with play filled love for seeds and pips

In the late summer heat I have been delighting in the seeds ripening in our garden, large poppy heads, golden fennel flowers and particularly this year the rattling upside down star bells of the many aquilegia that my daughter tends so magically.
We have also been eating more fruit than usual and playing with the pips, the cherry pips bleach dried in the sun are just jumping to have their little bodies painted.
And then in the middle of the heat my girl got a bad cold, and we had to find healthy alternatives to satisfy the wishes for sweetness. I remembered hunza apricots and we rediscovered the joy of painting their pips.

While she was unwell my little one spent a lot of time laying on my bed, and I spent a lot of time sitting on my floor sharing beautiful conversations with her and sewing, she loves to watch me sew and it seems soothing for her to be part of a creative process when frustrated by her own lack of energy for play and making things.
A small golden brown being began one sleepless evening, and the next day had become a soft fuzzy handful. My daughter watched every step and as I finished the woolly dress and popped the pips into the pockets she reached out her hand and then 'mummy please can I have her as a present at some point soon.' I laughed...the first Pippin belonged here, and I was grateful, as often before, for the continued love of these little beings that my daughters have even as they grow up. Pippin didn't want to wait to belong and every evening before bed my daughter held her and talked silently to her and then one evening through our conversation around the pips in her pockets a little story came about.

It is very very rare that any two little beings which come are similar or that any inspiration wants to take form twice, but surprisingly amazingly, perhaps because of the shear pleasure of their warmth, Pippins still wanted to be stitched, twice more! And each with their own little character they were very happy to know each other. My daughter is thrilled that some other children are also going to have a Pippin to love and might also find the joy of painting pips themselves. My hope is that by making this simple story available and writing about the process, other parents will be encouraged and supported in their own creating for and with their children.

Pippin's story can be found in the blog tabs above, please feel free to print it, to cut out the pages and to make a little book of it.