wonderful weekend--warning: lots of photos follow

Thanks to all of you who posted with good wishes and encouragement re: my necklace at the fair. I'm happy to report that I WON FIRST PRIZE!! As you can see from the photo below, I did not win for my carefully planned and executed necklace made specifically for the fair, but for the other piece sent down at the last minute. Judges--go figure! I'm pleased nonetheless.


This is an entry in the pleine aire painting division. I love all the colors and the feeling of the fair midway.

And here's the midway itself, showing some of the rides my kids were eager to try out.

One ride they took was on the sky ride.

The entire family went on "Ye Old Mill", a haunted house type attraction that has been part of the fair for decades. My mother remembers riding this when she was a teenager.

While Dave took the kids around the rides I hung out in the Domestic Arts building, seeing gorgeousness like the following:

The quilts were just stunning, ranging from simple, old fashioned patterns like this nine-patch...

...to stunning modern patterns.

This piece was just unbelievably gorgeous, embellished with lace, beads, silk embroidery, and a variety of fancy hand stitching. It won a purple ribbon (Best of Show) and deserved it. Wow.

Love these colors and this pattern. Very cool.

An interesting category in the Domestic Arts division was "duct tape". This purse is made entirely from duct tape.

And so is this prom dress!! Yes, the young lady who made it actually wore it to the prom, and made a matching hat for her date.

There was quite a bit of felting going on, mainly of things knitted out of wool yarn, then hot water felted in a washing machine. This is one of the really nice bags on display.

Warning: gratuitous chicken photos follow. Lesley, I thought of you throughout the poultry building.

You cannot go to a state fair in the middle of the USA without encountering some of the following feathered citizens.

Isn't he an interesting fellow?

Dylan said this one looked like a rock star.

This was a handsome big guy, and seemed to be curious about what I was doing.

Another beautiful specimin of chickenhood.

Isn't this a lovely fellow? His label said he was some kind of traditional English barnyard fowl. I thought he was beautiful. And very cooperative, too, I must say.

The chickens were in the same building as the rabbits, of which this little guy was by far the cutest.

Dylan and Dave explored the livestock building. This is Dylan atop the mountain of hay it takes to feed all the critters. He was very impressed.

This is what happens when you give an 8 year old the camera--you get a photo of a cow's butt.

By day's end we were exhausted (and my knee hurt, but I did well over all), and some of us had very sticky faces from cotton candy (see below) but we had a great time at the fair.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend, too.