Movers, shakers, bonkers and top-button kind of girls.

you know when you tell people you write a blog, but you never expect to find out that anyone you know actually reads your blog, because no one comments on it? Besides your mother? Because the blog stats tell you people from Australia are reading your blog so you think to yourself, geeze, no one I know cares?

Famous last thought.

Someone important read my blog, and mentioned that she'd better read Matilda [cough, cough, three guesses who]. You'd have thought I was defending a dissertation. So, since I'm still technically this side of my masters, I gave it a little more thought. Did some research.

My first thought, after Miss Honey is Miss Blanchard. As in Mary-Margaret, sweetest third/fourth grade teacher on the Maine coast, who is actually Snow White. : / I don't even know what Mary-Margaret is up to these days. Because I'm busy being a Ms. Blanchard [sans the relationship drama]. As Emma put it, "When I first met you, you were a top button kind of girl." I wear buttons. Miss Honey does not wear buttons. Unless it's a teacher sweater [our room is perpetually cold]. But her sweaters don't have top buttons. Mine do, so if anyone receives the ninja name of Mary Margaret Blanchard, it'd be me. So that's a nope.

A little more research later I pulled this list of teachers off another blog, deleted all the Mrs. and Mr., and highlighted in green those titles which I have read. Which aren't a lot.

Jo March in Little Men, Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott  [I forgot that Jo became a teacher. Jo is, however, a little mercurial]
Miss Nelson in Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard[Good old Miss Nelson. But Miss Honey is not a Miss Nelson]
Ida Bidson in The Secret School by Avi
Ms. Isabel Hussey in Chasing Vermeer and The Wright Three by Blue Balliett
Ms. Shepherd in Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande

Miss Hawthorn in Willow by Denise Brennan-Nelson and Rosemarie Brennan

Miss Parker in Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink [Miss Parker is not sticking out in my memory; also, I had a second grade teacher named Parker. And he was awesome in his own awesome way.]

Miss Perry in I Remember Miss Perry by Pat Brissom

Miss Temple in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte [Miss Temple was okay, but I already nixed the Bronte sisters.]

Miss Binney in Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary 

Ms. Clayton in School Story by Andrew Clements

Miss Pointy in Sahara Special by Esme Codell

Miss Stretchberry in Love That Dog by Sharon Creech[I read this one too; it's written in first person perspective as a writing journal, but you don't hear the teacher's voice or read her comments, just the student's reaction to the teacher's comments about the poetry that the student writes.]

Miss Hendrickson in I Know Here by Laurel Croza

Miss Honey in Matilda by Roald Dahl [what I'm currently working with. I picked Miss Honey because she's the only memorable El Ed teacher I can think of, and it's what my friends are starting to call me. Especially when they come to my house and see my garden.]

Ms. Finey in The Cat Ate My Gym Suit by Paula Danziger

Miss Annersley in the Chalet School series (UK) by Elinor Brent Dyer

Ms. Sarah Melton in Mail Order Ninja by Joshua Elder - this one gets points for having "Ninja" in the title. 

Miss Malarkey in Miss Malarkey Leaves No Reader Behind by Judy Finchler

Miss Lupescu in The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman  [I read this book. She's not one to be trifled with]

Miss Smith in Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook by Michael Garland [Smith? lamesauce. ]

Miss Tizzy from Miss Tizzy by Libba Moore Gray

Miss Grey in the Betsy Brooks books by Carolyn Haywood

Miss Meadows  in Remembering Mrs. Rossi by Amy Hest

Miss Agnes in The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill

Miss Loupe in Operation YES by Sara Lewis Holmes

Ms. Snickle in The Secrets of Ms. Snickle's Class by Laurie Miller Hornik
Miss Fowler in the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace
Ms. Minifred in Baby by Patricia MacLachlan

Ms. Mirabel in Word After Word After Word by Patricia MacLachlan

Sister Mary Louise in Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Miss Farley in Caddy Ever After by Hilary McKay

Miss O'Grady in Busing Brewster by Richard Michelson

Miss Stacey in the Anne books by L.M. Montgomery [Double nope. Neither Stacey or Shirley. Anne's too dreamy]
Anne Shirley in Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery

Miss Edmunds in Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Miss Barbara Harris in The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
Miss Dove in Good Morning, Miss Dove by Frances Gray Patton
Miss Tansy Culver in A Teacher's Funeral by Richard Peck
Ms. Raymond in Dotty by Erica S. Perl

Ms. Lilly in Noonie's Masterpiece by Lisa Railsback

Miss Plumberry in Totally Wonderful Miss Plumberry by Michael Rosen  - we are in the plum district... and that's a great title. 

Miss Jewls in the Sideways books by Louis Sachar

Ms. Hill in 4 Kids in 5E and 1 Crazy Year by Virginia Frances Schwartz

Miss Bonkers in Hooray for Diffendoofer Day by Dr. Seuss [She loves this book. But I can't call her Miss Bonkers.  On principle. Would you take either me, or her, seriously?]

Miss Bindergarten in Miss Bindergarten Goes to Kindergarten by Joseph Slate

Miss Palma in After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick

Miss Cribbage in My Kindergarten by Rosemary Wells
Miss Lesley in Counting on Grace by Elizabeth Winthrop

(Miss) Alina in Peace, Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson

bookshelf, bookshelf on the wall...

What would a blog about quilting and fabric be if there weren't things like this? I saw this in the library and had to have my own copy, because, if you can't tell from the cover, the illustrations in this book are thread paintings.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 

Adapted by Joan Aiken, illustrated by Belinda Downes

DK CHILDREN; 1st edition (October 1, 2002),

ISBN: 0789487993

Anyway, I'm not sure of the legality of photographing the pages and posting pictures, so I'll refrain, but even if you don't have a small child in your life, look this book up at a library; Ms. Downes went to splendid effort breathing life into this story. 

QCE Show, take 2

There are two additional sets of pictures from the Quilt Company East's 3 Lakes show that I haven't posted, mostly because I felt they fell into separate categories other than just quilt. First, we'll talk soft sculpture. AKA awesome.

part of the soft sculpture exhibit

                                                     

                                                                 Eslinger the Dragon, and his beautiful wings

 So, if you haven't guessed, I'm an fantastical beasts kind of person. Have always loved fairy tales - I'm loving ABC's Once Upon a Time with it's undercurrents of the redemption of creation. Something about fairytales that has always fascinated me is relates to a principle of physics - to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Now it took us until Newton to put stuff like that into words, but somewhere, people had an understanding of this in their subconcious. Death curses broken love. Even Russian fairytales - take Sleeping Beauty, for example. Story didn't end - sorry, Disney - with the Philip and Aurora dancing in the castle with Aurora's magic pink-and-blue gown (purple, ladies? nice compromise there, what say?) Aurora and Philip move in with none other than Philip's mother. Maybe it was step mother, that part is a little dicey, and of course, it would have been rude to toss her out on her ear just because the young couple is ready to start life together. Aurora and Philip have two beautifully radiant children, a boy and a girl, and everything is wonderful until Philip has to ride off to war, leaving behind Aurora and the children. And Grandmere. Who, at this point it is incumbent to mention, is an ogress. An ogress with a tooth for manflesh, as the Orcs put it. In this case, her grandchildren.

So for a recap up to this point; death curse, love everlasting, cannibalistic grandma. What is the chief cook supposed to do when the Queen asks for her grandson trussed on a platter as a turkey? Kidnap the boy and serve up veal instead. This sounds vaguely familliar... who else asked for manflesh served up in cold blood? Snow White's step mother, who was handed the heart of a doe instead. Our poor chief cook does the veal trick again with the granddaughter, and finally, needing something a little bigger than a calf to serve up for an adult woman, serves up venison in place of lovely Aurora, who meanwhile is reunited with her children in the deep places of the castle for their protection.

The story ends with Gramma getting her comeuppance. Curse, antidote, curse, antidote. Equal and opposite reaction. I'm fairly certain it is a literary device with an actual name; what this is I don't know. I do know it is a universal theme, even if it means that the protagonists beat the odds by being united in death as stars, or rivers, or things of that nature. We all know this, even if we say "Yes, but the world doesn't work that way, good doesn't always triumph over evil." Not immediately, no.

But ask anyone who, while dealing with an immediate problem, left loose ends in the form of infant children to survive. It came full circle.