We went to the fair yesterday. Talk about pleasant surprises! The County Fair doesn't charge an entry fee, and allows a person to enter two things in each category. Between the four of us we entered 31 things, and we won 46 ribbons. Conspicuous consumption in a rather ostentatious way, eh?
The seven-year-old entered two tiny clay pots and a little sponge-painted canvas bag. She got blue ribbons for the pots and a red ribbon for the bag.
The fourteen-year-old entered a very tiny penguin and a little turtle made of baked clay, an interesting representation of xeriscaping, and a bag she made from a pair of jeans. She won a third place for the xeriscape stone, a second on the bag (but they forgot to put her age on the card, so she was competing with the adults), a first on the pengin, and a first and "high blue" on the turtle. High blue means it was considered in the sweepstakes round.
My sister entered a dress she made, crocheted slippers, blankets and dishtowel sets, and tie-dyed scarves, a baby onsie with hat, long-john jammies, and a sheet set. She got a second place for her slippers, firsts for her other crocheted items and her dress, and a "high blue" for her blue and green baby blanket. She got seconds on her long-john jamies and one of her scarves (the one that's my favorite!), and firsts on everything else. In addition, she got a high blue and a creative arts sweepstakes ribbon for her sheet set. They're so loud, I don't think she's going to be able to sleep if she puts them on the bed!
I'm so proud of them all -- aren't they clever?
The seven-year-old entered two tiny clay pots and a little sponge-painted canvas bag. She got blue ribbons for the pots and a red ribbon for the bag.
Since I'm off to a baby shower tomorrow -- it was about time to get this finished. The lace is finally sewn on and down. I found that things which are going through the washer and dryer tend to curl up and must be completely tacked down if they are not to need a lot of ironing. And, who in their right mind irons anything, especially baby clothes? Certainly not me!
A long-sleeved "onsie" for a winter daughter. My sister did the tie-dye and I put a neck decoration on it in shades of pink. The buttons are smaller than the ones I used for the adult t-shirts, otherwise, this is the same 
pattern. Someone asked for the pattern, but this diagram is as far as I ever got with it. I hope it works for that someone, and anyone else interested! {oh -- click on the diagram and it will open into a larger picture} The thread I used was (again!) one strand of Gütermann cotton thread and one strand of Signature machine embroidery thread. Together they make something close to size 80 tatting cotton.
Except for the color -- which I like -- what an absolute waste of two nights and a morning pretending to block this awful thing. I say pretending, because there aren't enough pins in this whole house to pin everything that needed pinning on the darn thing -- and we've got LOTS of pins. I made this years ago with cheap ecru crochet thread from DMC's Tatting for Today (1980), Motif 5. The motif looks really pretty as a starched snowflake; fastening them together was a mistake. I dug it out of a bag when my sister was in a mood to tie-dye. "Fix it up!" says I. She should have said (but didn't), "Are you out of your mind? That thing's hopeless!" She dyed it a nice solid plum. Nope, it still looked like a major undertaking to block. It sat crumpled in my bag for another two months. Finally, I decided since I was only good for blocking that's what I'd do. Ewww. Too many picots, the thread was too soft to hold them and they just curled and twisted. The outsides couldn't be stretched enough to let the inner rings lie flat. All in all, what a waste of time and effort. I don't know that it's even worth wrapping in acid-free paper for storage. My sister thought perhaps it could be a gift for the next wedding invitation I receive. I don't think I dislike anyone that much! I wonder if it would make a good mop rag?
Nope, these aren't tatted -- they're crocheted. They were all done a number of years ago (more than 5 certainly) and stored in tins or plastic bags or bins. Not a nice thing to do! They didn't wash up well, but my sister fixed 'em up when she was tie-dying. This first one was actually done by my mom. Somebody spilled something on it, and I told her I'd wash it and restarch it for her. Uh-huh, like a thousand years ago. Fortunately, she likes the result! It was twisted by itself then dyed in shades of purple and blue.
