Cakes at the Fair

We always enjoy checking out the food competition at the Iowa State Fair. (Did you know that the Iowa State Fair has the largest food competition of any state fair anywhere?) In years past, Bailey entered several food categories and took home ribbons for her Extra Tall and Sprinkly Rice Krispie Bars, Caramel Chip Bars, and more. As you might imagine, I've never entered any of my culinary masterpieces. Food is generally NOT my domain.

We were particularly impressed with this year's cake entries, a few of which are pictured above. Check out the camper cake (upper left) and the Harry Potter "Monster Book of Monsters" cake (lower right). I'm amazed at what these people can do with fondant!

As for me, I think I'll stick with paper!

Animals at the Fair

Like last summer, our time at this year's fair is a bit short due to the fact that we'll be leaving this week to take Bailey back to college. But no matter how limited our fair time, we make a point to visit the animal barns and displays. It always surprises me when people go to the fair every year but do not enjoy looking at the animals. I can't imagine the fair without animals!

Here are a few of my favorite animal pictures from this year's fair. We've especially enjoyed visiting the baby goats and lambs. AWWW!

State Fair 2011

It's Iowa State Fair time! We've spent two full days at the fair so far, meaning that I'm WAY behind in my other work, so this will be a quick post with just a few favorite photos!

Our first stop was the sheep barn to see if there were any sheep in spandex (see last year's spandex report here). I was disappointed to find only one, but we decided it is too early in the fair run for fashion. Once the sheep are sheared (?) shorn (?), then they'll don their spandex suits to keep clean.

Next stop was the cattle barn where we always seek out baby cows. Oh, I guess they're called calves. I should know this, considering I'm an Iowa girl. :)

And look at this tiny lamb, just a couple of days old!

Here's the inside of the Agriculture building, my favorite building at the fair.

Watch for more photos over the next few days, including -- HOPEFULLY -- many more sheep in spandex!

Animals at the Fair

One of my favorite things to do at the Iowa State Fair is visit the animal barns. Pigs, cows, sheep, horses, poultry...you name them, I love them all. Here are a few of my favorite animal shots from this year:

Top row: A very happy pig who obviously doesn't know what's coming!; Rare "ginger" sheep with wool to match my hair!; Bailey meets Sheep; Baby ducks!
Middle row: A brand new baby goat; Mama and baby sheep; LOTS of baby pigs - just born!; Pig on Pig!
Bottom row: Sheep Peek; Lamb trio; A beautiful Belgian draft horse; A gorgeous chicken

Iowa State Fair Sew-In

Our daughter participated in the annual Iowa State Fair Sew-In again this year. This charity event, sponsored by a local quilting club, offers volunteers the opportunity to create simple "strip quilts" for children in need. Any level of skill is welcome, and volunteers are free to spend as much time as they'd like on the project during their time at the fair. Some people make only a portion of a quilt, while others make the entire thing. Last year, volunteers made over 150 quilts. This year, the organizers are aiming for 200!



Thanks to her grandma, Bailey has developed very solid sewing skills...unlike her mother! Since she had made a quilt last summer, she finished this year's quilt in just over 2.5 hours. She started by picking out fabric (she choose red strips in a variety of patterns) then sewed the strips together. Next, she added batting and a quilt back and pinned all the layers together. (I was allowed to help with pinning!) Finally, she sewed the quilt top to the back and added the binding around the edges.

Participating in the Sew-In is a great way to spend an afternoon at the fair. We know the quilts will be loved by the children who receive them!

Sheep Fashion Report: Fashion Meets Function

My apologies for the delay in the second (and final) installment of this year's Iowa State Fair Sheep Fashion Report. When I stopped at the sheep barn early in the weekend, the gates were closed as new sheep arrived for competition. Of course, I kept my fingers crossed that this new batch of competitors would bring OUTFITS with them. Lucky for me, they did!

If you click on this collage, you'll get a better view of the range of sheep fashions I observed over the weekend. Although they brought their outfits, as EWE (sorry!) can see, this new batch of sheep also brought along some fashion issues.

As noted in several of the photos, bulky garments still prevail. I decided to find out WHY, so I found a Nice Farm Boy boy hanging out in a pen texting some Nice Farm Girl in the next barn. "I'm not from a farm," I smiled and told him as I approached the pen. (In retrospect, my camera probably made this fact fairly obvious. Had she been with me, Daughter would have been mortified.) "I really prefer the spandex sheep outfits. Why are so many sheep wearing bulky suits this year?"

Nice Farm Boy told me that sheep "outfits" are meant to keep the sheep clean. (Apparently fashion is not the primary goal!) He went on to explain that TUBES (the technical term for the spandex outfits) are sometimes difficult to put on the sheep, so many farmers prefer the BLANKETS (the technical term for the bulky --UGLY-- outfits). I cannot imagine why a sheep wouldn't want to wear the more stylish tube, but apparently many of them baaaaa-lk (sorry!) at the idea. I guess this year's sheep are favoring function over fashion!

While touring the sheep barn, I found only a few TUBED sheep, with very few of them sporting fashionable patterns. As you can see above, one spandex suit featured blue and white flowers which I took to be hibiscus. The tropical theme is a nice look, but it doesn't seem to be catching on.

One duo of sheep sported leather blankets, sort of a "fierce" Wild West look which didn't work all that well with their pleasant personalities. A trio in a nearby pen wore light blue/striped cotton blankets, which reminded me of "Leave it to Beaver"-style pajamas. I'm sorry, but jammies are a little too bland for such cheerful, perky sheep!

Just as I was ready to leave the sheep barn in complete despair, I heard a bit of commotion in the pen behind me. Imagine my delight when I turned and spotted a trio of sheep wearing what will surely be all the rage next season: pink and brown blankets! I'm sure my fellow papercrafters will agree that these suits (lower right corner of collage) were no doubt inspired by Ki Memories scrapbooking paper. Even though they're a bit bulky, they are certainly eye-catching!

These Ki outfits prove that function CAN be fashionable and give me reason to hope for better sheep fashion days ahead!

Sheep Fashion Report: A Disappointing Start

Well, I'm sorry to report that sheep at the Iowa State Fair are not dressing well this year. Maybe it's due to the extremely hot and humid weather, or perhaps the economy has taken a bite out of sheep wardrobe budgets. Whatever the reason, a quick check of the sheep barn today revealed almost NO SPANDEX. (On SHEEP, that is.)

This year's sheep have shunned the spandex in favor of looser, bulkier garments which really do NOT look good on anyone. I'm all for purple, but this trench coat just makes this poor sheep look lumpy and formless.

This orange outfit is a little less bulky. I'll give a bonus point to this sheep and her pen-mate for choosing the black trim to match their coloring. But as a side note, do you notice the stained underarm of the unclothed sheep? She was obviously embarrassed to be standing there completely naked for the photo shoot.

And just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, I came upon this model wearing last year's spandex, very poorly maintained. You can tell by the look on her face that she's mortified to be sporting a torn leotard. She will not even look at the camera!

My faith was restored when FINALLY I came upon one trio of sheep sporting stylish spandex suits. While I'd much prefer stripes or polka dots, at least these suits are clean and form-fitting.

I'll be checking the sheep barn again in a couple of days to see if the fashion situation has changed. With cooler weather in the forecast, I expect to see all of our sheep looking their very best. This is the Iowa State Fair, ladies! Let's step it up!

Let the fair begin!

Today marks the beginning of the great Iowa State Fair, considered by many to be the finest state fair in the country.

The fair has always been special to my family. Because we've camped there for so many years, I know the fairgrounds better than my own neighborhood. We've entered a host of competitions and even won a few ribbons. In short, I have countless great memories of the state fair.

But while I love many things about the fair, the animals are at the top of my list.

I absolutely adore seeing them up close.

Especially the sheep in spandex. Every year, I search the barn for stylishly clad sheep and take as many pictures as possible before my family disowns me. It's amazing how sheep fashions change from year to year. Did you not know this?

Be sure to check back in the next few days for a full report on sheep fashions and a host of other important state fair happenings. Then maybe you'll see why the Iowa State Fair is the best one around!

Scrapbook Your Vegetables

Here's a sample layout I just finished up for Memory Bound using Cosmo Cricket's new garden-themed line, "Garden Variety". With colorful, double-sided paper and smiling chipboard vegetables, this line is perfect for the aspiring gardener!

It is also perfect for my state fair vegetable competition pictures. I love going to the Agriculture Building at the fair each year to check out the beautiful garden specimens, including flowers, fruits, and vegetables. I'm always inspired by what I see!

Wordless Wednesday: More Sheep Fashions

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Will the real Easter Bunny please stand up?
Rabbits at the fair, August 2009

Iowa State Fair Sew-In

Daughter participated in a great project at the Iowa State Fair this past weekend: a "sew- in" to make quilts for kids at the University of Iowa hospitals and those with parents in the prison system. The project was coordinated by a local quilting group and was considerably more successful than planned: The group had hoped to make 50 quilts but by the end of the fair, more than 130 had been sewn!

Unlike her mother, Daughter sews very well, thanks to her grandma's sound instruction over the years. Grandma would have been very proud to see her sewing this quilt from start to finish in just about three hours.

When my dad and I popped in to check on her during the sewing project, the quilting ladies promptly put us both to work pinning and unpinning quilts! They instinctively knew not to put me anywhere NEAR a sewing machine!

Daughter wanted to make a rainbow-colored quilt (no surprise there!) so she picked out fun fabrics in those colors. She stitched the 12 strips together, then pinned the layers together (front, batting, and back).

She sewed along the "gutters" between each strip of fabric, stitching the back to the front with a large zigzag quilting stitch.

Then she added a colorful border around the edges.

And the quilt was done!

We all thought this was a pretty neat way to spend an afternoon at the fair. :-)

Wordless Wednesday: Is your mama a llama?

Chicken Stylin' at the Iowa State Fair

I've been going to the Iowa State Fair for many, many years, but this is the first year I've seen the Chicken Washing & Blow-Drying demonstration. We watched several chickens being washed, then we got the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to blow-dry one of the chickens!

Surprisingly, chickens don't mind being washed and dried. In fact, I'd say it's MUCH easier to wash a chicken than a cat. But in reality, the only time you'd wash a chicken is if you were planning to show it in a contest. If you were a chicken farmer, you'd never pluck your chickens out of the hen house to give them a bath.

If you missed the Chicken Washing & Blow-Drying demonstration, don't despair! I took some careful notes.

First, dunk your chicken into a tub of warm water. Lather with Special Chicken Shampoo and then rinse the chicken in a second tub of clean water.

Immediately wrap your chicken in a towel. GENTLY squeeze the excess water from the feathers -- "gently" being the operative word here. You do not want to create chicken nuggets!

Then, with your hair dryer on the low/cool setting, begin to blow-dry your chicken. We were instructed to hold the dryer at an angle for maximum fluffage. That's Daughter pictured above, BTW. After her arm got tired, I took a turn blow-drying the chicken. (Okay, that's not quite true...I insisted on taking a turn!)

And this is the beautifully coiffed chicken -- all clean and fresh!

Now, what is it they say? "Winner, winner, chicken dinner!"

Sorry -- I couldn't resist! (NO OFFENSE, MRS. CHICKEN!)

Latest Fair Fashions

For the past several years, I've been monitoring sheep fashions at the Iowa State Fair. Spandex was popular for a few years but by last year it was all but gone, replaced by bulky canvas hooded suits. These suits were neither comfortable nor stylish for the sheep.

Well, I am delighted to report that spandex has made a comeback for the 2009 Iowa State Fair! Perhaps it has something to do with the somewhat retro fair theme this year, or maybe the sheep realized that these colorful suits are attractive and allow for self-expression.

Whatever the reason, I was happy to see spandex back in the sheep barn. Check out the latest patterns and colors:

Bright colors are all the rage! Gone are the camouflage patterns and flag motifs of the past (and really...how useful is a camouflage sheep suit anyway?). Notice the easy-fit leg holes and back opening which makes it easy for a sheep to discreetly "use the restroom" without having to disrobe. The form-fitting spandex shows off the physique and keeps the wool clean.

Watch for additional reports throughout the fair!