The title of the quilt is Messengers, and it is 36" wide by 44" long. I've worked on it for about 3 years. Everything is hand pieced and hand stitched. The fabric is my own hand painted fabric. After quilting, I keep painting. The first time I painted onto a quilt that I had spent a lot of time stitching, I was really nervous. Now, I'm excited by it. You never know how the quilted surface and the paints and other products you put on it will interact. It's a kind of "dangerous" serendipity that I've never regretted yet. Would you call that an oxymoron?

The saying on the quilt is a quote from Brenda Ueland, a famous writer and teacher of writing:

Think of yourself as an incandescent power, illuminated and perhaps forever talked to by God and his messengers.

This is my write up for the quilt:

The messengers are gathering in prime formation: 2 butterflies, 3 dragonflies, 5 angels, 7 crows, 11 stars. To truly hear their message, you must kill the ego. Egos are wont to kill the messenger when they dislike the message they are receiving, but that is a useless tactic. The message will simply find you another way, through another messenger.

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Its been a long day. The TV plays something I don't hear. I sit at the computer and type. Words that don't make much sense (though I'm trying hard). All I want now is for Time to stretch, as I have so much more to do. Cook, clean, write, etc. etc. It suddenly hits me that I'm tired. The flesh is indeed weak! But the spirit ?? This comes as a shock - even to myself - that I'm ageing, when I've crossed only even half my life!

And then, in the background, my ears suddenly catch, soft strains of music. The familiar lullaby that my baby is falling off to sleep with. A lullaby about 'twinkling little stars'. The music is soothing, restful...and heavenly.

If only for a few moments, the creases on my forehead fade away. I am a child myself. A child, with no worries, no fears, no plans. A child, drifting off into a deep, restful silence. Far, far away from the madding world.

Then, the tape ends.

in a beautiful pea green boat

along came a spider and sat down beside her

and the owl went off humping a goat

hey diddle diddle the cat and his fiddle

made the cow jump over the moon

the sweet dog's ass is so much fun

licking yesterday's vomit from a spoon

Boo Boo the Butterfly
loves to fly at night
She floats along
Singing her song
under the bright moonlight

Boo Boo loves to laugh and play
in parks and playgrounds too
she loves to ride
on the curly slide
and do what the other bugs do 

Boo Boo plays piano
when the cricket quartet sings
she often will dance
with the coolest of ants
while the music lifts her wings 

Boo Boo sips from flowers
like orchids and violets or a rose
she loves the smell
the lavender's swell
but the lilies tickle her nose 

Boo Boo the Butterfly
loves to bask in the sun
she always chimes
"Good Times, Good Times"
then she's off to find more fun!

A wink, a smile and a whale’s tale

Hovered in the light blue sky

A star, the moon and a mammal cloud

That I saw with my light blue eye

A vision not only I could see

An art of the highest kind

Was there for all, aloft and free

A glimpse of the artists mind

To sleep, to sleep

My mother said

To sleep, to sleep

Please get in bed

One story, one drink

My blanket, my bear

One more kiss, I think

We’re almost there

To sleep, to sleep

I heard her say

To sleep, to sleep

As I drifted away

rockabye baby on da treetop
when da wind blows i'll take off ur frock
then da bough'll break, so fall cradle fall
and down will come kitty, licking ur balls

rocking rolling riding
big bad wolf is hiding
little red wet her bed
couldn't get up in da morning

rockabye baby on da treetop
when da wind blows, go rock, baby rock
cos soon da bough'll break, ur cradle will fall
and down will come bunny, memories n' all

Old King Cole was a merry old soul, and a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe in the middle of the night
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Every fiddler had a fine fiddle, and a very fine fiddle had he;
Oh there's none so rare as can compare
With King Cole and his fiddlers three.

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey,
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away

Ever wondered who Miss Muffet was? This same site has a wonderful history of this rhyme.

Story of the Little Miss Muffet Rhyme

Little Miss Muffet was a small girl whose name was Patience Muffet. Her stepfather, Dr. Muffet (1553-1604) was a famous entomologist who wrote the first scientific catalogue of British Insects. Whilst eating her breakfast of curds and whey Little Miss Muffet was frightened by one of his spiders and ran away! This particular Nursery Rhyme of Little Miss Muffet reputedly dates back to the late 16th century as indicated by the birth date of Dr Muffet! Unlikely story about Patience Muffet!

There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse.
And they all lived together in a little crooked house

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.

I found another verse which I don't recall.

Source: Nursery Rhymes

Up got Jack, and home did trot
As fast as he could caper
He went to bed and bound his head
With vinegar and brown paper.

Peter Peter pumpkin eater,
Had a wife and couldn't keep her!
He put her in a pumpkin shell,
And there he kept her very well!

Monday’s child is fair of face.
Tuesday’s child is full of grace.
Wednesday’s child is full of woe.
Thursday’s child has far to go,
Friday’s child is loving and giving.
Saturday’s child has to work hard for his living,
But, the child that is born on Sunday, is fair, wise, good, and gay.
~author unknown

This was passed on to me by my mother, which was passed on to her by her mother. I pass it on to you as a breather. A lot of the topics covered here are stressful and can really play tricks with your mind. I like to think positive and that it is all worth it, each and every day (even the bad ones). As, for me and my siblings, this poem rings true. Does it ring true for you, too?

tweedle deedle dee

i woke up with a spider on my knee

i jumped on my bed

and bumped my head

i saw darkness and now I'm dead....

tweedle deedle dee

thought of this while doing my sets of crunches. i don't even know what a tweedle deedle means anyway

tee24 sept 1 2008

Fay, Fay go away.

Slide on up to ol' GA.

Diva D wants to play.

It's time to leave FLA.

Like a bad house guest, TS Fay has decided to stay a little longer.  Yay.  All this rain has brought the return of Super Sloth. 

I feel so lazy today.

My house is covered in dust due to the winds of Fay and my DH installing laminate flooring this week.

My floors need to be mopped.

An avalanche of clean clothes pours out of my laundry basket and taunts me.

I haven't made my bed yet and it looks so comfy.  In a bedroom voice, Twilight beckons met to come hither.

Hal would be so disappointed. ]]> http://misslucy.wordpress.com/?p=532 Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:30:25 +0000 ashburnreviews http://playgroundsongs.com/2008/08/13/humpty-dumpty/

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the kind’s horses and
All the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again

Hey diddle diddle the cat and the fiddle
The cow jumped over the moon
The little dog laughed to see such sport
And the dish ran away with the spoon

Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard,
To fetch her poor dog a bone.
But when she got there,
The cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog had none.

She went to the fishmonger's
To buy him some fish;
But when she came back,
He was licking the dish.

She went to the grocer's
To buy him some fruit;
But when she came back,
He was playing the flute.

She went to the cobbler's
To buy him some shoes;
But when she came back,
He was reading the news!

I checked it out on the Internet and found conflicting articles.  Below I have posted an article I found on http://www.associatedcontent.com about the rhyme and I'd like to know what other people think of it.  Is the story about the nursery rhyme Fact or Urban Legend?

THE ARTICLE:

Over the years, we have sung the words to a children's song without ever knowing what it meant. Many people are very surprised when they find out how dark and depressing, "Ring Around the Rosie," actually is. These people cannot believe that the song is actually about the Bubonic Plague.

If the song is broken down into comments and lines, it is easier to see how dark and depressing the song actually is.

Ring Around the Rosie

When a person contracted the Bubonic Plague, they would gain rose-colored, puss-filled sores on their body called rosies. As the infection spread, rings would wind around the rosies. "Ring around the rosie," refers to these rings.

Pocket Full of Posies

During the time of the Bubonic Plague, people realized that it was harmful to go around the body of someone who had died from the plague. The common practice in some areas of Europe was to fill the shirt or jacket pocket of the deceased with posies so that others would know to leave the body alone.

"Pocket full of posies," was what would soon happen after the person started getting the rings around the rosie. Once the rings started to form, the undertaker would be called to prepare the posies.

Ashes Ashes

Once the body of the person who had died from the plague had been taken away, it would be burned. This is essentially when cremation started as a form of burial.

There was a lot of worry that extra handling of the body could cause people to get sick. There was also worry by some that the body would come back in the form of a vampire or some other type of the walking dead. Burning the body was the only true option they had.

We All Fall Down

It was believed by many that eventually the Bubonic Plague would wipe out all of civilization. It is understandable why they had this belief because of the number of people that were dying everyday from the Plague.

Pretty grusome stuff, eh?

Jewels

True My Heart

Yeah, I know its been around for a long time. Even saw some parodies of the opening sequence where the song was used. When I listened to the full version, I just got hooked. It was too catchy, I listened to it at least 10 times today. Even when I was in the university, I was humming the song.

About The Parodies:

The song "True My Heart" is used as an opening theme for an adult visual novel called "Nursery Rhyme". What's notable about the parodies is that the quality is pretty good. There are a lot of them out there (Even some weird ones.) so its hard to pick which is the best. Anyway, here are my favorite parodies:

Nanoha De Kishimen

Do you know why this is awesome? It's because the video clips and images used in the parody is before StrikerS. StrikerS sucked real bad!

Bloody Rhyme

I laughed really hard! This is a parody with the Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni characters. They used clips from the anime where the girls are going psycho. I Also laughed when it showed the picture of Tomitake and Akasaka and below the picture the word "lolicon" is there.

Clannad Rhyme

Nothing really much to say but this was nicely done. The images used are from the visual novel and the video clips are from the Clannad anime.

I ran my fingers all through your hair
And a cootie bit my finger

--

It's a nursery rhyme. I swear.

I felt like doing something fun with these 2 adorable naturally candid photos of "M" so I went for a storyboard and that cute nursery rhyme popped into my head.

Storyboard courtesy of *Cathy!  Thank you!!!

*(look out for her storyboards to be available for purchase in the future!)

---the story board is a cream color so hopefully it's not hard to see on this white background.  You can click the photo below to view larger---