Shirley Anne’s Heart

While many people were resting and recovering from 4th of July reveries, SAO and two friends had a SEW SEW DAY in Midlothian, VA! 

It was just too much fun. We sewed ALL DAY (except when we were eating!)  I thought SEW SEW DAY was kind of catchy - and you know quilters, we like to name things (our quilts, our retreats, our guilds, our groups……and I thought of SEW SEW SEWERS for a name of our “informal group” but that was a bit much and I wasn’t sure I wanted to BELONG to a group with that name!  :):)

We had the house to ourselves and we laughed as much as we sewed!  Marla is even laughing while she sews!  Or is that a grimace?  Actually Marla inspired me to work on my TYME TO WATER QUILT - - soon — and very soon. 

And Ginger had SHOW AND TELL….she brought the sweetest quilt ever?  It reminds me of peppermint candy floating in a garden!  :)  UNFORTUNATELY the picture I took had a FATAL ERROR (don’t you just love it when that happens!)  I think Ginger will be happy because she is a bit camera shy.  THE GOOD NEWS IS that the picture of the back came out great.  Valerie of A NEEDLE RUNS THROUGH IT quilted it - and the flowers are WONDERFUL.

Ginger’s BIG SHOW AND TELL is the book that she and her business partner wrote and recently published.  Ginger is an EXCELLENT retired elementary educator - and until recently she was a consultant for the CURIOUS GEORGE series. 

It is a WONDEFUL book with detailed and doable projects to be integrated into the classroom curriculum.  You can e-mail me if you are interested - I am not associated with the book - I am just an impressed educator (drsaowens@gmail.com).  Ginger is so passionate about education and engineering in the classroom that (in my opinion) she is practically GIVING this book away - only $20.

Our SEW SEW DAY looked a bit like a BROTHER’S SEWING MACHINE convention - look - we all three have the same BROTHER machines!!!!

I worked on my BIRTH OF A SAMPLER QUILT - hopefully I will get most of the last border on before class Tuesday!  I sewed LOTS AND LOTS of bargello strips!

ANOTHER FATAL ERROR PICTURE SHOULD HAVE GONE HERE!

We had a wonderful time and the weather was just perfect - we even were able to eat on the back porch!  I think the highlight of the day was Eleanor Burns. 

No, Eleanor Burns wasn’t ACTUALLY with us but we watched part of her DVD - EGG MONEY QUILTS and she is absolutely hysterical……even if you aren’t a quilter, the DVD is worth it…..5 hours of fun (and she really makes quilting relaxing and fun!)   You will love all of her APRONS!  My favorite part was the segment where Eleanor was stroking a LIVE TURKEY while another turkey pranced back and forth in front of the camera.  (You can get the video at QUILTER’S CORNER and there might be room in the EGG MONEY QUILT CLASS at Quilter’s Corner starting July 20 - and no, I don’t work for QC - I just love the place - even though up until now I have been calling it THE Quilter’s Corner and there is no THE in its name.)

Speaking of Quilter’s Corner - there is a big sale going on - 20% off all bolts of fabric - I just might HAVE to go shopping later today!

Enough of my PALAVER!  (I have a lot of fun with my DICTIONARY.COM word for the day e-mails - and sometimes those words just fit RIGHT IN!) 

Word of the Day for Sunday, July 6, 2008
palaver \puh-LAV-uhr; puh-LAH-vur\, noun:

1. Idle talk

He is glad to palaver of his many adventures, as a boy will whistle after sundown in a wood.
– O. Henry, “The Man Higher Up”

Palaver derives from Late Latin parabola, “a proverb, a parable,” from Greek parabole, from paraballein, “to compare,” from para-, “beside” + ballein, “to throw.”

Tags: Children's Engineering, DVD Recommendation, Dictionary.com, Quilt Retreat, SEW SEW DAY by drsao
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Monday, May 19, my grandangel in California, CHASE,  turned 17 and he did a great job on his S.A.T.s  He is still a bit young to vote, but he has made his political choice with gusto.

Monday was a big day of celebration!

Also on Monday, I was  the substitute teacher for grandangel, Sarah’s second grade class.  Does Sarah look happy with her little Webkinz mouse on her head?

Usually, at the end of the year the children are EXTREMELY excited and not prone to listening - so grandangel, Leanna, made me a puppet and we named her MS. TOODLES.

I went to school armed with two bags of candy (rewards for only the very best behavior) and I placed Ms. Toodles on the blackboard with a magnetic clamp.  She watched the children so that she could decide who would get candy at the end of the day.  I then taught the children how to be LOUD in SIGN LANGUAGE and how to say WOW, WAY TO GO, and I taught them how to say “close your mouth, please” in French.  They loved it!  I also taught them the BRAIN DANCE - to get the wiggles out and to relax them at various points during the day.

You may not have heard of it (since I made it up!) So if you are a teacher or a sub (or a regular “normal” person LOL) - you may want to try this little brain break

(exercise and relaxation - and laughter - deliver oxygen to the brain!)

B   breathe in to the count of four and then out to the count of four

R   raise up on your toes to the count of four twice

A   raise your arms up to the count of four and then down to the count of four

I   imitate a smile (facial smile excercises) to the count of four - twice

N   nod the head IN SLOW MO….very gently - front - left - back - right - repeat

We had an absolutely WONDERFUL AND UNUSUALLY PEACEFUL DAY!  Ms. Toodles was proud to present candy to every single child in the class.  Who would have thought that such model behavior could result from a bag lady with candy! 

I had such a GOOD DAY with those second graders (although I must say that it was a humbling experience when we talked about PAST vs PRESENT times and the kids didn’t know what a record player or a typewriter was!  When I asked them how they thought a person could correct a mistake on a typewriter - one child said, ‘It must have a DELETE button!”  These are children of the computer age for sure!)

And Tuesday, May 20, my grandangel Cooper graduated from preschool…..and Grandma Shirley cried because all of the little children were so cute!  They walked in, sang several songs and then were presented with their graduation certificates while the teacher announced what they wanted to be when they grew up.  Cooper’s aspiration is to be a STAR WARS JEDI!

Quilting…..a day without quilting is like a day without chocolate!

I am so excited about my progress with my Grandmother’s Flower Garden….I am LOVING it and find it very relaxing to do the handwork.  My friend, Sheddy, taught me a new and improved way to paper piece (not sewing through the paper but making a little stitch at each line intersection through the fabric only - but still folded around the paper template.)  I love learning new things and I am getting faster and faster….

Here is a close up of a completed flower….I love these 30’s fabrics!

And this is what I have sewn together!  (This is addictive!!!)

You are probably supposed to sew these together in a more systematic way

- but for now, it works!

AND….I just finished the Quilter’s Corner Block of the Month blocks from civil war reproduction fabrics…I was SO PLEASED (and amazed) that my points came out relatively well!

I love these blocks so much - I have made two for April and two for May!

I also sewed the binding on two quilts and pieced a quilt back today….WHOO HOO!

And that is NOT ALL!  Today my daughter and I got  pedicures compliments of my husband for Mother’s Day.  Christi may just FAINT when she sees her feet published in a mother-daughter pose!  But, oh well, silliness is good for the soul!

On the way to get our pedicures we HAD to stop for Starbucks and at Barnes and Noble I got another James Patterson book.  HONEYMOON.

I have only read the first 71 pages - it is wonderful so far - and guess who is NOT going to sleep tonight!  There are not enough locks on the doors for me to sleep tonight!

I can tell that this is going to be a good week -

look what fun I’ve had in only the first two days!

Tags: Book Recommendation, Life Comments, Quilter's Corners BOM Quilt, SAO's Grandangels by drsao
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On my recent flight from Richmond to Las Vegas I read WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen.   I can see why it made the Los Angeles, Wall Street Journal and USA TODAY best sellers’ lists.  Sarah Gruen provides a center-ring view of circus life as I never even dreamed that it could be like!  I was amazed at how artfully the author moved us from the present to the past and then back again numerous times - and  I was never lost  or confused (and that is saying a lot.)  I REALLY recommend this one - thanks Marla, for loaning me this book.  I will never see a circus again without thinking of Jacob, Marlena, and Rosie the elephant.  I LOVED THIS BOOK!  I  couldn’t put it down - that is for sure!  It made the trip across the country seem fleeting!! 

Here is a direct quote from Amazon.com

Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski’s ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its ownway of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell.

Jacob was there because his luck had run out — orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive “ship of fools.” It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was, Rosie didn’t have an act — in fact, she couldn’t even follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.

Surprising, poignant, and funny, Water for Elephants is that rare novel with a story so engrossing, one is reluctant to put it down; with characters so engaging, they continue to live long after the last page has been turned; with a world built of wonder, a world so real, one starts to breathe its air.

Tags: Book Recommendation by drsao
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Oh my - do I have yet ANOTHER book recommendation.  I read James Patterson’s THE 6th TARGET while traveling from Las Vegas, NV to Richmond, VA.   The book - from the series the WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB - was so good that I was riveted to my seat  and that is not just an IDLE COMMENT.  There was so much turbulence on the plane that the lady sitting next to me lost her glasses.  She was wearing them and we hit some BUMPS (using the word “bump” loosely) and her glasses flew off and landed in the laps of the people behind us!

Here is the little blurb taken off James Patterson’s website.  Now I just HAVE to read the others in this series.  If you like suspense with a smidgeon of romance - you will love this one.

Signed…….sao, a James Patterson fan! 

The 6th Target

Someone opens fire on unsuspecting pedestrians and one of the Women’s Murder Club is caught in the middle. As she struggles for her life, the others must work fast to track down the madman. In another part of the city, somebody is targeting children and their nannies. As the kidnappers await their ransom, Lindsay and company are faced with finding the mastermind before more

Tags: Book Recommendation by drsao
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I have a recommendation for a light hearted book - great for reading in an airport.  It is SUZANNE’S DIARY FOR NICHOLAS by James Patterson.  It is a love story - and, in my opinion, it is wonderful LIGHT mind candy.  I understand that James Patterson wrote this book based on his own moving life experiences.  If you are susceptible to being moved to tears, this will do it for you!  Along with the tears, I also experienced suspense and joy.  James Patterson has a website….www.jamespatterson.com.  Happy reading.

Tags: Book Recommendation by drsao
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