I Made it Monday: Blue Ribbon Edition

One of my goals for the new! improved! blog is to have a post on Monday featuring something I've made. This isn't original to me; I was poking around other craft blogs and saw that there are memes for that. But if I learned nothing else in grad school, I learned that recognizing a good idea is a talent, and I've got it. Thus the adoption. Now I know I am not the best at making stitches every day (each day, two words) but in any given week I do make things: cards, dinner, cookies, whatever. I am going to make it a point to share more of those things.

I will also keep in mind that most of you are cross-stitch friends and that one of my goals was to finish-finish more of my stitched pieces.

In fact, you may remember the tiny smalls I stitched back in January. Pictured here is the one I stitched over two. Lots of you encouraged me to try Vonna's finish with the pocket watches. It took me forever, but I finally got around to it. In fact, I did it the night before the dude was due to drive his fair entries down to the Maryland State Fair*. Because there was a Christmas ornament division, and I thought, why the hell not? I also sent Little by Little's Star Light Star Bright.

This past weekend was our traditional trip to the fair. We met best pal and her family and another family, and had a time eating larvets** (deep fried cream cheese with mealworms), cheering on the sausage eating contest (go, Brave Astronaut, go!***), and watching the kids go on rides.

The dude entered his fabulous melon jam, tomato salsa, and mustard relish (a hot dog relish--"pickle" for our British friends) in the contest. Or should I say award-winning mustard relish! He took second in the "other relish" category. But he was really robbed on the melon jam. We both really thought that was his best (perhaps only) chance!

And my ornament that took first place! (Sorry about the horrible photo. It's in a case. I also don't know how they mangled my beautiful bow so badly. I was really proud of that bow!) (I promise a better photo when I pick it up. And fix the bow!)

Now we can both rest on our laurels.

*Residents of any of Maryland's surrounding states may enter.
**One time only. Not because of the bugs. It just wasn't that interesting. As someone said, "more like a dare than a food." Also, I was raised on grilled cream cheese sandwiches which is pretty much what this tasted like.
***One time only as well, I'm guessing. 

LA County Fair, "Other crap"

Three of us went to the LA County Fair this weekend. While it's not a problem dragging the Dude through the craft competitions, it took the promise of air conditioning to lure both boys away from the track. We admired the over-the-top table decorating, the Christmas tree decorating (purchased and handmade divisions), and the various craft displays--everything from papier mache (some husband entered his wife's belly-cast; do you think they're divorced yet?) to cross-stitch. I'm always agog at what some people will enter. Disney kits. Plastic canvas. Horrible, total travesty. In fact, when we were looking aghast at the hen and rooster decorated with beans and dried corn, we invented a new category, not "other crafts" but "other crap." The Best in Show cross-stitch was quite well-done, but the picture, eh, not so much. The stitching was unbelievably even. I showed the Dude the reason one of the Teresa Wentzler dragons got a first and the other a second. I found a terrific sampler that features a Cyrillic alphabet with a Russian church; took a first in its division. Convinced once again that I should enter. I'm thinking about entering both the Christmas tree competition, handmade division for the over-the-topedness as well as a stitching project. Only problem is I still have the damned afghan to work on. And whatever gets entered has to be big--they don't like the small stuff. Even well-executed complicated small stuff.

Gallica has fallen by the wayside. I still have backstitching on the square, but I'm sick of backstitching. I've got about half of the big rose to do. That's all! But I'm tired of working on it. I've been knitting in-law Christmas scarves for the October 15 deadline. I've got two child-sized hats and two man-sized scarves. Took the gray and black wool scarf on the hour-long trip to the Fairplex yesterday. And for the 30 minute commute this morning.

I think I might just start the next square so I can get back on track. My next deadline is to finish the [somekindofweddingflower] by October 17, and I have yet to begin. That's too much to do in such a short period of time. Maybe I can hire a blow-up doll to do my job a few days a week. You know, the one in the office that I am trying to leave. The one where I write to you, dear reader.