County Fair time !

Over the past year, I've developed a new friendship.  Having someone who enjoys doing the same things as me is something that I have DEARLY missed since leaving Oklahoma 10 years ago.

This lady, who goes to my church, approached me to accompany her on visits to the widows of our church, seeing as how I had become widowed myself and might understand their feelings and concerns.

Once I quit working at Walmart, I had free time to join her, and it has been a wonderful blessing to us both, and hopefully to our sisters in Christ.

When she discovered my love of quilting, she mentioned, enthusiatically, that she would love to learn to quilt.  I've heard this from many people, but in discussing it, I could tell that she meant NOW, not just 'someday'.   So I agreed to teach her.

Well, fast forwarding to this summer, and her approaching a finish on her first quilt, we had been talking about her entering it in the local county fair.   She was very much interested in that, and had lots of family support urging her to do so.

Monday, August 12th came, and we dropped off our quilts....mine got entered into a machine-quilted category, and hers in a 'first quilt' category.  Well, on Thursday, they let us in to view the judging results without having to pay a 'Fair' admission charge.  Imagine our surprise when we walked into the exhibit room and both had ribbons on them !

Darleene's first quilt won her a second-place ribbon, and you can just
SEE the joy on her face !   I was equally proud of and for my 'student' and new friend.

She rejoiced with me, too, as we saw that I had gained a first-place ribbon, and the overall "Best in Show" ribbon over the category of all of the Home Economics class.

You may recall me sharing the finish on this quilt a while back HERE


I love the tradition of county fair exhibits, and so hope that people will continue to support them and participate.

But in the meantime, I now have a new quilting buddy !

2018 County Fair----and family !

Kelley and the kids came down on Saturday afternoon.  We had fun going around to most of the local second-hand stores.  We found some fun goodies and had a good time.  Arriving back at my house, Zoe talked her brother into a facial masque, telling him that guys, as well as girls, need to practice 'good hygeine' with a really clean face!

Then I fixed us all a little supper before we got ready to go to the fair.  It was funny to hear the two struggling to open their mouths wide enough to eat those burgers with that masque holding their cheeks tight !
Plain, simple fare to eat.......hamburgers, (boxed) mac n cheese , and, by request of my daughter, my fried potatoes (she says no one else's come out like mine).

This being the first time we've all been able to go to the fair together, we had a wonderfully, fun time!  Upon arriving there, I was immediately talked into going on a ride with my daughter (really, a pretty tame one), and it wore me out from trying to keep the centrifugal force from making me squish her!   That was enough riding for me !   But the kids tried most everything but the kiddie rides, had some lemonade and funnel cakes, and went with me to see the quilts that I had entered into the exhibits.

  It was demolition derby night, but somehow with the allure of the 'midway', we never made it over to the grandstands to watch the smash-ups.  I think the boys would have loved it, but it just couldn't compete with carnival rides.

I wound up bringing home a couple of ribbons for my quilts, but was very disappointed with lack of public participation in entering, and with the fact that the quilts that WERE there were not well-displayed.

Remember this 16-patch quilt that I made last year while working at WalMart?
It won first place in the hand-quilted category.

And this one, that was made for a friend's grandson, won second place in the machine-quilted category.

 Still, atleast my grandkids got to see good, ol'-timey fair exhibits, such as they were.

When we finally took time out for funnel cakes, the bit of spitting rain picked up until it was a steady downpour coming over us while we sprinted towards the other end of the park where we had parked the minivan.  More laughter ensued !  God is good !

P.S.  I got this quilt-top basted.  It was pieced so many years ago that I hate the fabrics that I used.  But it reflects the time period in which it was done, so I'm just trying to make it a finished work.