are usually pretty good for weeds but one of them had a bunch of fireweed coming up so I dug down a ways to get out as much of the root as possible. The rhubarb is looking great and even bigger than last year. I think I'll look up some new recipes for rhubarb this year. It looks like there will be plenty. I had to cut back a bunch of willow branches that were growing over one of my garden boxes. It seemed a pity to just toss them so I made some decorations for my boxes and there are plenty of pieces left over for making some trellises for my peas and beans.

I'm sure it would be rational for someone who knows she has limited and unpredictable crafting time to work on projects in a one-at-a-time fashion but I seem incapable of that sort of planning. I think of something and go hunting around to see if I've got the stuff and if I do (or almost do) I rush right into cutting and sewing.

This is a project I worked on last weekend. A ring sling for me and Maisie for those times when the Moby wrap is impractical. Times like walking out for lunch or going to sit in a park. Times where I know the chance she'll need to nurse is high or where I will want to take off and put on the carrier quickly and without dragging any of it on the ground. I was going to buy a sling and was lamenting the high price of the ones I'd seen when I remembered that I'd bought a bunch of sling rings a few years ago for some project that never got finished and chances were good that I'd be able to scrounge up two metres of fabric somewhere (at the very least it is something I can get in town). I think this fabric was originally going to be a tunic … or a skirt … I don't quite remember … but it is just right for a sling and the plaid pattern was very handy in cutting and hemming and making sure things were lining up.

There are lot of instructions for ring slings on the internet but I worked from a Japanese craft book I got a couple of years ago (chances are good it was purchased about the same time as the rings but there's no knowing really). The book has instructions for four styles of slings plus some cute baby projects and some really great instructions for putting your sling on and getting your baby into it. All the text is in Japanese of course but, like every origami set I've every bought, the book also has detailed pictures to walk you through each step. For the sling wearing instructions the pictures are especially great because they used a special sling made of translucent fabric with coloured ribbon sewn along the rails so you can really see how everything works and how the baby should be positioned.

Maisie is a bit of a stiff baby for this type of carrier. She likes to be able to push her legs straight when she is awake and it's taking a bit of patience on my part to get her used to a carrier that requires her legs be bent. Having her in a cloth diaper helps a bit because it gives a lot more bum for the fabric to wrap around. One big advantage of the sling carrier though is that we can now do front facing carries and Maisie is starting to get pretty keen on seeing what's going on around her.

I took Maisie out into the back yard to get some  pictures of the two of us using our new carrier. I set up my tripod, grabbed my camera remote and stood in the same spot I stood every Tuesday for so many weeks last fall and winter. The weather was certainly much nicer than the last time I was in the back yard for a self portrait session.