Is this a blog about making things for the fair or what?

Did we have a fair? Yes, we did! Did we enter items in the fair? Of course. So if you've been waiting with baited breath to find out how we did, I apologize. I find that Facebook makes a quick and easy way to post pictures/results, but leaves this poor little blog of mine sorely neglected.

I would show you everything we entered, but alas, the number of people in our family and the number of items we enter has grown quite large, so I'm not going to do that to you. I will just show some of the highlights. Just know we did not just get blue ribbons, but we did get a lot of those! Now on to the bragging, I mean sharing!

We'll start off with Macy. She did very well this year. She made the above doll of Laura Ingalls Wilder out of a 2 liter soda bottle for a school project and since she did the majority of the work, she was able to enter it in the fair. She was very surprised with her champion ribbon!

Here's another big purple ribbon to add to her collection! She won a champion ribbon in sewing in special classes. That's a dress/tunic top made from knit. It was a bear for her to sew. She thinks maybe she'll just do a pillowcase next year.

Eleanor made this lovely skirt and received a red ribbon. She had to compete in the same category as Macy. Next year Macy will be in a different age bracket which will help.

Eleanor did much better in the arts and crafts building. She received several blue ribbons on her artwork from school and a blue ribbon on this Lego boat. She beat others that were bigger and looked much better, but they looked more like they were from a kit and I think the judges were going for creativity and originality this year.

Ben received a red ribbon for these chocolate cupcakes. They don't look great and there were others that looked better, but it turns out (and I know this because I was there for the judging helping cut cake and what not) that out of 8 entries for chocolate cupcakes, the judges felt that only two entries deserved ribbons and Ben's was one of them. This is the plate he entered against the adults! He received a blue ribbon for the same cupcakes in the kids division.

It was also Ben's last year to enter a pinewood derby car. He was pleased to receive a red ribbon!
I decided at the 11th hour to decorate a toilet. Although we were really pleased with how it turned out (Barnyard Boogie was the theme of our fair this year), the judges didn't really care for it. This lovely entry placed 9th out of 10 toilets. Oh well!

I made this winter coat for Eleanor.

I made this diaper tote for someone at church who's having a baby. Champion ribbon in accessories/baby item. Woo Hoo!

Here's what it looked like on the inside. I got the idea/pattern from the Bernina sewing site Sewing Republic.

I entered Eleanor's Halloween costume although I burned a hole in the skirt side seam with a faulty iron. The judge must have never seen the hole. She was upset I didn't trim my threads. I couldn't figure out what she was talking about, but then I realized she meant all those little gathers in the red fabric. I didn't do those, the fabric came that way.

I also wasn't going to enter Claire's Sleeping Beauty dress because the hem was dirty and worn, but I found a dry cleaner who did a great job and the judges really liked the dress, despite the stains and wear on the hem.

This was one of two dresses I entered in smocking this year. They both received blue ribbons. I didn't get a big purple ribbon this year, but I tried. The lady who did always gets the purple ribbons, she just hasn't entered the last three years-that's why I was able to get them. I'll have to keep practicing to see if I can beat her. :)

I'm pleased with this result! I won best of show in animals, dolls and toys with this dolly diaper bag and it's contents that I made for Kate for a Christmas present (she'll get it this Christmas coming up).
Here's a better picture of everything in the bag. This was a lot of fun to make. Everything fits her bitty baby.

And finally my favorite contest of all-You Be The Judge.

I won again this year for most items made. Although I did crochet and knit some of the blankets, I sewed the majority of them. I really was sewing for about three weeks and was worried that I wouldn't win. To be honest, it would be okay if I didn't win the most made as that would mean even more blankets for those preemie babies. As a result of last year's contest (where I made the most pillowcases) a lot of women tried to beat me for most made this year. As a result, almost 700 preemie blankets were donated to our local hospital. Woo Hoo!!!

Of course I like to try to win the most popular vote part of the "You Be The Judge" contest and amazingly enough, I was able to do just that for the 4th year in a row with the blanket pictured above. I was so surprised and pleased as there were so many lovely blankets made and entered.

I've already started on next year's contest which is placemats for Meals on Wheels. :)

So there you have it. Another great year at the fair! I'll try to be better at keeping up to date about what we're working on and what we're entering this next year!!!

First haircut

Guess what we did today? We went to get Kate's first haircut! She was very excited!

A lollipop is always in order!

Please just even it up in the back.

I know they're not "in", but I like bangs.

All done! Now that everything is evened up, we can grow it out again!