Fair Wins

We were at the Fair before noon today, trying to beat the crowds on opening day and $1 admission day. 

First stop was the Youth Building - of course! - to check on Leia and Leanne’s entries.

Leia received a blue 1st place ribbon for her quilt, 

two 2nd and one 3rd place ribbons for her paintings

and a 2nd for her pottery. 

Leanne took first place on her tic-tac-toe bag,

along with her dress and heart pillow.

She also received blue ribbons on four of her five paintings and a 2nd place ribbon on the fifth. It was amazing that everything they both entered received an award.

We spent a few hours checking out the Ag Building, 

the 4H livestock - it’s sheep week! - 

and sampling the greasy and delicious Fair food

before the girls celebrated their ribbons with their current favorite thing -

henna tattoos for all!

Baking and Sewing

Leia decided to break in her new apron - handmade by Aunt Teena -

by baking her (and our) favorite cake.

While the cake was cooling, she (impatiently) watched a movie* with Pop

giving me time to finish the top of a mini quilt I started last week. 

This began as an experiment in how to use the mini QCR ruler and book I bought awhile back. I planned to make just the lower left panel (2 birds, 2 leaves) but I liked it so much I kept going. 

 Music notes for the stem

Out of the 16 designs in the book, I’d love to make at least 10. 

And I probably need to get the regular size ruler and book too . . .

* Tonight’s choice - based on Leia’s request for the board game for her upcoming birthday - was the 1985 classic “Clue”, starring Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Christoper Lloyd, Martin Mull and Leslie Ann Warren. Silly and fun, with some very good actors.

Hippos and Toucans and Zebras, Oh My!

(July 29, New photos added at the end . . .)

This came home with me on quilt run 2019, the only fabric I bought without knowing how I was going to use it.

 Junglemania- Wildflowers by Mia Charro

I knew I’d regret not buying it and that was reason enough to bypass this year’s (totally arbitrary) Run Rule of “no plan, no purchase”.

I wanted to keep this just as it was, rather than cutting it into pieces for a quilt, so I bought some monkey flannel and used a Missouri Star tutorial to make a TV watching blanket for the baby grands.

Quick and easy. Plus, it gave me an excuse to use the fancy stitches on my sewing machine. Bonus!

ETA: It’s a hit! Both Jac

and Leia 

claimed it for their own today. Fortunately at separate times. Looks like this blanket will get lots of use. (Leanne was busy practicing her quilting but she likes the blanket too.)

Sewing Camp, 2019

A semi-local sewing store (25 minutes from our house, if the traffic gods are gracious) offers a summer sewing camp for kids. Leia and Leanne went last year and loved it, so I was bummed that Leia had a scheduling conflict this year. 

I wasn’t sure what projects were on this year’s lineup but the only repeat was Day 3’s pillowcase - 

which Leanne enjoyed making more this year than last. 

She also liked Day 1’s net fish bag. This was supposed to be a one-day project but ended up taking 2 full days because . . . 1) netting can be a pain for newbies to sew; and 2) the teacher was expecting 3 students and 7 showed up, 3 of whom had never sewn before. I’d have been a basket case but Melody just took it in stride. A bonus to the to-many-students problem was Leanne jumping in to help the younger, less-experienced kids when they needed a machine threaded, bobbin wound or seam ripped out. She loved it (and I was proud).

The last project was an envelope pillow. The kids made both the stuffed inner pillow and the fabric cover. The teacher’s vinyl cutting machine - and her selection of sparkly, colorful vinyl - was a big hit. I’m still a bit surprised Leanne wanted a black cat (purple! pink!) but she was very definite in her choice. And very happy with how her gift for Jaclyn turned out.

Fair Entries, 2019

The girls are officially participants in the 2019 Ventura Fair. 

(Scroll down to see the sewing entries.)

We were at the Youth building just before noon and, instead of the long lines I’d been dreading, there was a big empty.

In the 30 minutes we spent checking our items in, maybe three other kids dropped off entries. Sure hope things pick up this afternoon and tomorrow.

Both girls entered acrylic paintings

they created in our impromptu art studio. 

Leanne would happily have done more than 5 if we hadn’t her told to leave a few canvases for Leia. She was really excited about painting and had so. many. more. ideas! 

Leia also entered her “Sunset In Paris” painting

and a pottery phone holder she created. 

The things I’m most excited about - and that took us the longest to make - are the sewing and quilting items.

In addition to her heart pillow, Leanne made a tic-tac-toe bag that will hold buttons for game pieces (along with her phone) AND

her very first dress.

She made this almost entirely herself, from choosing the pattern and fabric; tracing the pattern; pinning and cutting the dress pieces; to sewing - and a little ripping out - the seams.

She measured and pinned and turned the tie

and even attached the bias binding on the armholes (after I looked up how to do it on  YouTube . . .) Pretty amazing - and she’s only 8!

Leia finished her quilt on Friday, in time to get pictures with Donovan before Fair time. 

Leia also did almost all the work on this. (I did the rotary cutting because I’m a nervous nelly after the avocado incident.) 

She had a theme for each quadrant - animals, flowers, movies and night/galaxy. On a couple of these, picking the fabric took longer almost as long as making the blocks!

Our original plan was to make 4 blocks, sew them together and call it good. But Leia was enjoying herself so much (!) she decided to add borders

before pinning the sandwich together 

and doing the free motion quilting herself (!!),

including adding her name in cursive to the flowers block.

Not bad for her first quilt! (Said the ridiculously proud grandma.) When we started, Leia said this was going to be a dog blanket for Sammie. But after all the time and work she’s put in, she’s decided maybe it would be better as a wallhanging in her bedroom. 

And now we wait. The Fair opens July 31.