Off to the fair

After a leisurely breakfast in bed, DH and I decided to go to the Washington County Fair. We are lucky enough to access to 3 different county fairs, and an hour's drive takes us to the State Fair. And we do love going to the fair.

My hair is long enough to put in braids, and I'm into my medium jeans, so I went all country. Perfect weather for a day at the fair. Warm, not hot, and sunny.

First stop was Bob's Reptile World. The tortise shells are works of art. The two on the far right got into a shoving match and the big guy naturally won. He pulled his head all the way back and exposed a y-shaped prow on his under shell, that he used like a battering ram. I had no idea a tortise could be so fierce!

Then we toured the sheep barns. Here are a flock of Ku Klux Lambs.

Trying to explain why the sheep are coated, to someone who doesn't know that people can make wool into yarn, is a real struggle. Don't know if the lady ever really got the concept.

It was a slow and drowsy time of the day, no shows, after the morning stall cleaning, and before feeding time. Everyone was catching naps.

You rest your head where you can.

Even if you can't really lie down properly.

After the sheep barn, we looked at the draft horses. There are still some farmers who keep and work draft horses as a hobby. They are such beautiful. beautiful animals. Here's a Shire foal getting a little mid-morning snack.

From the horses, we passed on to the cow barn, then to the "Arts" building with the sweaters and pickles and sewing. This string quilt blew me away. What a LOT of work!! Waste not, want not.

The grand prize winner was this crocheted dragon. I was impressed.

Then we toured the Master Gardener's display plots. I had to take a photo of the bog garden because there's something kind of cool about plants that eat bugs.

And then my camera battery died. But we carried on. We had lunch. I got a grilled turkey leg. It was delicious! Slightly smokey and moist and grease-free. YUM! We toured the vendor's booths, and managed to resist magnetic anti-arthritus bracelets, mink oil skin conditioner, sham-wow cloths, and the plethora of great ideas that people try to sell to make a living.

After the fair, we passed a farmer's market on the way home. We stopped. We shopped. Sweet onions and fresh romaine lettuce and a bag of kettle corn winkled some dollars out of our wallets.

Again we headed home. Again we led ourselves astray. The Portland Saturday Market is a long-standing success story where various artisans sell their wares. The booths have progressed over the years from a few card-tables huddled under the Burnside Bridge to a good-sized village of pop-up tents with professional display racks and beautifully made goods. The quality of the things for sale was way beyond the tat at the fair. The fifteen-year-old daughter of a friend of ours makes "Greetings from the Garden" She makes her own paper using flower petals, then presses and dries whole flowers and arranges them artfully on the handmade paper, and uses pre-made card stock to make really lovely blank cards and book-marks!
I had to have some. I remember this kid when she was a rosey-cheeked babe in arms, and now she's a successful young entepreneur. And a beautiful young woman to boot!

So finally, finally, we wandered on home. and I still had time to sew a few seams on the big quilt.

MJ and I made the back just a bit larger than the front, so we could layer the back, batt and front together, then turn up the edges all around to make a binding I like the effect and it's so much easier than wrasselling the turn on a queen-sized quilt. Anyhow, my presser foot doesn't like sewing over batting. It gets caught and tripped up constantly.

Now I have to make 149 knots to tie it every five inches, and it will be done. I'm quite pleased with this one. The light and dark checkerboard went much faster than I expected it to.