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!

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.

The Fair!

The Ventura County Fair never changes - ok, almost never. We fell in love with the marionberry pie vendor last year and went back this year specifically for their treats. Guess what? No marionberry vendor. We were so bummed!

Riding the bus from the beach to the Fair? Check.
 
Face painting? Check.
 
Riding the ponies? Check.
 
Getting to ride Sweet Pea, your very favorite pony? Check and double check.
 
Visiting the displays and acting silly? Check!
 
Feeding and brushing the petting zoo animals? Check.
 
And not so check - Leanne was freaked out by the pushiness of the animals,
 
and Leia had a hard time keeping this deer from repeatedly eating her skirt; 
 
the deer was much more interested in the fabric than the food pellets.

We also had hot dogs (Pink's -yummmmmm!), ice cream cones, and BBQ; bought toy swords that light up and make noise; and finished the day at Royal Bakery for the girls' favorite cow cookies*. 
 
Now that's how you celebrate the Fair!   

* Yep, I'm the Grandma of Awesome - and Sugar. Please don't tell their parents.

County Fair

We haven't been to the county fair in several years, so Monday we bundled Leia into the car and headed to Ventura. 
 
Leia wanted to go on every! ride!! (not happening) 
 
but settled for checking out the 4-H animals,
riding a pony,
 
petting a wallaby 
 
and a deer, 
 
brushing a llama, 
 
eating a corn dog and ice cream, getting her face painted,
 
"winning" the tricycle maze derby,
 
and checking out the exhibits in the Ag Building, which proved a surprisingly big hit 
 
with its photo op farm animals,
 
planting pea seeds to take home, and coloring pages galore.
 
Leia was a good sport about visiting the horticulture exhibits (one of Pop's favorites) and Home Arts (my fav).
 
Not being a rookie in the grand-parenting game, I made her wait for her ice cream until after we'd visited those two venues. No whining = chocolaty treat. Seemed perfectly Fair to me!