The "SEND" button is so final!

Here's a great quote for me as a quilter, fibre artist and writer. I use this often in my every day life.

"Always check twice before clicking on the SEND button." - Jocelyn

I love this quote because it means so many things to me. If I have a high importance email I may choose to leave it in my drafts overnight. The next day when I reread it, I can tone it down or clear up mistakes before sending. This is sooo important if you are trying to get published.

I also use the similar "measure twice, cut once" adage in quilting. Fabric can be so expensive nowadays, you just can't take a chance. If you do screw up, there are times when you've had the fabric in your stash for so long you can no longer find it.

This quote is also a good reminder for youth lost in the world of spell check and instant messaging. There is almost no need for full words anymore. Once you get into homework assignments and even resumés, you have to be sure your spelling and grammar are spot on. First impressions can get a resumé tossed in the pile.

The cookies in the picture I measured once and cut 120 last year for our Quilting Guild's June Picnic. I didn't have to measure twice because if I made a mistake I could just put it back into a lump of dough and start again. I actually used my long omnigrid quilting ruler to measure before cutting. It worked like a charm!

Thanks Jocé

Quotes, quotes, quotes

The quotes are coming in! This is such a fun experiment. I love to see which quotes come from which friends or family members and how they relate to our lives. The closest person possible to my life and my son's life of course is my husband Bob. How fitting and caring that he instantly submitted the first quote.

“Dads are always right......unless Mom is around.” – Robert

Thanks handsome! So true. Love that guy!

Guidelines - Advice for An 8 Year Old Kid

Submission guidelines:

1. Please write and send me an original quote of your own that you feel would be useful advice for an 8 year old boy. Here are some samples:

- When it comes to garbage, just take it out. In Haiti volunteers can come in, clear the garbage, build a house for a widow and the next day her tiny yard is filled with garbage again. There isn’t even a garbage service there, or even a single garbage can. – Mom

- Take responsibility for every single toot and say “excuse me!” Moms can tell the difference between a Dad toot, a dog toot and your toot. And it’s not OK to blame a toot on a baby cousin. Trust me on that one. – Mom

2. Please make it your own words. I am not looking for famous quotes or quotes from scripture. And we must be very careful about plagiarism, even if it is accidental. Be sure it is your own words.

3. Your quote can be humorous, silly, serious or a life lesson, but an 8 year old should be able to grasp it. The blog is intended to be a heart-warming and funny blog that an adult or an 8 year old would like to read.

4. I would love to hear from every member of your family including kids. Even quotes from pets would be fun.

5. Your quote can be anywhere from a few words to 200 words, and please know that if the blog is considered for publishing in book form an editor will be involved and there may be word changes.

6. No private information will be written on my blog or in book form except the name that you give to go with your quote. Be sure to attach your pen name to the quote, or it will read – anonymous. If it is a quote from a child please add their age. (eg. Elliot, 9 yrs.)

Be sure to check back to see all of the quote postings and updates. Be sure to sign up to be a follower on my blog so you never miss a quote.

***All quotes should be emailed to brandylynn@shaw.ca and must be given voluntarily and with no expectation of remuneration. There is no obligation to participate. There is no guarantee that I will be able to use every quote, but I’ll try my best. I certainly hope that you all think it is a fun idea and you send me a quote or two. ***

Quote # 8

Well, I'm sorry to say this is the 8th and final quote from my neighbors. It seems they are a bit shy or reserved to write a quote for Gavin, and the last quote kind of relates to that;

"If you can't say somethin' nice, don't say nothin' at all." - Thumper from Bambi

It always surprises me when people say they can't write, or they don't have anything inspiring to say. I truly believe that there is a secret writer hiding inside of everyone just waiting to come out and say what they mean. There were a few brave ones, and I thank them for that! But I've realized over the last few weeks that if I really want to have some fun with this, I have to open it up to a bigger audience. So this week the invitation to submit quotes goes out to my facebook friends and all of cyberspace who are willing to participate. It should be fun! We'll see what happens.

Today I'll finish with my own quote to an 8 year old kid;

"Remember, don't eat food that is blue and fuzzy." - me as I do a green clean of my fridge.

Quote # 7

This next quote is an excellent one for Gavin because he does so many hilarious little things and we love, love, love to laugh. Note to parent: Do not continue to laugh at your child if he is slightly embarrassed. Sometimes I am laughing so hard that I am squeaking and can't breathe when I realize he is completely silent with a huge frown.

Here is the 3rd and final quote from the wonderful Crow family:

"Laugh and the world laughs with you; frown and you frown alone." - Crow Nesters

I think this is a fresh twist on a familiar quote from E. W. Wilcox if I've searched that out correctly. "Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone. For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth, But has trouble enough of its own."
1883 E. W. Wilcox

Happy Father's Day weekend everyone!

Quote # 6

We had a very nice dinner yesterday and then we all sat down to try to catch up on some "So You Think You Can Dance." It's the only reality show we are hooked on because it is OK for kids and it is amazingly athletic. Watching the incredible bodies, moves and stamina I start to think I should add an extra day of exercise to my regime each week. My husband and son start talking about having ice cream. I am leaning towards "no" and they are leaning towards "yes." Then comes the clincher. My son offers to make dessert for everyone, by himself. We won't even have to get up. He's so cute, but a smart cookie because he knows he'll get the treat for sure if he makes it. He pulls out the stool, gets the bowls and spoons, pulls out the ice cream and the chocolate chips and sprinkles and scoops it all by himself and puts everything away. As he brings our bowls down one by one he seems to have the 3 bears portions completely opposite. My husband gets one tiny scoop. I get two decent scoops and Gavin's bowl is overflowing. We all have a good laugh and we start to talk about only taking what you can eat and my husband says, "I think there was a quote from Mr. and Mrs. Crow about that very thing!" So here it is:

Take what you want, but eat what you take (from a buffet table.) Eat to live, not live to eat. Balance in eating, sleeping, exercise, studying, socializing and recreation is the key to a healthy life. - Crow Nesters

Quote # 5

We are on a roller coaster ride. Just when you think it might be over, there's another thrill around the corner. It is so exciting to see the quotes come in. The next one is fitting because my son has gorgeous curly hair, but wants to get it all cut off for the summer. I don't blame him because he is adorably cute with the curls and he looks like a cool little man after every hair cut. Cool is better according to a 7 year old. Here is quote # 5:

"If you get a "buzz cut" be prepared for people to pat the peach fuzz left on your head. - Crow Nesters

Quote # 4

I am just a big kid. There is no question about that. The reason I say that is because every once in a while, my son has a reaction or exclamation and my husband looks directly at me and says, "I wonder where he gets that from?" I have the same silly expressions, exaggerations and defiant looks as my son. Exactly. We even react to injury or defeat in the same way. I was reminded of this after reading the 4th quote from my neighbor Mary. I am saddened to say this is her last quote and I haven't received a single other quote from the neighbors, but I'm still clinging to the hope that I'll have a stuffed mailbox tomorrow.

"The only difference between you and an adult is experience - and size!" Mary @ 59

Thanks Mary! Your quotes were wonderful!

Quote # 3

One of the most wonderful things I have experienced as a parent is to see my son succeed at a task when I was tempted to walk him through it or hold his hand. I wrap myself in a huge blanket of patience and just peek out to see how he's doing. On his own he is perfectly capable of trying, failing, learning and then - success! The satisfaction is much deeper and clearer for him when he figures it out for himself. Here is Mary's 3rd quote of 4.

"Never fear a mistake. If it teaches a lesson, the mistake will go away." - Mary @ 59

Come on neighbors! If you are checking out my blog to see whether you want to participate, just do it! I am having so much fun and it is such a lighthearted project with really no risk at all. I would love to hear the whimsical, serious and soft side of everyone on the street. How often have you ever felt the need to dole out unsolicited advice? Well, here's your chance because I'm asking for it. I'm hoping for a mailbox stuffed with inspirations.

Quote #2

This next quote really hits home for me and those of you who have been following my blog will see that instantly. It is about following your dreams. Practically everything I blog about is following my dreams. It's about surrounding yourself with people and things that inspire you and following your passion. The amazing thing is that this neighbor has no computer, hasn't read my blog, and I think we've only met once about 6 years ago. So that just shows that following your dreams is a universal bit of advice.
"Dreams have no boundaries. Whatever you really love to do - follow it thru, the outcome may amaze you." - Mary @ 59

Thank you neighbors. Keep those quotes coming!

Advice for an 8 Year Old Kid

I have never been so eager to receive mail in my life! I guess it's partly because my son is involved and I want this little project to be successful for him. Every day since we delivered the letters we have eagerly checked the mailbox and today was the day!
My plan is to spread words of inspiration out my door, down my street, into cyberspace, and to also be inspiring to my son because he inspires me so. So I came up with an idea. I sent out letters to all of my neighbors asking them to send me their own original quotes from any members of their family for me to display on my blog. The blog is called:
Advice for an 8 Year Old Kid: The Neighbors of Royal Salinger Road
Today I was thrilled to slowly pull the mail from the mailbox and see one of the envelopes I had sent out politely re-stuffed with a response. Hooray! This is so exciting! I am grinning ear to ear. Not only was she the first neighbor to step up to the plate, but she commented on how "novel" my idea was and she submitted 4 wonderful quotes. I will blog about one quote per day. So today I officially launch the first neighborly quote.

"The best way to feel better when you're sad is to help someone, start with your mom or dad." - Mary @ 59

Now, my son is sound asleep of course. But this one single sentence tells me that Mary is pure sweetness and I can't wait to share this quote with Gavin tomorrow. Thank you Mary!

The most thougthful gift

Well it is 1:00 a.m. and I am just about to finally crawl into bed. My entire family is sound asleep. I realized today that I have not sewn a thing since Mother's Day! This was the first time I got to enjoy my new chair which was a Mother's Day gift. It is a very snazzy looking chair as you can see from the photo, and it is also extremely comfortable. I usually realize it's time for bed when my neck or back get tired, but with this chair I could sew all night. I can't believe I used to sit for hours on that hard wooden kitchen chair. What was I thinking? I actually stopped sewing today because the buzzer went on the clothes dryer and scared the pants off me. But I did manage to whip up a quick sample pillow for the kids' class I'll be teaching this summer. And I also did a quick mini landscape featuring a few different types of stitches. I'll be teaching that to kids too. It should be so much fun! I'll post some photos of those samples tomorrow. Night night.

New idea!

I really enjoyed the movie Julie and Julia which was all about self exploration, food and some life changing blogging and I have also been hooked lately on a great blog called Things My Dad Said. You have to check it out to see what I mean. It is hilarious.
So I got to thinking about the reasons I love to blog. I determined that I love to blog because it allows me to write about the big things and the little things that inspire me every day. It also puts me to bed each night on a good note. I realized that the person that tends to inspire me most is my son. And the thing that inspires me most is that he lives in the moment. So I started to contemplate how I can blog in a way that spreads words of inspiration out my door, down my street, into cyberspace, and that could also be inspiring to my son because he inspires me so.
I came up with a brilliant plan (moo haa haa) that includes the 61 neighbors on my street. My fingers are littered with paper cuts and my printer ran out of ink, but Gavin and I had a whole bunch of fun hauling the wagon and the dog today going door to door delivering letters.
Keep watching my blog! I'll tell you more about it when I get the first response from a neighbor. I can't wait!

You are absolutely invited!

The show is open! I announced on my blog 2 weeks ago that I now have representation for my fibre art landscape series in the Woodlands gallery. To get a preview of all 17 pieces check out the gallery's website and click on Gallery Artists. You can also view her blog for the announcement on May 27th. For a live viewing, stop by the Woodlands Gallery at 535 Academy Road in Winnipeg.
Gallery Hours:
Tuesday to Friday 10:00 am – 5:30 pm
Saturday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Sunday & Monday – Closed
Your only limits are the ones you choose!