State Fair

Breanna made a quilted tote this year, her first fair entry! 

She made the front piece with grandma's instruction last spring, then turned it into a fun purse.

And the back.

And she was delighted to go to the fair and find she'd gotten a 1st place blue ribbon!

As usual, I waited till the last minute (literally, the week they were to be turned in...), and wanted to try out Crazy Mom Quilt's zig-zag pattern.  I wanted to make a twin size to be more useful... but of course didn't have enough fabric- and since it was stuff from my stash the stores quit selling it awhile ago.

So instead I made it into a large rectangle, quilted it.....

and made 4 coordinating placemats.

And some pot holders.

I'd been saving these fabrics to make something for my friend, Ellen, who loves these colors.  Sorry, Ellen, hope you don't mind honorable mention.

This baby quilt was from scraps, and certainly not what I'd consider entry quality- but I decided to enter it anyway.

Second place isn't too bad!

I bought these coordinating fabrics to make my sister an apron, but in my last-minute dash for fabric to make another entry for the fair- I decided to use them.  No pushing, Anna, but it's ready in case you get the urge!  And by the way, I am still going to make you an apron.

First Place!

Then I tried another zig-zag quilt, using some fun fabric from mom that had tiny buttons all over- along with a rainbow of bright colored scraps.  The quilting was new for me, but I love how it turned out!  Somewhere I saw a recommendation to do lots of semi-straight lines.  This is supposedly a great way to do regular machine quilting, but on the longarm it was a breeze!  I found it worked best to make some stabilizing lines a couple inches apart, then go back and fill in.

And the back I liked even better, this has lots of texture!

And when I saw it at the fair with a "Division Champion" ribbon, I almost fainted.  I actually like the back better, but I guess they must have thought my construction was good?

Looking back at my first fair entry from last year..... I see that I've made a ton of improvement.  It turned out pretty and was a lot of work and time- but the construction was certainly nothing like the rainbow quilt this year.  And even though it's not really big enough for our king-size bed, we've been using it anyway.  I still like to look at it, and our new place is going to have a cute little sewing room where I can hang it on the wall.

And although the quilts are my favorite part of the fair, there are other things that go on there.  Here in Alaska we have some extreme daylight conditions all summer, which makes for some giant pumpkins!  This 1101-pound whopper is the biggest ever recorded!

This one was pretty puny, he was only 902 pounds...  =)

And we showed up just in time to watch some of the livestock judging, namely swine (pigs); which brought great curiosity from the kids, and brought back a whole lot of 4-H memories for me.  We're thinking it might be nice to get some animals when we move to the farm.

Breanna loves the pony rides every year... but this year Levi wanted to try.  I wasn't sure he'd really go for it, but he assured me he was ready, and thoroughly loved it!  Only problem was, he didn't want to get off when it was done!  =)

Miss B.

Andy was content to be an observer.

At the lumberjack show one of the woodsman was giving mommy a hard time, so when he cut the small chair from a log- he offered it to Levi.  He turned extremely shy and refused to be coerced up there, which made Breanna turn extremely shy too- so mommy went up and sat Levi on it.  Now that we're home and there are no staring crowds, they are both quite adamant about their ownership of it.

Andy was only a couple weeks old at last year's fair, so we got to teach him about some of the finer things there- one being elephant ears slathered in cream-cheese frosting and powdered sugar!

Levi always loves to try out the motorcycles.

And Breanna was content to ride in the semi.

Andy seemed to enjoy it just as much from the sidelines.

Then Daddy took him on the big slide.

They all love that one!

Mommy got to go on the egg-beater with the big kids.

Andy's first ride on the carousel.

Some cute little heads I got to watch while pushing the stroller.

Another great fair, next year I guess it'll be the Oregon fairs we attend!



Lots of Changes!

We've got lots going on around here, and I haven't been taking time to blog!  Getting too many requests for pictures, tho, so here goes.  By the way, this post has nothing to do with quilting, so if you're looking for that; check back later.  =)

In August, our youngest turned one year old!

You should have heard the noises he was making....

This kids LOVES to eat, especially whip cream!

We're trying to teach him to eat somewhat civilized, and he made a pretty good attempt at using the fork.

But hands are so convenient!

Yay!  Happy first Birthday Andy!

My aunt made him a quilt that arrived the day before his birthday, thank you aunty Clariss!  Andy says tractor, and the kids all love it.  It's also quite fitting for the upcoming move!

Besides the cake, Andy seemed to enjoy the balloons the most.

Since he's one we also turned the carseat around.... and he's so much happier!

 

It's been really fun puting the boys in matching outfits.

 

Or at least similar.

 

Can you tell they like each other?

In August my "baby" also started Kindergarten!

She loved dasies, and the color green, so we were excited to find this dress for the first day of school.

She was a little hesitant when the bus actually came, and it seemed Levi sensed her nervousness and went to the rescue!  They are really close friends, even though they seem to argue so much.

It's quite different having just two little boys for the day, and Levi especially missed her.  He occupied his time playing and checking on Andy, but when it was time to go pick her up he said "Oh good, then Breanna can play with me!"

Can I eat this, Mom?

When Breanna came home, the comments were quite interesting.  I told her that the boys really missed her, and asked if she missed them.  She said "Mom, I didn't even think about them; there was always so much to do!"  She's thoroughly enjoying it.  At the dinner table Daddy asked what she thought of the bus, and she said "There were even some kids on there that were 14th graders!"  =)  (The bus is only for elementary- up thru 5th grade.)

We said goodbye to our dog, Max, since we'll be moving to Oregon this fall.

 

After he was gone (an elderly man who needed a companion adopted him), Breanna said, "do you think Max misses us yet?"

 

Tyler also added the new back deck!

 We're hoping to do some dirtwork over the holiday weekend and then get some grass planted, but for now the kids are loving it.

 We had rain for about 6 weeks straight, so when things brightened up we enjoyed the outside!

Trying out the bike-trailer.

 

 One especially sunny day, I grabbed a blanket and some quilt books; and headed for the lawn.

We made a few "additions", the first blanket turned out too small for everyone to lounge comfortably.  =)  And it was such a bright day that I didn't notice the lens on my camera wasn't entirely opened....

Sweet kids.

Doing his silly "knee walking" trick.

Breanna being silly.

Breanna and I had some entries in the fair, but that will have to wait till next time.  We've all been busy around here, and with a weekend trip to Oregon in there too, I've hardly had time to think!