My Latest Creations!

My latest creations and additions (some soon-to-be additions) to my Etsy store:

Wednesday's Child - A Fair Experience

Last week sometime, Bev called me up and wanted to know if I had anything to enter in the Jasper County Fair. I hadn’t really thought about it. After all, I entered something about 20 years ago, hadn’t I? Wasn’t that one time enough? Apparently it wasn’t enough for Bev. When I told her I didn’t have anything good enough to show, she wheedled me with flattery saying how good I am at crochet and how I should be teaching a crochet class, and couldn’t I just look around for something to enter?

Didn’t she understand, only an ARTIST is worthy enough to show their work? I’m not an artist, I just crochet. Most of what I crochet is someone else’s design or someone else’s pattern. Someone else fretted, counting every stitch she made. Someone else toiled over every pattern note she penned. Only an artist sweats the small stuff, deserving to show their work and win the glory. What Bev probably does not realize is I tend to give everything away. There isn’t anything I have made lying around. But, she did apparently know my weakness! All someone has to do is tell me they like what I made, and it’s theirs instantly! Money is no object!! Flattery is the only payment I need to part with an item, no matter its cost to me. I decided then I would scrounge around for something to show at the county fair!

On Friday, Bev came to pick me up for the fair. I dashed out the door with my purse, bottle of water, and a white plastic grocery bag. Inside the grocery bag were two baby hats I managed to find tucked away and an almost finished work in progress (WIP). I was just sewing on the finishing touch of my WIP when Bev parked her car outside the fairground gate. She grabbed her plastic bag of items, and I had so little, I carried mine in one hand.

Upon signing in, we were directed to textile ARTS, our designated area. I proudly laid out my two baby hats and my now finished object (FO). I looked around to the closest tables to me. I was secretly pleased to see there weren’t many entries to compete against. I was mildly disappointed when I found out differently. Saturday is when most entries were expected. It was then I watched Bev, who, like a magician pulling rabbits from a hat, extracted her work from her plastic bag. Did I say work? No, it was ART. My eyes widened with surprise as she laid out an exquisite hand spun, hand woven mat. The mat was followed by a beautiful crocheted wool hat, and right behind them, a pair of tiny, meticulously hand knit mittens fit for a royal child. At that moment I knew Bev had a much better chance than anyone of us for winning a ribbon. No one else entered anything which could compete with her entries.

Following a weekend of curiosity, I convinced my husband to take me back to the county fair on Monday afternoon. We entered the fairgrounds and headed straight back to the open class building. The air was charged with the smell of barbeque and smoke, the sounds of different farm animals calling from their stalls, and laughing children running to and fro. Inside the building there were organized games for children and youth while their parents looked on. My husband and I circled around to the textiles area and searched the display for my items. Then I saw it. There is was…my pink panther inspired iPad cover sporting a blue ribbon! I found my baby hats and they were showing off red ribbons. Bev’s lovely items also garnered her ribbons as well.

While neither one of us had won the purple division ribbons which would have entitled us to go to the state fair, we both came away with first and second prize ribbons. I’m glad Bev talked me into entering the county fair this year. I could have lost the blue ribbon I wanted; I would have been ok with that. Most importantly, when I left the fair grounds that Friday evening, I left with a good friend and I found my humility patiently waiting for me outside the gate. In the end, it was I, who had won the real prize.

DIY Frilly Foam Forms

My mom LOVES to make hats. I'm pretty sure it's an obsession, though I have to admit the hats she makes are pretty darn cute. Especially when my girlies wear them around the house. Trust me, the cuteness doesn't end here. I picked up at LEAST four adorable hats tonight after cleaning up the living room.

Anyway, back on topic. Since we live so far away, Mom was wanting some hat forms to try her hats on as she makes them. I Googled and Amazoned and did all kinds of searches trying to find infant- and child-sized heads -- styrofoam, plastic, anything -- and found squat. I almost gave up when I decided to YouTube "hat forms" and found a tutorial on how to make your own. Thanks to Bethintx1 on YouTube for her awesome tutorial.

I did make a couple of changes when choosing my materials:

• I used a 6" styro ball for a child-sized form and a 5" styro ball for an infant-sized form - Bethintx1 suggested a 4" for infant, but I know my girls' heads weren't that small when they came along. 
• She says not to use high temp glue - I did, and kind of melted my styro balls where I glued. No big deal. Can't tell anyway.
• Instead of buying the pretty craft glass marbles/stones, I went with plain ol' ugly fish gravel. My husband picked up a decent sized bag for $3 at our local WalMart. If you go this route, make sure you cover the hole at the bottom of the clay pot so your gravel doesn't pour out.
• Instead of just tying the ribbon around, I also hot glued it -- and the tulle -- to the clay pot to make sure neither would just slip around or off. And to make sure the pretty bow stays perfect.

One thing I would change is that I don't like the sound of the gravel rattling around inside the pot (you can only fill it so full. To combat head rattling (heh heh), you could put some batting or fiberfill between the gravel and the styro ball. Or some fabric. Or something.

The other thing I would change is how many layers of tulle I used. I used two layers, but if I did it again, I'd probably use three or four. I don't like being able to see the texture of the styro.

So there ya have it, and here's the finished product.

Merry Christmas, Mom! Hope you like your frilly foam forms!