Tonya's Sewing Room: March 2012

Saturday, March 31, 2012

I'm still making ABC's......

and it's not slowing down.....

here is a stack cut, traced and ready to pair up with some batting and sew

this is 4 sets, plus extra letters they order

i still have another set to cut and trace.

i'm about ready to abort these and make a quilt

below are some i finished last week

Monday, March 26, 2012

What it means to be Southern.

"bless your heart"

OK, first of all.....my thoughts on this southern phrase.

I have never used this phrase with sarcasm. Recently, I heard someone telling somebody else what it meant and they used it with sarcasm and that's how they explained it to someone else as well. It's not how I was raised to use the phrase.

Urban Dictionary meaning:

This is a term used by the people of the southern United States particularly near the Gulf of Mexico to express to someone that they are an idiot without saying such harsh words.

(maybe cause I'm not near the gulf of Mexico is the reason I use it in the opposite way?)

and now the meaning from my book:

What it means to be Southern

Southerns quickly identify with the phrase "bless your heart", appropriately decreed for a variety of situations.

"Bless your heart" is a kind and gracious response to another's fortune, good or bad. Bless your heart would be a Southerner's response to someone who had just won millions of dollars in sweepstakes, watched a beloved dog get run over, received a job promotion, or misplaced car keys. Southerners also revert to the phrase "bless your heart" when they don't know what else to say.

"My arthritis is really acting up these days."

"bless your heart"

"We are so excited that Jake has been accepted at college."

"bless his heart"

"Our daughter has decided to postpone her wedding."

"bless her heart"

Southerners always search for the right words, and "bless your heart" is priceless and always correct.

and I found this in More about what it means to be Southern

Southerners religiously follow the "bless your heart" rule.

If you've ever wondered if someone is Southern born or not, just listen to their conversation. You're bound to hear them sprinkle throughout the conversation, "bless your heart" at least once or twice while they're talking. Southerners pronounce people blessed for lots of reasons --- sometimes it's just the only appropriate remark to make. It's handy, too, when something less than kind is said,

ex: "I noticed she's put on a little weight, bless her heart." or "he just can't seem to understand that you don't wear a plaid tie with a patterned sports jacket, bless his heart."

So, I totally agree with my books and not the Urban Dictionary at all.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

What it means to be Southern.

Remember this post?

I want to pick this subject back up and tell ya'll more about:

What it means to be Southern.

today we'll talk about southern slang........

such as.....

naked as a ...jay bird

sharp as a.....tack

thin as a....rail

dead as a.....door nail

smart as a....whip

looks like something.......the cat drug in

running around like a chicken....with its head cut off

tight as a ....tick

"smidgen"

An inexact amount, a smidgen is a measurement for just a bit of something. The Restorations Hardware company recently advertised a set of measuring spoons for a pinch, smidgen and a dash. Most Southerners would enjoy them for sentimental reasons. The probably wouldn't actually need to use them.

"piddlin' "

Sometimes use as a verb, "just piddlin' " which is to say not doing anything of great importance, but staying busy with activity, or as an adjective as in "piddlin' amount" which is to say an amount not large enough to really count.

"traipse"

When you traipse, you traipse around. One doesn't just traipse, one traipses around or traipses about. (The preposition is necessary for clarity.) Gad about is almost the same thing.

"y'all"

Y'all is the Southern contraction for "you all," and generally is addressed toward a group, as opposed to a single person. Plural may be signaled more conclusively by "All y'all". As a convenient and kink-sounding reference, y'all is also favored by Southerns who wouldn't want to offend when names aren't immediately known or recalled.

example: Y'all come by the house after the game. We'll have some ham biscuits and iced tea.

also..............

We mash our potatoes, and we mash elevator buttons. We also mash light switches, or we'll cut the lights on for you or cut the lights off, whichever is needed. We tote things, as in "Anna Kathryn was so kind to tote my heavy groceries to the house." We carry people to the grocery store, and we let you know what we're getting ready to do by announcing, "We're fixing' to....." I find myself is a common comment as in "I find myself thinking it's Tuesday, when it's Wednesday." We'll greet you with "Hey" and we'll likely add the preposition "up" to our verbs. We call you up, we admonish you to listen up, and we invite y'all to come on up to the house, and "Goodness gracious" we hope you come!

We also crack our windows, and we trim our pencils, and we like to sit a spell.

quote from the book:

"I'm not from the South,

but I got here as quick as I could!"

spell check had a blast with this post......

let me know your comments on this, I can relate to it all