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.

Fair Entries - Textile Division

  I had great intentions of taking photos of the entry process but got caught up in the chaos of trying to maximize my entries.

You can only enter one item per lot/class.
Which adds to the guesswork. Will this bag do better in another lot/class?

So few people take the time to enter their items in  the fair anymore which means there aren't as many entries to be judged. I usually win a few Blue Ribbons.

 The ladies in front of me are busy conferring about my entries. There have been years when I have just dumped my items on the table and put myself at their wondrous mercy in figuring out where to put each item.

So this is our Hobby Hall at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds. All of the tables and all of the wooden glassed displays will be full. Part of the fun of going to  the fair is finding all of your entries as they are spread far and wide throughout this giant room. The other part is trying to figure out why the judges picked this item over another. (Who knows?)

On the upper soffit walls will be hung all the quilts. I have to take my glasses in order to see  who made the quilt. The tags are tiny and the quilts are huge and above my head. I like to see if I recognize who made it. Clackamas County is quite a big county - maybe as big as England (lol).

The fair isn't for another whole week. Then I have to wait until the fair ends a week later to retrieve my entries. All of my entries this year are items I made for sale in my etsy shop. The fair ribbon will accompany the item to its new home once it sells.

We have had just the most awesome summer ever. The temps for the most part have barely cleared 80'. I have biked to work most of the summer hitting five days last week.
I have been a good girl. That's 7  miles round trip each time.




Friday night, I swung by the park to see what First Friday was up to. Lots of music, food, and vendors. It didn't take me long to find the airplane (s).

After I figured out my entries, I came home to sew another pair of work shorts. I entered the first pair I just made - there was a class/lot for shorts!

I really need three new pairs so with the first ones at the fair for a two week vacation, I was hoping this would give me the kick in the butt to start the second pair. I've blogged about these shorts before here, here & here.

They have a terrific amount of top-stitching and take a few hours to complete. I didn't make a second pair last year and my existing shorts are pretty sad and raggety.  I think this pair took 6 hours to sew, not including the cutting out time.

So for me and my teeny sewing time, this equated to three separate sewing sessions. Sewing two more pairs is kinda a big deal - timewise.

Anyhoo - I didn't sew.

Instead,  I sorted for three hours my collections of personal and online selling stuff that takes up space in boxes,  trying to organize it more efficiently and have the gumption to toss some of it and move on. I did consolidate a bit. 

Some of the items get placed willynilly into the storage boxes - I have no idea how this photo ended up in this particular box. I immediately took a photo of the photo and sent it to my son and daughter. Memories.
 

 It makes you want paper photos back so you can thumb through them.

Yes, my kids still get airplane items for birthdays....