County Fair

I entered a bunch of stuff in the county fair this year for the first time. The Lovely Daughter entered artwork a couple of years ago and won some big awards, and TMOTH had a bowl in last year.

THIS year, TMOTH put in a bowl and 3 photographs.

My grand total was 29 entries in various categories :) It was fun having a goal to work for this year- and I'll definitely do it again next year. Most of the Home Arts stuff I entered won ribbons of some sort; I had one big ribbon with the shawl I finished just in time:

Groot only won second place :(

All the hard work on the chair paid off: A blue ribbon for my efforts; as with a little pumpkin table-topper and this redwork Santa that I did in about 45 minutes one evening:

The baby shoes were a last-minute project as well:

All in all, I feel well rewarded. And I had a great time at the fair!! photos below:

Studio organizing

So, this week's task for studio organizing is: Choose 10 things to deal with.

Since my "studio" is spread out over the entire house, does cleaning up the chip corner in the kitchen count? Eh, didn't think so.

SO, my 10 things off the top of my head:

1. Finish Cecile's quilt. This I finished quilting today; waiting on a decision about binding and can get to that.

2. Pack a project or two to take on the back-to-college trip.

3. Put away the random craft stuff in the living room next to the couch - only keep the stuff that I'm working on in the evenings there.

4. Clean off the dining room table. (This IS studio-related; it's where I pin big quilts. The used-to-be-swastika quilt is ready to pin.)

5. Send glitter to Del.

6. Put the donation fabric in the donation bag.

7. Clean and oil the sewing machines.

8. Change the cover on the ironing board.

9. Finish dd's mending before we leave.

10. Clean up around the zig-zag machine so I can use it :)

11. Check to see if the Brother works in case The Lovely Daughter wants it.

August Laundry List

Been a while since I tried one of these - and the month is half over! and I miss part of it traveling! Nevertheless, here it is.

1. Finish Cecile's quilt. This is more than half quilted; I might actually be able to finish the quilting today, depending on what other crises pop up. I just have to find something to bind it with.

2. Keep up with weekly Studio Organizing prompts. I also arrived late to this project, so I've been trying to do some of the earlier ones if I finish the task of the week before a new one comes out.

3. Work on started quilts - quite a few of these.
   3a. Blue and yellow quilt.
   3b. Deana's quilt.
   3c. WOTB quilt.
   3d. Split 9-patch.

4. Start crocheted moccasins.

5. Finish cat potholders.

6. RE-start menu planning.

7. Work on hooked rug.

8. NO computer puzzles.

Quiet Saturday

It's been a lovely day today.

I went to karate by myself this morning rather than dragging the karate kid out of bed. It was great! They got a punching dummy, so we did boxing drills!!

I stopped at the local hardware store and got a couple more cans of spray finish so the chair can get done this weekend. I put a coat of shellac (per TMOTH's instructions) on it this afternoon.

I cut into one of our volunteer cantaloupes from the garden. We brought two in yesterday - one because it looked like it might be going bad, and the other because it looked ripe. Well, the one with a bad spot kind of exploded a little (because it WAS bad) so I thought I should go ahead and check the other one. It looks lovely, and it tastes OK - not great, but most definitely edible.

When I was taking the remains of they explodey cantaloupe out to the compost, I noticed butterflies (look like Appalachian brown satyrs to me) loving the rotting fruit.

There was quite the jockeying for best spot - this guy [the baldfaced hornet on the watermelon] chased off all the butterflies at one point!

We still have cicadas, and their shells.

And now, there are burgers on the grill, and a quiet Sunday to look forward to.

Shawl complete

I finished my shawl while waiting for The Lovely Daughter to test for her driver's license today.

The pattern is the "Yes Yes Shawl" found here: http://www.yarnspirations.com/yes-yes-shawl.html

 I made mine a little longer.

And the Lovely Daughter passed, so we have a fully qualified driver now!

Tonight we also went to gallery openings at Washington Artworks.

TMOTH has a couple of pieces in the woodturners show there.

New quilt start

Yes, I know. But I was inspired by this post, and a bin full of pre-cut squares.

First the squares got sorted into light, medium, and dark. The light and dark are here:

But like most quilters, it seems as if I have more mediums than anything else!!

I sewed up a few blocks last night:

It's very satisfying to finally start sewing again.

Eradicating a Pile

I've been following along on Prairie Moon Quilt's Studio Organizing Challenge. Never mind that my "studio" is a scattering of spaces across the house, and some weeks have been better than others.

This week's challenge was to eradicate a pile. This was the one I decided to tackle, before:

This is in the dining room, near the fireplace. I sew on my Featherweight on the dining room table for most piecing, and iron over by the window in the dining room, so it tends to accumulate stuff. The photo doesn't show the extent of the piling-ness; it extends up to the top of the stove insert.

And after:

You can see the rest-of-the-room pile starting on the left, but by golly that corner is clear! One bite at a time is manageable.

Today's challenge should pop up later today :)

Staining the Chair

It was lovely over the weekend, so the chair got stained - "Summer Oak" oil-based stain. Supplies: mineral spirits, rags, stain, a test board, and the all-important gloves!

Before:

And after:

I'm VERY happy with the color. I may be able to spray some finish this afternoon; otherwise, I'll get it done over the weekend.