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Warren County Fair 2012

Knitted outfit

This year I entered 19 items and received 17 ribbons. The 1st place ribbons were for the white knitted American Girl Doll dress , poncho, hat and gloves; a crocheted Barbie bridal gown, hat and basket; a dress with a pinafore and purse (that also won Best in Show!) for an AG doll; a hand-knitted sweater, hat and mittens for Alex; a pink crocheted afghan for Maggie; an afghan-stitch crocheted purse; a yellow crocheted doily; a pair of crocheted bear slippers for Alex; pink crocheted booties; a white/silver crocheted bookmark that Emma took home; and our Good Times scrapbook.

Crocheted Barbie gown

AG doll outfit.

Alex's sweater, hat and mittens

Maggie's afghan

Second place ribbons were for the eucalyptus swag, six crocheted coasters and a crocheted ladybug backpack I made for Alex. Third place ribbons were for the three crocheted potholders and a cross-stitched picture of Santa.

The Angry Bird hat didn't win! That was a surprise. I was told that the judges didn't even considered it for judging because they didn't feel that a teenager would even want to wear it! My granddaughter was very happy to take it home and she can't wait for cold weather to wear it to school.

I have already started making things for next year's fair.  Emma's afghan is almost finished and, like Maggie's, I've incorporated her name into the afghan.

Warren County Fair 2011

The Warren County Fair was held while I was away in Florida with Kara and the girls. I had everything packed and labeled so Jimmy could take them out and get them entered. I was holding my breath until I got a phone call from him saying everything went off without a hitch. Whew!

The "Best of Show" ribbon was won (plus 1st place) for the raincoat, hat, bag and dog I made for the American Girl doll. I had also tried to make a green "pleather" raincoat and hat, but that



stuff is MURDER to try to sew! Never again. I'll stick to real fabric. The little bag also has a small spiral bound pad and a "toothpick" pencil. Her umbrella is a circle of fabric with toothpick "spokes" that I gathered and tied to a thin dowel rod with a wooden bead at the top. It can't be opened, but looked so cute with the raincoat. The dress beneath the coat is pretty blue/yellow/white flowers. I used that same fabric as the trim on the coat.


The other AG doll outfit was a knitted poncho, skirt, top, mittens, boots
hat, and messenger bag. The yarn for the skirt, mittens, boots and hat was turquoise and the yarn for the poncho was a brown/turquoise variegated. Maggie and Emma were excited to know that they would be getting the outfits after the fair! This doll's bag also had a little notebook and "pencil".


The afghan was a beautiful shade of royal blue and it took me FOREVER to get it crocheted. It had several different stitches - popcorn, cables, zigzags - and I had to rip it out several times because I'd look at it and see that 4 rows below, or so, had a mistake! Rats!! I was happy that it won a 2nd place ribbon but I really, really thought it was a 1st place winner. Even Kara's friend (who won 1st) thought it was going to be the winner. Rats, again!

These were just three of the 16 items I had made. I received 16 ribbons, plus the "Best of Show" ribbon. The money prizes totaled about $47. I'll never be rich but I enjoy making things.

2010 Warren County Fair

This year's Best In Show was an outfit for the AG doll (whose name happens to be Emma!) A friend had given me a piece of fabric with large lavender/purple flowers on it and I found a matching solid lavender remnant in my fabric box. I put together this cute dress and jacket and made a slip to go under it and, voila! Another prize winner.

The other Blue ribbon winners were a crocheted gown for a 11" fashion doll, a doily, crocheted baby socks and mittens, a scrapbook of Jimmy and me before kids came along, a green/white crocheted purse, a crocheted hat for Emma (the g'daughter, not the doll), a pair of thread crocheted baby booties, 3 crocheted potholders. The Red ribbon winners were a crocheted horse for Alex and a yellow crocheted "pineapple" bookmark. The White ribbon winners were for a crocheted afghan and 2 green/white crocheted hot mats. The x-stitched covered bridge didn't win anything. Sigh....

Next year, I think I'll try to add some knitted items. Maybe I'll also try to do some more "one-stroke" painting. I won for that several times in the past. The next scrapbook will be the one I'm making now for Alex.

Here are a few of the knitted items I made for the AG dolls for my g'daughters. I found the patterns on the internet and used up a lot of leftover yarns. The first outfit isn't knitted, of course, it's sewn and I added some embroidery. I think I'll do embroidery on the one of the legs, too.

My Little Crafter

Our 42nd wedding anniversary is tomorrow, September 23. Yesterday Emma disappeared upstairs for a few minutes before her mother came to pick them up. She came back down with a card she had made for us.

Using the Cricut, she cut out the champagne glass and glued it to the front of a card that she had covered with patterned paper. Inside she wrote:

Happy Anavirsry, Love Emma and Maggie.

She also drew a heart with red pen. And to top it all off, she applied one of her "Handmade by Emma" stickers to the back.

This is one of the anniversary cards I'll be sure to keep.

The 2009 County Fair

I took fifteen items to the Warren County fair this year. When I went back to get them, I had my granddaughter Emma with me. We were picking the things up before church, so we had to get in, get them, and get back before Sunday School started.

I was pretty sure the crocheted Barbie gown would get a blue ribbon and I was right. The doll was over on the "Best of Show" table with another hugh rosette ribbon. The judges liked the crocheted umbrella and the fact that the doll was wearing pantaloons. I worked a long time on that outfit. I'm already trying to decided which pattern I'll make for next year. What the heck and I going to do with all the dolls?

The other first place winners were a cross-stitch picture of an old barn and antique car that I had used an old wooden tray as the frame; a dress and apron for an 18" (American Girl) doll; a crocheted bear (black) wearing a crocheted dress and hat (green); an 8x8 scrapbook "Our Family", that has pictures and notations of all our ancestors; a crocheted "Betty Boop" potholder; a crocheted doily; a crocheted pocketbook; a "Pumpkin Queen" centerpiece.

Second place winners were the painted box (Donna Dewberry "One Stroke" painting); a blue crocheted and beaded bookmark and a crocheted hooded sweater with mittens for Alex. The third place winner was a Spring grapevine wreath.

After church, when I got home, I wanted to lay them out on the table and take pictures. (I'll post them here after I get them uploaded) After getting everything out of the boxes, I realized I was missing two items! A cross-stitch advent calendar and a fabric teddy bear. Yikes! Were the fair people still there? Would I get there in time? Would someone hold them for me???

Kara, the girls and I rushed back to the fair building and yes, they were still there! Thank Goodness. I hurried inside and found they were just about ready to leave. There were my two missing items - the advent calendar (no ribbon!!!) and the fabric teddy bear with a "BEST IN SHOW ribbon!! They told me it was sitting with all the other "Best in Show" entries, didn't I see it when I picked up the Barbie doll? Well, obviously no!

When Emma and I had gone before church, she was Chatty Cathy and I was trying to find all my entries and listen to her at the same time. It's pretty well established that I can't do both! She even said later that she saw the advent calendar and thought it was theirs, but since I didn't get it, she figured it wasn't the one they had. Any other time, she would have said "Nanny! Is that the one you made for us?" But, not this time. This time she decided to stop talking.