07 | October | 2013 | If I Had My Own Blue Box:

How Lily & I did

I’ll start with how Lily did at the Ag Fair. Because… let’s be honest, this pig is just too cute:

This pig, one of three photographs she entered in the adult categories, won a blue ribbon. She also entered a really nifty fungus photo and a black and white architecture photo. For some reason, I just couldn’t get a clear shot of this photo. My apologies for this shot:

Lily also received a blue ribbon for her candied flowers. I can tell you they were tasty.

On to me. I can say this was my worst Ag Fair. I knew leading up to the fair that I didn’t have the entries I wanted to enter finished. Okay, in some cases even started. I also knew I was going to try some categories I hadn’t entered before. Then, the week before came this stupid cough that turned into a nasty cough accompanied by muscle exhaustion and a fever by the time of the fair. So, here I am at the fair on Sunday as the humidity crept up and the temperature crept up, utterly over heating. This makes for a cranky me.

As far as those new entries go… I tried pickles. They turned out to be strong enough to knock one on their bottom with just one bite. So, these did not get entered. This was much to my husband’s delight, as he started taking them for lunch as soon as I said they weren’t going. (I suppose I could have taken a photo of the half eaten crock.)

I also tried my hand at shrub. To me, a shrub needs to do its job of keeping someone hydrated and have a strong fruit flavor. I don’t like super sweet drinks in the summer heat. The sweetness just turns my off. So, my shrub is a cherry & peach done with red wine vinegar and honey. A tablespoon to a glass of water works nicely for me. It did not win a ribbon though. I was able to taste the blue ribbon shrub. It was light and sweet, almost like candy. I think it would make a nice winter, holiday time drink with more of a 1:1 ratio of syrup to water. She used the recipe on the museum’s blog. (btw – Mom called Sunday night saying I forgot my shrub in her canned goods box and hoped I didn’t mind that they were drinking most of it.)

The other category new to me was one of the non-clothing quilting projects. This piece is part of the memorial & commemorative project I’ll be coordinating over the next year or so. This memorial applique is taken from the center of a memorial quilt. Now that the fair is over, I’ll be adding the initials of family members in the open space. (I hadn’t thought about it until I was there on Sunday; but it is interesting that the first quilt project I enter is a memorial one while Grandma had been a quilter there.)

I entered a drawn bonnet in the “non-corded clothing” category. This is the “Peppermint” bonnet I was working on at the end of the summer. I guess the advantage of it winning a red ribbon instead of a blue is now I won’t feel bad about selling it. (btw – It is available on Etsy right now.)

I entered Dan’s wallet in the sewing “Domestic article” category. You should see the very awesome tiny piece that won in this category. (It will be in my favorites post.)