Fall randomness

here are a couple random photos I took at the fair:



I seriously love this pink tractor!



Forget the pony rides at the fair, my boys rode the camel :)  While they were enjoying the ride, I spotted this fantastic sign hanging on the fence:



it makes me chuckle every time I read it :)

ever since I tried chocolate covered bacon at the fair {heavenly!}, I have been wanting to bake brownies with bacon in them.  Have you ever tried this?

Speaking of baking, I tried making pumpkin lasagna.  It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either.  It kind of left me wanting it to be better, because you could tell it had the potential, know what I mean?  Melting some butter onto the pumpkin layers when I reheated it helped, maybe that is all the original recipe is missing to be fantastic.  {is there anything butter doesn't make better?}  Not sure if I will try again to make it better, since I'm the only one in the house who will eat it.

Now that fall is here, have pumpkins invaded your kitchen, too?   If you have any good pumpkin recipes, I'd love it if you share.  I'm on the lookout for some new ones :)

I'm linking up to Random Thursday!

Deerfield fair 2013 / fresh sewing day

Can it be that the Deerfield Fair has come and gone so quickly? 

Most of the things I entered have been on the blog before: Rainbow Geese, Sashiko Pillow, Baby Hungry Caterpillar, and Improve Curves Table Runner all won blue {1st place} ribbons.  The only needlecraft item I entered that hasn't been on the blog before is also somehow the only thing I didn't get a picture of.  You'll just have to trust me that it also got a blue ribbon  ;)       {when I get it back I'll take pictures and post it properly.  In the meantime, you can admire the pink tractor instead}

Underneath the red second place ribbon up there in the collage is a plate of pumpkin biscotti.  Lesson learned - baking in the dark while trying a brand new recipe for a competition probably won't get you a blue ribbon, but the results are still good dipped in coffee.  ;)

My boys brought home their fair share of ribbons, too.  Son #1 earned a 2nd and 3rd for his photographs, son #2 earned a 1st for his pumpkin face and a 2nd for his snickerdoodle cookies, and son #3 earned a 1st for his pumpkin face and a 1st for his peanut butter cookies.

The four of us got our fried Oreo fix, and I found a new food love - chocolate covered bacon.  Oh my, it was heavenly!

random 10/11/12

 

The other day I took my boys to the park, and all the lamp posts had knit cozies on them!?

 

 



 

 



 

I just had to share the strangeness with you :)

 

 

I have one more picture to share from the Deerfield Fair.  See that pumpkin with the trophy next to it?  It weighed 1843.5 pounds, a world record acording to the sign. {!}

And the cooler fall temps were made a little nicer this week by the first eggnog and cranberries of the year :)

I'm linking up to Really Random Thursday

Go ahead and share some randomness from your own life in the comments if you like :)



the Fair has come & gone again :)

So, are you all wondering which way I finally hung my little 'plus' wall hanging?  :)
Well, I decided I wanted to hang it so the long side was horizontal, but that still left two options, so I just turned it over & sewed on the sleeve.  I honestly don't remember which way it ended up.  It was late on the last night I had to sew before my iteams had to go to the fair, so it was a 'get it done or forget it' moment.  A whole year of indesicion lead up to a just do it moment - I guess the lesson here is stop obsessing and make a decision already, hehe.

And after all that, this is how it was displayed at the Fair,

laid on a counter with other stuff partly on top of it.  Which doesn't bother me, I'm happy there are so many quilting entries that space is a bit cramped.  But I am now officially done sewing on hanging sleeves for the fair.  They don't use them to display the quilts, even though it is supposed to be a requirement. 

I didn't put a sleeve on my Happy Mochi DP, and it didn't seem to be a problem.

BTW, there is a blue ribbon on both my quilts!  I love hunting through the fair displays to see if I have won a ribbon :)

I wasn't the only one in the family to earn ribbons!  This pumpkin was painted by my youngest, and won a blue :)  It is supposed to be Mike from Monsters Inc.

Son #2 painted a pumpkin self portrait, with a mushtache & beard :)  He also won a blue ribbon :)

My oldest entered two photos, and won a third place and a second place ribbon :)

I also got an Honorable Mention for a jar of strawberry jam, my first time canning :)  Last June, my Mom came over to teach me how.  I hope I'll be able to make some apple jelly this fall - that is, if the rain ever stops so we can go pick some apples.

Add in some fried oreos, apple crisp, lots of animals, and a pony ride & it was a good trip to the Fair, even if it did rain all day :)  In a way, I'm glad it did.  My boys were so well behaved and never complained about the cold and damp - I'm so proud of them!  If it had been sunny & perfect, I wouldn't have had this chance to see how they are growing up into mature young men :)

Then of course, we went home and promptly got sick.  Oh well :)

This was the mystery prize that made it's way to Cindy of Tops to Treasures.  It is four prints on one yard of fabric, with handy-dandy dotted lines to cut them apart on.  In blue and grey.  I'm gravitating toward these colors lately, not sure why, I just feel the need to stash them.  And spread them around, aparently. :)

Small Blog Meet-up & Fresh Sewing Day, Fair Edition

Hello Everybody!  Happy Saturday Morning to my lovely followers, and any sweet people hopping over from Lily's Quilts today!  I'm so glad you are here :)

I know these are two different link-ups, but I'm going to quickly mash them both together in one post because 1) my coffee is getting cold and my applecider doughnut is in serious danger of being snitched while I'm not looking and 2) I'm in a hurry to get back to the Fair between rainclouds today.

*Before reading any further, there is something you should know about me.  I'm completely obsessed with The Deerfield Fair*

If you are ever in New Hampshire the last weekend of September, go.  You'll thank me  :)

Do you have a fair near you that you love?

This year I entered a quilt and a quilted bag.

This is the beast that I've been franticly basteing & quilting lately. All those problems while I was under deadline.  Because why would I enter a quilt that was actually finished before entry forms had to be turned in? {did I mention I'm a procrastinator?} Yes, that is a blue ribbon hanging from it!  Yay for me! 

This quilt is lap-sized, and headed to my sister-in-law.  We struck up a deal awhile ago.  She wallpapered my kitchen, I made her a quilt. 

Remember this?

My little shopping tote got a blue ribbon, too!  And unlike the quilt, I didn't have to finish it at the last minute.  Maybe I'll try making my entries in advance for next year :)  {probably not}

would you indulge a proud Mama for a minute?

There is a pumpkin faces competition for the kids, which my three boys entered.  These two are Santa Clause and Obi-Won Kanobe.  {I wonder what spell check would do if I asked it to check my Star Wars spellings? :) }

And this is Yoda {displayed backwards. he really does have a face on the other side.}

All three of my boys earned blue ribbons!  {three of my nephews also entered pumpkins and earned blues}

It has been a great Fair year, despite the rain trying to wash us away this weekend.  And luckily, my sons are as die-hard about the Fair as I am, so they are willing to risk it.