Kentucky State Fair

You know when it's hot outside it's time for the fair, at least in Kentucky it is. Our state fair is always in mid August and it never fails to amuse.

Of course their are quilts and always questions about the judging. You should develop a thick skin if you want to enter anything in any competition and fairs are no different. Please forgive the vocal critics that are unaware that you are the creator of the quilt she has just ripped her comments off without thinking, because you know she didn't win a ribbon...smile...

Kentucky is all about horses and thanks to the limestone in the landscape, we have some of the most beautiful.

There is also a section call "The Pride of the Counties". One such county offers lots of caves to explore. Don't you just love their display?

The animlas on display today were rabbits, rooters, pigeons and goats.This is a judging session of the goats. It's really pretty important to these kids, because it can mean college scholarships. I had a friend that got a full ride to the Univeristy of Kentucky because she got a 4-H scholarship.

One of the traditions of the fair is the Ugly Lamp Contest, these are a couple of the entries. Only in Kentucky can you win a ribbon for a tractor. Yeah Kentucky!

Quilter's are so smart...

Quilter's are smart and fun people ready to hop on board a fabric project. Certainly we don't lay around all day or are quick to snap, "What do you want?"I find women (mainly-it's still our world) that are drawn to quilting are engineers of all sorts. You must be a mechanical engineer to put together quilts. You must be an electrical engineer to operate a computer and a sewing machine. You must be a civil engineer to layout and survey all your fabrics and patterns. All in all just a well rounded group. We like to be left alone. The fun part comes when we speak quilter with like minded, smart, fun folks.

Lookin Back at my weigh ins...

Back when I first started my blog, I thought I needed to lose weight. Not just me personally, but, with my fabric closet as well. We both were full to over loaded. So, instead of embarrassing myself with my scale numbers in my www face, I chose to hold up a basket containing fabric/projects I need to finish. Check out this earlier post where I hold it up and show my weight at 236 lbs. This contains fabric and flab. So, now I'm going to show you how much fabric/flab I've lost. Yep, it's down to 208! Oh I wish I could say that was all flab I lost, but, alas it's some fabric too. Then again that was the goal and motivation which I did succeed at so it is a win in my book. Yeah Julie!

As I'm sure most of you know, if you click on the labels following a post, you can bring up all those items that relate to the current post you are reading. That is, if I'm doing my blog job well and am trying to keep these things organized. Ah the joys of using the gray matter....smile...

Over to the lower right you can see the 2 quilts I've finished that were in that pile in my basket that I started at the beginning of the year. The Country at Heart and Chelsea's Fat Quarter Quilt were in the basket. The Bloomin' Rose was another quilt I finished. I also managed to quilt a kingsize quilt for a friend and work on some embroidery also.

I love this to do list gadget. It never lets me forget what needs to be done and it also reminds me just how much I have accomplished. That's sometimes hard for me and it's nice to see that wow, I really have been busy.

I wish I had itemized the things in my ufo basket, when I first had this bright idea. But, here goes with the remainder of item "to do" in my basket.

These 2 quilt tops are complete and need to be quilted. One is an African Coin the other is called Kitchen Roosters.

I thought I needed a patriotic quilt so I made this Old Glory quilt larger. I've got the fabric and lots of blocks in the basket.

So here I am with my basket in hand and a couple of quilts out and done. Sorry about the fuzzy picture, it's kinda hard to hold a basket that weighs 100 lbs and then weigh myself...snicker...smile...I wish.

What I'm planning to do today...

It occurs to me I can use this blog as something of a glorified to do list. On this list can be pictures and an easy way to collect information about a project to be done-the Internet is the best source for all things informational. That being said, I'm off today to help set up my youngest daughter's new apartment. She is out of the dorm for the the first time and we are off to Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA. She is attending Western Kentucky University in order to study geology. I think this must be a great program in the field of geology, because there are numerous caves and formations in our area to be studied. Also, the potential for study abroad is pretty good through this school. My daughter did an internship in NYC recently, for which she was paid. The paying part seems to be the bonanza amongst internships. Not to mention study in NYC as well.

Quilting Tip: Iron all your fabric before you cut it, this increases accuracy.

Finished quilting Mary's quilt...

Well I finished quilting a king size quilt for my friend. Mary's Bloomin' Rose quilt from our signature block group exchange. I hope she likes it.

Movie review: The Bourne Ultimatum is pretty good. Lot's of action and government conspiracy type things going on, which my husband likes and oh you know that's probably real...smile...the editing will probably be up for an academy award.

Book review: Middlesex-it's an Oprah book club selection...enough said. Or at least it is to me, good but, something of a downer-but good.

Quilting notion/tool review: The Alto's Quilt Cut-if you love piecing, and you have room for it to stay out all the time, it's a great gadget to have. It cuts multiple layers of fabric easily and efficiently. Check out their website for a demo.

The racoons are happy to see us.

The raccoons are happy we are back and I suspect the birds are as well, although I don't have any great pictures of them. These are 2 babies at the bird feeder, mom is down below on the deck.

We've been away visiting Washington D.C.and while there we visited the Daughters of the American Revolution's museum. Each state is responsible for putting together a historic room with representations of a period in their history.

This is a picture of George Rogers Clark, the man whose home in retirement, Locust Grove, our quilt group visited a couple of weeks earlier. That is Kentucky's entry for the museum. This man was quite a paintable man as I've seen a variety of portraits of him. The last one is hung at Locust Grove and it is a picture of a not very happy man. Also hung there is him as a young fellow accepting surrender of the British after a battle.

Now I've got to get busy and finish quilting a quilt for my friend Mary, who has always supported our little quilt group in the most exemplary way. She just listens and helps out when she sees a need and for that I'm truly grateful. She's also been pretty sick with pneumonia and we have all been keeping her in our thoughts and prayers. I believe she is on the mend and look forward to getting back to my regular life with my girls safe and at home...for now...sigh.

Whew...we made it...smile.

Nothing much quilty in this post. Albeit a wonderful time. We were able to rescue our youngest daughter, Chelsea from the big city, of which she has fallen in love...woes us...no smile...

I shouldn't say that, it's not so bad. We spent our trip going in and out and up and down a series of tunnels and trains and being chased by monsters and meteorites. Yes, for a short while our girl lived a fairy tale life.



But, don't despair, the horses there don't look like our beautiful ones in Kentucky.

The history and lovely sights in our nations capitol were a great thing to share with both our daughters. As mom looks funny beside her gazelles and remembers when she was young...smile