the blue ribbon I should have gotten

so das and I went and picked up the goods last night from the fair. I had the quilt, our photography, and the pickles. sometimes, if you are lucky (and also depending on the category), you'll get comments on your card saying things you did well that the judges particularly liked, or things to improve upon. there are far too many entries in the photo category for comments... besides I think that it's all pretty arbitrary anyway. the quilt had several comments, and even the lady from whom I picked it up had additional things to say. essentially I had a bad label (which was true... it was thrown on there from maine quilts when I just needed an identifer); I had a few stray threads (and I know exactly where they are b/c I totally forgot to snip them); and, I needed to fix my mitred corners in the binding (I'll have to talk to my mom since she did the binding for me). all the other comments were great. the woman even led me to believe that I could have had best of group were it not for those minor details. I was pleased to say the least!

and then there were the pickles. I figured I wouldn't get any comments because there are an awful lot of canning entries. I didn't know if they had judging just for pickled cukes or if they handled all the pickling. anyway, I looked on the back and there were three things: the number three (I got third), soft, cloudy. so on the walk back to the car, das and I were discussing the comments. he said, "you know those pickles weren't that cloudy before, right? they looked much better than that when you submitted them." which is true... they were very cloudy now and weren't when I brought them in a week before. then das innocently says, "do you think it has anything to do with the fact that they weren't refrigerated since last week?"

yes folks. canning usually doesn't involve a fridge to make them. everything is canned and then boiled to blah blah blah blah... I don't know. I didn't do it that way. I never have. ever. I made refrigerator pickles. you know, the kind that need to be refrigerated!!!

so really the blue ribbon I should have gotten was in "attempted murder of the canning judges".

oops. :)

but I still got third place. and we haven't try to eat any of the third-place winning pickles. we know better now.

dang the weather

(note: this post ended up being really long... just don't say I didn't warn you.)

so here I am sitting at the computer. das is in bed sleeping. he's supposedly getting up to play flag football tomorrow; all my bets are on "yeah right". :) but I'd like to get caught up...

so first let me show off the final product of the "hanukkah lights" project. not too shabby if you ask me... considering I haven't paper pieced in ages.

as you can see... it's rather long. the rules were 6" x 12" centers for a table runner and 12" x 12" for a table topper. mine's about... 6"(ish) by maybe... 18"(ish)? it's an invalid entry. :( but I hope that people will make due. it's my first round robin ever. please be gentle.

and yes, my tablecloth is bright yellow. I'm surprised you can't see all the hair on it from the cats.

so my friend storey called this morning while I was working on my project and we made the executive decision that ultimately it may be considered "bad parenting" to subject her two and a half year old son to the epic rainstorms we were expected to have here in CT. understandable. we were disappointed, but such is life. she got her son's hair cut... and I decided to go anyway. yeah, you heard me. I decided to go... in the weather that was potentially going to require a large boat and sets of two of every species (except mosquitos... I can do without them thanks). so I packed up my stuff... prepped for the elements... and went to the post office, dunkin donuts, and michaels (for some stamping supplies). THEN I went to the fair. up to this point, there had only been slight drizzle so I was expecting to get there and have torrential downpours greet me instead of cows and goats and fried food. I get there... shuttle in from the off-site parking lot... still nothing. I walked around the fair for three hours. NO. RAIN. AT. ALL. which was awesome for me since I was currently at the fair... but disappointing all around because storey totally could have come. was it muddy? yeah sure... but it would've been dirty anyway. it's just wet dirt so who cares? :)

so about the fair. it was great... as expected. I very much enjoyed myself and am glad I went since I wasn't sure if I'd get out there again this weekend to really look around. it was perfect, too, when I first got there as no one had realized that it wasn't going to rain and we were still in that apprehensive "oh well do we risk it or do we stay in and go tomorrow" phase at home. there were hardly any lines or congestion typical of a fair scene. that changed later, as people realized that no, it really wasn't going to rain even though the weather forecasters (AND weather.com) said it was 100% chance of rain today. but I digress. I visited the swine/small animal/poultry/goats section first. I saw THE cutest little black goat. I do so much want a goat, but das for some reason is highly against that. I'm just trying to be green... a natural lawnmower? :) anyway, I went to the llama/sheep section next. most of the sheep were off-limits because, I believe, they were doing some showing still so they wanted to avoid pedestrian traffic as they loaded and unloaded sheep. the llamas were mentally preparing for their obsticle course section. the handlers were still setting up, so I opted to continue walking instead of waiting around. besides, the wet llama is a far more grotesque odor than many things I've smelled. wet wool = oh HELL no (gag). so I moved on to the photography section. I mentioned before about how I forced das to enter some of his work... well, of the two things he entered, one didn't place and one was honorable mention (which might I add is honorable considering there are about 250 photos entered into the competition and not everyone gets a "hey thanks for playing" ribbon). I personally think it's a sham, but it's all in the hands of whoever is judging. who knows what their criteria is... same with quilt judging. one person may count off more for one thing than another and so on and so forth. he tends to get deflated after his work is judged, but I keep trying to get him in again and again. anyway, my submission (at the end of this post) was an honorable mention, too. so I moved on to the needlework section. I had entered my irish chain (which I was SO hoping didn't have as much cat hair on it as I thought it might). and I got a blue ribbon! I am very excited. I just like having my work validated sometimes... I am very (ok... very to the infinite power) picky about my work. I think that is why sometimes I don't want to work... I'm worried I'll mess up. but I was proud of this work. I put love into it because I was making it for my husband to commemorate a great time we had together in ireland. that alone was worth the blue. :) I don't know yet what any commentary may exist so we'll see. maybe there will be something about "ok seriously... shave the cats". maybe. the next stop was the canning area to scope out how my pickles did. this was a huge experiment for me since a) I've never entered canning before and b) I've never canned anything before. I always like a stressful challenge... ok not really but in the end it's usually ok. just not those several weeks leading up to the deadline or the 12 hours just before where I'm frantically scraping everything together. at least with the pickles... I had to have them done at least 10 days before I entered them so that they could, well, pickle. :) though I ultimately made three styles (level three hot, level seven hot, and level ten hot), I submitted the level threes since those were the only ones I had made and tasted prior. I searched up and down... and found them... I got a third! which, for me, is so great. some pickles hadn't even placed, so to win a ribbon on my rookie pickle entry is so cool. I don't know if I'll do more in the future... it depends. I hope that there are some comments so I know what to do... not just for the entering portion, but to make the pickles better in general. so moving on... I checked out the craft areas, which are usually the same as they always are at the local fairs, and got some food, and just walked around some more. I found the farm museum, which was quite interesting. there was documentation on all the local farms from their humble beginnings to where they are now. the sheer number of older and antique farm pieces was just astounding. they even had an antique treadle there, too. after a while, though, my feet were acting up and I decided to head home.

I started to work on some stamping stuff, but das got home from his poker night early so I ultimately just futzed around. such is life. I did find out that our soccer game was moved due to the potential field closings. what really irks me about this is that the coordinators are moving the games and then wondering why we can't field a team. that's because people plan to have the games at a certain time... which is why you give the schedule to us at the beginning of a season. then the games are changed for whatever reason (usually rain) and now it interferes with plans that people have already made. our team is having enough issues fielding a team without the issue of overlapping schedules interfering. it's just frustrating to have to deal with a team of women who should all know better, but complain about it anyway. well, not everyone complains, but all it takes is one. I so don't want to be rep anymore; I'm a player and a rep, not your mother. wow... thanks for that vent, internet. I needed that.

so I leave this dissertation-sized post with this photo: the sham ShamWOW (note: sound auto starts with the page load). hilarious.

yummy yummy

we had a pot luck luncheon at work yesterday afternoon. it was a fall theme and it was very very tasty. we had beef stew, pumpkin bread, apple butter and bread, tortellini soup... oh it was so good. I brought apple cake and crock pot applesauce. quite possibly the two greatest things I've ever made with apples. I'm by no means an apple pie person. oh I'll *eat* apple pie. but I can't make it to save my life. I just... don't get it. it never works out for me. but these... these apple recipes. it was magic on my tongue. so... try them. while you still have fresh apples. you'll thank me later. trust me.

so last night I worked on my hanukkah center. yes, it was supposed to be turned in on thursday, but stuff happened (namely I was making the above recipes). I will be on my way shortly to finish it up and then mail it out to CA. I couldn't find any of my judaic fabrics (because they are all in the other house) so I used repros instead. I'm ok with that. it's still a menorah regardless of what era of fabrics are used. :)

so the weather reports are saying that it's going to be crazy rain today... but it's the day of the durham fair. ugh! it's not doing anything major right now, so I hope it holds off. I'm waiting for my friend storey to call to give the go-ahead so she and her son can come with... crossing my fingers... it'll be a lot of fun!!

ok... off to finish up!

if you're sick and you know it, clap your hands!

CLAP CLAP!!

ugh. I feel like total crap today. which is only slightly better than the way I felt yesterday and saturday. it's not even congestion that's killing me now; I can breathe freely through my nose. the aching - OH the aching. my back is screaming at me and all friday night after the uconn football game, I couldn't get warm to save my life. I had about forty-seven blankets on me and I was still curled up into the fetal position trying to create a ball of warmth. AND I didn't get to bed until around 4am.

saturday, I had to get up to drop off my goods to the durham fair. das had gotten up before me and was printing out the pictures he wanted to use for his entries and mine (nothing like waiting until the ultimate last minute)... then I threw some clothes on and went to the drop off. being at the fairgrounds made me so excited for next weekend's fair. I do enjoy the durham fair; it's always a lot of fun. I'll be going with my friend and her son, so that should be enjoyable as well. I, obviously, am hoping that my quilt fares well (though I realize now that I totally forgot to clip a stray thread from the machine quilting), and my photo and my pickles. I hope that das's photos come out well, too. the last time he entered the fair photography, he ended up with honorable mention... which is OK, but he deserved way better than that, especially given the photos that he was up against. he's not a professional photographer, but he takes pride in his work (only because I force him to) and I think the results weren't exactly uplifting and confidence-boosting. but, I convinced him to enter again (or rather I just signed him up and told him to just pick something)... so I am totally hoping for the best. after I got home, we immediately left to go to das's aunt and uncle's house to scope out their couch. they wanted to know if we'd like to have it, and considering this one doesn't smell like cat pee... it's already a gazillion times better than our current couch. so they're going to bring it over tomorrow. yay! at this point, I was starting to get way super cranky from feeling awful and the lack of sleep. but I showered while das mowed the lawn and we made our way over to our friends' apartment for a wine tasting. it was a fantastic night full of laughs, great food, and awesome wines. but we didn't get back until late, and at that point I felt wretched.

sunday I woke up at 7:45a for my 9a soccer game. then I turned off the alarm and went back to sleep. I could barely even move... my joints and muscles just ached, and I had a really bad sinus headache. so I missed the game... and then when das tried to wake me up at 11:30a to tell me we needed to get ready for our friend's daughter's birthday party... I channeled regan macneil and told him I wasn't going. so I slept. more. then read. and slept. and got out of bed around 5p-ish. and only because I needed food. so nothing happened on sunday. at all.

today... well, I slept a lot of today, too. the aching joints thing is really getting to me. my back is just throbbing. I'm actually a little light-headed, too. but I eventually made it to work (even though my boss told me to go home b/c he needs me more tomorrow)... and now I think I'm going to go home again. it's just draining...

tonight, and hopefully I'm up to it, I need to finish my center for my kosher pickles round robin block. I have an idea of what I'm going to do... I just need to get it together and finish it. I'm supposed to have guild drop-in tonight, but I'm not feeling up to it. also, heroes is premiering tonight which is awesome... but I won't be watching. das has bowling so we probably will have to wait for a while before we'll have time to watch. I'm hoping to do a rundown of what shows we'll be watching this season... or what we want to watch. we'll see...

hi again!

it is SO hard to come up with titles for posts. I mean you don't want every post to be "quilting stuff" or "I sewed today!" or something like that. perhaps I should just arbitrarily start naming my posts after things I find on my desk: "golfing calendar", "reid state park photos", "spy phone", or even the intriguing - "stress ball!" ok maybe that plan won't work so well. :) but don't say I didn't warn you.

ok, so all silliness aside... I wanted to show you some pictures! my friend storey's birthday was last weekend so I, with the help of heather (another friend), created a card for her. we collaborated. I stamped; she did the card. she did the embossing with her cuttlebug, which was the most awesome-est thing ever. really cute for paper products... but wouldn't be strong enough to do any fabric for applique I don't believe.

so tomorrow is the drop-off day for the durham fair crafts. I am entering my irish chain, a photo of my cat (gabe), and some hot pickles I made. das is entering two photos. I was going to do, also, another quilt... a baby quilt, but I won't get it done in time. I am essentially done... but I am tying it and need to quilt around the quilt so I can turn it inside out (the kit didn't call for, or include bindings, which is fine) then, of course, tie it. das and I were at the uconn/baylor football game this evening and got back after midnight, so it wasn't going to happen this evening. oh well... such is life. it was a last minute decision to enter it anyway because I had wanted to surprise my friend with it while we were at the fair together... however, I never heard from her to see if she was going to go with me. SO, that plan backfired and now I'm going a different day with a different person with no quilt expectations. :) I do still need to finish the baby quilt though... just not for tomorrow morning. did I ever post the picture for the irish chain?!

so that, too, will be going. we'll see how it does. I meant to wash it before but our washer isn't big enough for a queen-sized quilt. and I forgot to bring it to the laundromat to wash it in their larger capacity machines. so I put two dryer sheets in and put it on the non-heat, fluff option to get some of the cat hair off. I'll probably run an iron over it before submitting, too, just to be on the safe side. that's the thing about entering in the fair... if I finish a quilt (especially one that's for me), I want to use it or give it right away (because usually it's late anyway) but if I want it to go into the fair... well, then I have to wait, or suffer the cat-hairy consequences. (sigh) it's worth it for my two little furballs though (not that bowser doesn't contribute though). :)

well I need to go warm up under the substitute quilt on our bed (since the irish chain is awaiting delivery to the fair) because it is freezing in CT this evening.

the photos I promised!

ok... so here are some photos that I promised yesterday (ok ok, not all of them - I didn't do the quilt yet).

this dude was all about "the hay is tastier on the other side". I love goats! so cute...

these were the uber-cute little baby chicks. of course all the little kids were like, "let me touch them let me pick them up!!" I said, "let the big kids have some fun, too." :) but ultimately, we all got to play and hold the baby chicks. so I didn't have to fight anyone.

there were very few quilts, or anything for that matter, entered in the arts and crafts area. the barn that held all the crafts was probably slightly smaller than my house in square footage. such a shame, really. anyway, this was one of the cakes. I thought it was brilliant... especially since I'm trying to get back into knitting again on a more regular basis! how FABulous is this? no cake wrecks here!

ok, that's all I'm sharing for now. I had a video that was kind of cute, but I don't really know how to do that and I'd rather be quilting (instead of copying cds, ugh). I had quilt guild tonight which was pretty cool... definitely an interesting group of women. I've never actually been to a meeting for a guild even though I've been a member of the guild in maine for a couple of years. show and tell was pretty awesome... very inspiring. I did bring a show and tell... my cow quilt (that still isn't finished) from maine quilts 2007. it got some oohs and aahs... so perhaps that will be the motivation I need to finish it up. only time will tell.