Dahlias And County Fairs

 The dahlias are living the dream.

Bumblebees this morning looked like they were sleeping off a pollen binge.

The garden is behaving itself producing just a few raspberries for breakfast and a few tomatoes for lunch. None of that buckets of produce causing friends to turn and walk the other way when they see you coming with more zucchini. None of that pressure to can (haha - pun intended). Even the weeds are puny (knock on wood).

Time to see which items won blue ribbons at my county fair.

 This is not my quilt (I Don't Quilt) but I love the playful animals getting into adjoining blocks.

And this teal and aqua one? Yum.

 Through the display window - my chicken hotpad making tracks on the chickie wallhanging.

My Mr. Hedgehog lipsense bag was a fair favorite. I bought that fabric from my friend in Kyoto.

 And my only second place red ribbon.  I bought this tote bag as a kit. Determined to follow instructions, I disliked the size of this bag (giant towel bag) and the lack of color interest (beige blah). The night before I had to enter my fair entries, I conceived a brilliant plan of ironing on this Big Book saying. Ahem.

Yes, in my hurry, I ironed it on upside down. I had to rip out the whole pocket area and lining and re-sew the pocket so it could be read.  Even though it did not get a blue ribbon, that red is still worth two bucks!

I made $26 dollars this year - enough to buy another couple of yards of fabric.

And finally, my daughter was able to connive her way into another Denali flightseeing trip (third time this year!) and managed to get herself into the right-hand cockpit seat for a bird's eye view of the mountains in summer. Her aunt (my sis) took her family up to visit Alaska.

August 2017

 After months of cold rainy days this winter and spring, we had no rain for nearly two months until today.  A fine misty rain fell for several hours. There were a few happy dances done in Oregon as the wildfire season has created it's usual summer havoc.

In addition, the wildfire smoke from the British Columbia fires drifted down and we had to breathe smokey air for the last two weeks.

I actually managed a garden this year by planting late. My dahlias are really coming on and this one just started to unfurl this week. Seems to be a spinner in the middle.

 My tomatoes are slow due to the late plant date but in a couple of weeks we will wish to never see another tomato.

 We don't have a dog anymore so my friends, Peter the Rabbit and Cottontail moved in, eating everything in sight.

Except the Basil. Apparently, they dislike basil. They love young cosmo seedlings though. I don't think they like nasturtium either but I'm not sure as they seem to be struggling to get going. The rabbits have provided decent entertainment.

Another reason to blog was given when a new reader searching for an airplane quilt stumbled across my post featuring an estate sale find of a vintage, (and in bad condition),  Lucky Lindy Quilt.

She is re-creating this quilt for her son who just became a pilot. She is hand-stitching her airplane blocks. To celebrate and help, I sent her some small scraps of some of my reproduction feedsack fabrics featuring my favorite subject. Airplanes.

I also shared with her the 8-inch quilt blocks and how they were pieced.

Textiles: Novelty Item: Snap Bag

 My county fair is going on all  next week. The lovely volunteer who tagged my items said there were even fewer entries this year. Which means most of my awesome sewing will win blue ribbons. Not because they are amazing but because no one else took the time.

I would hate to see the demise of the county fair in my lifetime.
My blue ribbons are worth four bucks!

Textiles: Potholder; my chicken potholder

 My son hiked in Yosemite this weekend and climbed Half-Dome after winning a hiking lottery earlier this spring.
They just got back so I look forward to amazing photos this week while sucking down overtime.

And my sis from Minnesota is visiting my daughter in Alaska with her family. This is at the top of Alyeska Resort looking down on Turnagain Arm outside Anchorage.

I love that both of my kids love photography. Such a cool hobby to share.

Clackamas County Fair 2016

Smiling pigs, Floppy rabbits, Cocky roosters, Bedazzled llamas and a spotted cow.

I almost didn't go. We finally got the hots as in 100 degrees hot. The Clackamas County Fair wouldn't be complete without the paramedics taking someone out for heat stroke.

One of the vendors handed me a free ticket so I went between work shifts on Friday. At 9:30am, it was already 90+.

Once inside, I got wrapped up in my agenda of looking at Hobby Hall, a quick walk past vendors downstairs, then out to the barns for the cutest rabbits and piggies.

My kids and I would enter our creations and then endlessly speculate "WHY?" as to what the judges picked to be ribbon-worthy.

 The lights weren't on yet when I climbed up to Hobby Hall where the textile entries reside (early). Even with low lighting, this scrabble quilt is amazing.

 "Oh No You Didn't" was the title of this adult professional painting.

 Clothing entered. My work shorts won a red ribbon - not a blue ribbon like I expected. This just means someone else entered an adult pant or short that was even better than  my work shorts.

Actually, it's just sadly ridiculous how easy it is to win a blue ribbon. There were even less entries this year than last year. I am on a mission to encourage people to take the time to enter their makes into their county fair. 

County Fairs are one of the last ways to enjoy our agricultural heritage and they are fading away.
 

 My table runner won a blue ribbon! 

All of my items won ribbons which means I can splurge on more fabric once I collect the premiums! Blue pays out $4. We can enter our items at our county fair for free. The ribbons won pay out in cash. Woot!

 Happy dance to someone else showing off their collection of little airplanes.
I might have most, if not all, of these. Ahem.

My airplane items were all together in the same case with the airplane collection. 

My echino blue airplane bag in the back got a blue ribbon, the others a red.

 

Franny the cow. Yep - she had a nametag on - attached to her ear.

Newly shorn and bathed goats.

This smart aleck llama was in the same pen as a spotted llama. I know Teresa would like a better photo of the spotted one but he wasn't cooperating on this super hot day.

Cow butts.

 
 Also, on this super hot weekend was Junk Refunk, an event started last year by my friends at Big White Goose.
This years Junk Refunk was even bigger.

I had a couple of friends working as vendors on Saturday. I loaded up a cooler after work with frozen Otter pops and sunscreen and made the rounds offering vendors a cool treat to either use around their neck or actually eat.  I even had one vendor, who was by herself, avail herself of me as a booth minder while she searched out a bathroom.  

 Lots and lots of people, most of them from out-of-town, came through Junk Refunk and they were buying, in spite of the 90+ temps.

 My friend I went to school with and her younger brother. Their mom still lives across the street from my mom & dad's old house.

Their booth is Farm Vintage.
Out of Sherwood.

Today, it's a tad cooler, and I spent most of the day watering everything outside. I also  rearranged my guest room and straightened it up with fresh sheets and a dusting as well as throwing my kid's stuff willy-nilly into the closet to hide it better.

Hoping your summer is amazing.

Skydiving Bunnies

 
 Otherwise known as Division R Textiles; Class 11;  Pillowcases

 Close up of those daring bunnies.

 Between Blogger and my I-Phone, I give up tonight. In my computer file, the photos are all right side up. Blogger is playing a mean joke on me tonight. Fixed; How? I rotated all those photos in my file 360'. Back around to what they were and now Blogger likes them.

If you will recall, A blogging friend alerted me to this fabric featuring skydiving bunnies. I promptly authorized her to buy me lots and lots of it. I wanted to make pillowcases out of this border print.

Here is an all-over photo showing lots of activity on the ground with lots of blue sky up above.





And now they are pillowcases.

"Spectacular Fun For Everyone" is this year's fair motto.

I think these bunny rabbits are having spectacular fun. Don't you?

Back side is the top of the border.

 I used the Burrito method to make these. All enclosed seams for durability.

 To  make a pillowcase, you need a main body and a cuff. The trim piece is optional but if I'm gonna go to the trouble of making pillowcases, then the trim piece takes it up a notch.

1. Fold your trim piece in half lengthwise and iron it.
2. Take your cuff piece and lay it flat with the right side up.
3. Match the raw edge of the trim to a raw edge of the cuff. Baste a  1/4" seam.
4. Take your Main body piece and lay one raw edge on top of the raw edge of the seam you just sewed so the main and the cuff are right sides together (RST). Baste this seam at 1/4".

5. Now, go to the other end of the main body and start rolling up towards the seam you just sewed.
6. When you get it into a tight little tube, bring the other raw edge of the cuff piece up and over your tube of main body fabric. Match that last raw edge to the raw edge of your last seam and sew at 3/8" seam allowance. ( This bigger SA is to make sure you cover all those wandering basting thread stitches if you sew as fast as me.)
7.  Optional; Serge off the fraying threads. Serging  adds more durability to this seam.

8. Take your rolled up tube and pull the main body out - turn it inside out.
You'll now have a big piece of material with a cuff attached and no raw edges to fray.
9. Fold this big piece in half wrong sides together (WST) - we are doing a french seam here to also enclose raw edges. Match the trim and cuff  area and sew a few stitches here to make sure it stays even.
10. Start in the back corner and sew a 1/4" SA to the next corner and turn to come down the long side down to the cuff. If your trim area is buckling slightly, gently stretch the offending fabric into place. Sometimes the two layers of fabric feed differently. Finish at the cuff end by backstitching a few stitches.

11. You can trim this first seam if you want. I don't.
12. Check that the trim piece is lined up evenly at the inside before you proceed. If you need to re-do this area to get trim to line up, get out your seam ripper.

13. Turn inside out and press. The fabrics should be RST now as we make our french seam.
14. Seam allowance at 5/16 - 3/8", start in back corner and turn and come to cuff area. One pillowcase behaved and the trim pieces stayed even, The second one got snarky and I had to rip out my stitches at trim area twice before I got smart. Pin carefully trying to keep trim piece even and matched up. Sew just a few stitches in this area and then do your french seam.

15. Turn and use your preferred tool to push out corners. Give it some good squirts of Mary Ellen's Best Press and iron well. Ta Da. Blue ribbon worthy.

If I can find a coordinating fabric, I can  make two more pillowcases. I had somebody in Norway contact me to see if she could buy some this skydiving bunny fabric.  I sent her 1/2 yard  and told her to Pay It Forward. I have just enough left for two Main bodies but not enough to make the cuff. 

I might use white. I'll have to see.

I actually looked at the online fair booklet ahead of time this year. I have one or two more items to finish before Saturday when I need to drop everything off at the fairgrounds for judging and display. Those unfinished items are UFO's and need a kick in the butt to leave my sewing room.