Ag Fair 2022

Clara and I are snuggled up on the couch after a day’s adventure to the Agricultural Society Fair at GCVM. The weather is absolutely beautiful for the event. I met sheep dogs with their own salsa and watched geese that seemed to be dancing to the music. Really. And, Clara won ribbons.

Yup.

Clara won ribbons.

Okay. Not in the traditional sense of Clara going and strutting her stuff. She entered items for the blue ribbon contest…. all cat themed items:

First is the little cat pen wiper made based on several original cat pen wipers. This tiny cat is made of wool with a little ball of yarn to play with.

Next is a playful cat needle-book based on directions for a cat needle-book that also had a pocket for a packet of needles. While the original was shown in black and inked, Clara’s version is while wool that was hand inked.

Last is a playful cat themed pocket. The black cat is appliqued on with an embroidered ball of yarn to play with. The asymmetrical pocket is quilted with radiating stripes from behind the cat.

I had several other cat items in mind…. So…. Maybe next year…..

I had two goals this year. One was to feature the items I made at events during the year. This would give regular visitors a chance to see finished items they saw me working in during the year. I specifically told some visitors to come back to see the finished items. Second, was to do some personal challenge items. I only managed to complete one of these, with the other waiting in pieces and the other, other in planning. This was due to my rough start to the school year being accented by straining my wrist. Details or quilting and a wrist brace don’t work well together. 🤔 I guess this means next year’s entries are already started.

The first event project of the year was dressing a doll with one of GCVM’s new reproduction kerchiefs. I made the doll and cut the dress pieces ahead of time. Then, I dress the doll during the event.

For Chocolate Weekend, I made Bon Bon Baskets. While I previously made two Bon Bon Dolls, I was thrilled to see a nineteenth century article about making bon bon baskets from straw. These baskets are made from the same straw plait I make my bonnets from. They are decorated with cornflowers and poppies as described in the article.

Neighbors Weekend was Pocket Weekend for me. I had been making pockets thought the year for a pocket and pocket contents based interpretation. Among my pocket fascination were two that were entered. First, is my favorite of this year: my Squirrel Pocket. I am super excited with how this came together. The design is an adaption of a 1772 pocket design shared on The Lady’s Magazine (1770-1819): Patterns of Perfection.

The second pocket has a far less cool story in that it is just one of the many I made and happened to fit the category while being easily accessible and not in use. This pocket is pieced diagonal stripes. I like the look of the Vs on pockets. I tend to over engineer my pockets as I want them to last a very long time.

This next entry is complicated, two fold. First, it’s event hasn’t happened yet. In fact, the topic and event haven’t been officially paired up yet. Second, I actually made 3 items as a single entry. In my planning, it was a sample of sewing cases: a silk, a cotton, a linen, each of a different style. I suspect I created a judging nightmare. The top right, bottom right with the brown ribbon, and the linen with red tape are mine. I also must have screwed up somewhere. I had charted out my entries so Clara and I would not be in the same category. (Yes, I really made a spreadsheet.)

This entry is the one that doesn’t fit either goal/focus. I just thought they were too cute not to enter. And, they kinda made up for what I didn’t get done. These heart frames are copies of an original I found at a local antique shop. The shop was in transition, which could have meant a sad end to this handmade piece. I would love to find their original directions, assuming they had a print sounce rather than unpublished imagination, which is also possible. These frames work up easily with basic Fanciful Utility techniques. They would be very cute as ornaments.

My final entry of this post was the one that took nearly the whole year. This was one of my originally planned personal challenge items. I wanted to do a millinery piece using fancy, decorative straw elements of my own. Original bonnets used horsehair as the foundation for such fancy work. Rather than use such a large amount of synthetic horsehair, I opted for similarly fine sinmay for the brim. I was pleased with it as a foundation at first but found as I work that it buckled. In the future, I will use it in narrower strips or mold it longer on the block. I am super pleased with the little straw leaves and straw spirals. This bonnet will get a bavolet and ribbons to be worn in the coming year or be a display brag piece.

As I mentioned above, my incomplete items, including those I didn’t even get past the parts for, are already on my 2023 entries list. I have a millinery piece and a sentimental piece in mind. The latter is one I had intended to pull off years ago but things keep happening.

Then there is the project that got started this morning. Quite impromptu. A certain feline did not understand it was Saturday morning and I desperately needed to sleep in. 😴 I got up and it is entirely possible I was sleep painting……

I almost forgot I wanted to include this photo in this post. This summer, I got one of my trunks out of storage. Inside was some of my very first Agricultural Society Fair ribbons. I earned the big one for penmanship when I was 5.