fair results, finally

I'm finally getting around to taking a picture of my fair entries.

I've been a little, shall we say, unfocused?

I've been a bit forlorn lately.  Empty nest, a job I REALLY don't like, overwhelming list of 'stuff' that needs to get done, end of summer with not enough accomplished.

The list goes on.

And then I got on the scale for the first time in MONTHS.  I knew it was gonna be bad, but holy cow.

Sigh...  I need someone to kick me in the behind, but I think that would just tick me off!

As if you guys want to hear my troubles!!!!  

See?  I got a best in class ribbon!  Of course I like my other denim rug better! 

The judges didn't seem to know what to think about my purses - the comments really didn't make alot of sense - I don't think they really realized what they were made out of...  Oh well!  I think they are cute.

The rug that got a blue, they thought was a little too "rustic" for their tastes, too.... I am so used to interview judging from 4-H, I really would have liked to be there to explain it all!  

What matters is that I got my feet wet again.  For so long it was all about the kids and their stuff.  Now it's my turn again!

My dear little guy who makes me laugh! 

He insisted - amazing how he communicates - that I take his picture, too.

Too bad he doesn't stay still long enough to not blur....

Oh my lord...

This is what my daughter brought home from her summer job...

If she'd had a truck and trailer, she woulda brought home a certain horse.

Not sure if that would have been better or worse than this thing...

Ferrets are interesting, but I sure am NOT having any inkling of wanting it to stay!

These things are hard to take pictures of - constant motion! 

Best of Class

Remember I had mentioned that I was taking some of my 'stuff' to the fair?

Went last night with my daughter- who is home for not quite 2 days between summer and school - and went in search to see my stuff displayed.  My sister had told me the ribbon results, so it wasn't all anticipation.

It took me awhile to find one of the rugs... went around the exhibit several times before finally finding it.

There was one that was displayed in the "Best of Class" area!

Too bad I couldn't tell which one of the denim rugs it was.  I wasn't impressed with the display.  The rugs were rolled up -   I think it was the dark to light rug...

That kinda irritated me - the whole reason I exhibited was to get the rugs out where people could SEE them!  I really don't care too much about what ribbon I get - I'm happy with my stuff whether others are or not :)

the end...

My childhood church was torn down this week...

As much loved as it was, it just didn't make economical sense to try to make it handicap accessible and more energy efficient.  It was cheaper to build new.  And in this small town of about maybe 40 - they did it.  And I don't think they have a mortgage. 

They tried to sell the building, and thought they had a taker, but the moving costs ended up putting a kabosh to the plan.   So it had to come down.

Here's one of the last pics taken while it was still standing.  Anything that could be salvaged, was. 

This is what I got...

I've got some ideas whirlin' around in my brain about what I might do with these windows. 

I had said I wanted at least one for myself, but I would take any that were left after the other church members had their pick.

Some are a little worse for wear, but I'll figure out something special for those!  May take me awhile to figure it out, but I've got time!

Out for a stroll....

This cow was out for a stroll today... When I got home from work, she was hanging out in a corner of my yard.

She was chillin' peacefully cause the rest of the herd was chillin' on the other side of the fence - where they were supposed to be-...

But when the rest of the girls got up and migrated off to the water hole, she got a little concerned and decided to look for a way back where she belonged.

That's when another cow showed up - I hadn't seen her!  She musta been snoozing in the tall grass.

I called the neighbor who they belong to, of course he was out of town and his wife said it wasn't her problem.  She couldn't do anything about it.

I guess she called my next door neighbor and conned him into figuring it out, cause he came out and helped me put them in.

Sigh...  what next?

Rug being woven out of flannel.  I acquired a large bolt of this material.  It's nice flannel, but has rather large dyeing flaws throughout the entire piece. 

Works for rugs tho!

And, see?  I'm getting some rugs made slow but sure...



A couple made out of my own personal bed blanket - the dog couldn't find a way to get to his tennis ball so, what the heck, I'll just chew a way to it - he thought!  Kind of cool rugs tho!


Also some nevergotroundtoit yardage rugs, and a couple more from another blanket...

Still not caught up with the prepared strips, so we're doing ok!

Heard from my sister - she got my stuff delivered to the fair for judging.  Now to wait for the results....

Where did the weekend go?

Wow!   Was that weekend short...

My Friday afternoon - which is considered weekend since I get off at noon - I drove East to attend a funeral.

When I got home at 6, I spent time at the shop prepared for our local Harvest Days.  Arranging, putting out the latest projects, and waiting on peeps to stop in.   Went home about 9, crawled into bed and crashed.

Saturday started bright and early.  We decided rather than haul stuff across the street to put under a canopy, we put the canopy on the sidewalk in front of the store.  Main focus was to get people INSIDE the store!

It worked!  Had a few signs on the canopy, and one of the girls with stuff in the store sat outside with her latest venture - Healthy chocolate - and encouraged people to come in.

It was a busy day!  Not huge sales, but the amount of people who now know we are there was unbelievable.
Over and over all day, locals would ask when we got the doors open... and they didn't believe us when we said it had been over a year and a half.   Makes a person wonder why you do any advertising.  And this is a town with only two blocks on main street - we are hoping the day will lead to more traffic in the future.

The free supper came - had a quick t-storm in the middle of it - and then I spent a couple hours doing the janitor job.  Cleanup from a wedding, had no choice.... Then home and crawled into bed and crashed.

Sunday was relatively quiet.  Church in the morning.   A couple of hours doing treasury work for the 4-H premium sale, and then a trip  West to deliver entries to the Brown County Fair - open class.   Actually to my sisters since she agreed to deliver the stuff tonite.

And now another week begins.  I hope things get easier-- Winter should slow down, unless there is alot of snow that I'll have to push.  I hope the heck not.

I've actually got a good roll of rugs building up on the loom.  Little by little I've been working on them.  Pictures of those will be coming soon!

So need to get caught up!

Here's a sampling of the textiles that are waiting to get processed into strips.  They are hanging out in my craft room until I can get to them - or I run out of finished strips to weave!

I've been doing a bit of weaving again this week.  Last week was pretty much worthless in regards to that.  Still don't have ALOT of time to weave, but at least I got a taste of it this week. 

I'm still doing catch up work on my house, 4-H events - (I'm the treasurer for the county leaders and also the livestock premium sale) getting rugs picked out to enter in the neighboring county fair, and other general stuff.

Today has been a day of wet - humid or rain.  This old girl who grew up in arid south dakota sure doesn't like this new climate we've got going on lately!

This was this morning before i left for work.

This was after work...  so humid my lens wouldn't stay clear.

After a quick wipe, here's what the skies are doing right now.  Heavy rain, then sun, then rain, then sun.

Hot icky sticky - I think we're even in  a tornado watch....

Weather... if ya didn't have that to talk about, what would ya talk about?


Maybe this?

I stepped on this fun little thing the other morning.  Woke me up nicely.  Not sure where that little gem came from!  I'm good tho... my boosters are up to date - I checked! 

new weavers projects

Kristen wove a 50 inch rug and then did some folding and sewing to make a bridle holder for her horse trailer.  Her new storage item keeps the bridles from swaying and getting all scraped up when the trailer is in motion.  It was a great idea!

And here is James with his rug.. Notice his left hand... He had a cast on his arm from a fall from his sister's horse.  Still managed to weave his rug and have fun doing it!   We did go ahead and have him weave long headers so he could hem the edges.  We thought it might  be kinda hard to tie fringe knots one handed....

They both qualified for the state fair with their projects- I think I had as much fun as they did!

What I did today

Today, on this hot, muggy, icky sticky day,  I drove for an hour to take Buzz to the chiropractor.

Since her little incident with the hole, she has been getting progressively more stiff around her neck and shoulders.

Did you know there was such a thing as a horse chiropractor?

When we got there she was very tense and warm... wet with sweat from the haul.  We put her in a stall to chill out while Randy worked on another horse.

This girls' horse was kinda sore all over.  She is a barrel racer - barrel racing is very physically demanding on a horses muscles and joints.  While he worked on this mare, he was giving suggestions for her to help her horse stay more comfortable.  Types of exercises and warm up techniques. 

And then it was Buzz's turn.  She was at first apprehensive, because this guy she didn't know started touching her everywhere.... pinching, and probing and even jerking sometimes. 

But then Randy got to the point where he felt she was at the right place, and he adjusted her neck.  Her eyes got wide, and then just like that, she let out a huge sigh of relief.  After that, she was like putty in his hands.  She could tell he was helping her.

He worked her from top to bottom, front to back.  There was more than a few times when I could hear popping noises as he moved her.

She started all tense and sweaty, and within an hour, she was relaxed and dry.  Calm enough to have a snack-

She hung out there for a couple of hours while I did some college supply shopping with my son. 

She happily loaded in the trailer and got home just fine.

I'm always amazed at the difference that Randy can make in a horse.  He can feel where they hurt, and then help them.

A day well spent making my girly feel better!

Finished Project

Not my project, but it's mine now!
This is the frame that my son refinished and exhibited in 4-H this year.

Who knows where this frame came from.   It's been hanging around forever...

He stripped what little original finish that remained, sanded and stained, then put coats of danish oil until he ran out of time.

Then a mirror, dust cover on the back and a hanging wire and, ta da!

I've got a new mirror.

He said it's mine now :)

PS  After giving up on finding the camera I'd misplaced and digging out another one that had been giving me problems and figuring that one out again -- the other one showed up in my car...

See- things always show up when you've replaced the original, or gone with plan B!  So now I have two that are working...

teaser

Remind me tomorrow to show you a picture of this old frame as it looks now...

bed slug

I soooo want to stay home and be a bed slug with Cooper today!

Between the day job, the janitor job, 4-H Achievement Days and daily 'stuff',  I am dragging BUTT.

The loom has been on vacation this week...

4-H Achievement Days

Today was the first Achievement Days entry/judging day in 14 years that I've missed.  Too soon at the new job to get the days off. 

It's my son's last year, he's graduating out in September.  He finished up his projects last night.  That is not a typical scenario for us.  Usually we have everything done except for minor details like exhibit cards and maybe a quick little fix left.  NOT like this year.  He had only 3 exhibits entered.  Two photos he had taken when he was in Washington DC at National 4-H Conference and a refinished frame that he put a mirror in.


As of 9 PM last night, the photos were still on the camera card, and the mirror was not in the frame.  The mirror is a whole 'nuther story!  Ever hear of a 'clear' mirror?  I ordered the mirror over the phone and had a friend pick it up.  It's a 60 mile drive to this store - one way.  When it got here and we opened up the paper - it sure 'nuf looked like glass to me.  NOT mirror.  Quick call, and a store that made it right - we had an actual mirror in our hands by noon Tuesday.

And then there was the hard rubber cement.  Had to go on bended knee to the neighbors and beg some to mount the photos.... Ack!  maybe it's a good thing I don't have anyone left to keep on the straight and narrow!   Alls well that ends well - he ended up with the top Home Environment exhibit with the frame/mirror and two photos that qualified also to go to state fair.

I enjoyed seeing the rugs that were made on my loom there.  They ended up pretty dang nice.  I'm hoping to catch them both to get a picture sometime this week.

All for now-  I did get some fun news this past week... I won the loom giveaway from Crazy as a Loom!!!!  I'm going to be getting a Hip to be Square Loop Loom in the near future -  can't wait!  Hilary is the greatest :)

Creators Block

I've got a blockage - in my creative center...

I've got these bags/totes that need handles.

But I just can't find the "right" ones. 

Either it's not the right color, or the style, or it just plain doesn't happen.  I've got alot to pick from!

That's the deal with these puppies.  It's gonna happen or it doesn't. 

Can't force it...

It could be my mood, or it could be the materials I have on hand, but I might as well put it all away for now.

These things are fun to make when it all falls into place, but exceedingly frustrating when it's not!

Still lost

I still can't find my camera.  It's really bugging me.  I remember putting it around my neck when I came home from uptown.  Nothing after that.

Maybe what I've lost is my mind.

I know I've lost my... oh, I don't know what to call it.... my mojo? my drive?  ?

Sundays are hard for me.  Home alone.  All the stuff I need to do staring me in the face. 

I can't even bring myself to go outside and see my horses.  I think I'm a little depressed.

This last year I've had some major disappointments and I'm trying to find my way to my new reality. 

I've been forced to detour, and I feel like the road I'm on is a muddy, rutty, crappy dirt road.  And my four wheel drive just ain't workin' very well.

I've got no map and what route to take is iffy. 


I keep reminding myself to just keep moving until I find my way.

So today I'm focusing on working on some purses.  I've got the bag parts all woven, I just have to do some fringe tying and handle finding.  That's what I'm gonna do.

And maybe that dang camera will decide to show itself.