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.

Pokemon

 Erin, from Dog Under My Desk, posted this on Instagram the other day. 

It stuck with me  and I had to make one myself. Out of scraps.
Yes, that is a navy blue zipper.
In all the zippers that I possess, do I have a short black one?

Erin has designed some really cool bags but took a hiatus learning how to be a mom. Of a baby.

Her sewing time just became interrupted.

I think she should write a tutorial for this little circular zippy pouch. It measures 4" in diameter. Get back in the swing of things as a pattern designer.

My funny back side - I need to flatten out the circles so they look more like a circle around that zipper.


Her original earbud pouch appeared here.

Route 66

 


 


 My host-sister, Maria,  is visiting the USA from Finland. She and her boyfriend are running motorcycles down Route 66 - from Chicago to LA.  She's been to the states before but never to Oregon.

She's coming in September and I am way past due on getting something out to her in time. One of these pouches is leaving Monday trying to get to her in time to use on her trip. On a good note, my last three international packages took only five days to Europe and Japan (faster than the normal 8 - 10 days).

I was an exchange student to Finland back in high school for an entire year.  When I visited Sweden and Finland a few years back, I stayed with both of my host-sisters.

 I sewed the turquoise atomic age bag first and then cranked out the two Route 66 pouches. I raided stash for everything except the Route 66 fabric. I bought this two months **cough** ago.

Unlike the turquoise Atomic Age bag, the Route 66 fabric is clearly not my normal colorway so I jazzed it up with pink candystripe lining and pin zippers.

One to mail and two for the etsy shop.

 Out in my garden this morning BEFORE it got hot, I weeded and watered and took these photos of one of my Swan Island Dahlias and my favorite rose; Just Joey. My great-aunt Ruby swore this was the best-smelling rose of all-time, so when I found one,  I jumped on it.


The Swan Island Dahlia Festival is cranking up for it's Labor Day festivities with Fun Runs and Photo competitions and etc. If you're nearby Canbyland, this is a wonderful, free event. You don't have to wait for the festival - the flowers are blooming their heads off already.

I tried to get Rusty to pose and he barked at me- telling me to stop pushing him around.



SALE continues in my friend's Etsy Shop;
CraftyTokyoMama on etsy. Use Coupon code AUGUST20 throughout the month of August to get 20% off your purchase.

Don't forget about Etsy Love - even if you don't buy anything - just hover over the heart on each listing and tap on it. (thanks!)

My Friend In Kyoto Is Having A Sale

I met my friend in Kyoto via the SewMamaSew Blog.
We have so much in common with her growing up near where I live now. Her family lives in Oregon but she met and married a Japanese dude man over 25 years ago.

She has lived in Tokyo as well as other cities in Japan. She now makes her home in Kyoto which I visited a year ago in March of 2015.

She is in the process of building a house in Kyoto which is seriously different than building a house in Oregon. She blogs about it occasionally - the frustration of wanting a bathroom counter at "high" american standards instead of the lower japanese standard.

We both like to sew. And any other handcraft, for that matter. We love nature. When she travels back to the states to see her family, they make a beeline to camp out at Detroit Lake and make a family reunion of it.

She's having a sale in her etsy store this August of 20% off. Which is a really good deal.

Featuring many items made of Japanese fabrics, she can make you anything. She's that amazing. She usually adds something special to the package and will add Japanese stamps (better variety than in the states) to reflect your interests. I often see airplane stamps on my envelopes.  Packaging is definitely an awesome superpower of hers.

The sale code is AUGUST20. Her store is called CraftyTokyoMama on etsy.

One item she makes is well-made shopping totes - Tight 'n Tidy Totes. I have two and they have lasted quite well. I keep one rolled up in my purse for amazing garage sale luck. Some of the people running sales are so amazed at my tote bag filled with goodies that they start offering me discounts right and left. lol


I notice her store is at 883 sales today. I had a goal of 1000 sales by Christmas last year and reached it in January 2016. I am passing this goal along to her.




Janine makes and sews Japanese Notebooks, book covers, shopping totes, handbags, etc.
She also knits and crochets.



I bought this adorable hedgehog fabric from her.
She also sells some of the amazing japanese fabrics she finds.

 Here is my garage sale bag I keep rolled up in my purse.
It easily unfolds to a large size tote.
I get the best deals when I use this bag.

Even if you can't make up your mind what to buy, could you show Janine some etsy "Heart" love? Just hover over the heart on each photo in her etsy shop and tap on it. This "hearting" really helps move things up the queue in the etsy algorythms. (thanks!)

CraftyTokyoMama on etsy. Use Coupon code AUGUST20 throughout the month of August to get 20% off your purchase.

I would like to see her get to  1000 sales too.

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....

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.