Block Party 2013!

This past Saturday was the 4th Annual Block Party! Pictures first!

*Formatting may not show up correctly in google reader or email, you may want to view directly on the blog. Sorry for the picture overload. I couldn't choose favorites. :)

All the blocks not already laid out into blankets

Jim couldn't be outdone by Gary! :)

These 3 played together all day!

Rachel and I - How did I get so lucky to get such an amazing best friend??

"How do you get this thing in here again??" Link's wife made over half the blocks this year as she did last year!

Making new friends while they work

Hey look! There's me sewing.. proof I actually do sew! ;)

First finished blanket!

Another one done!

Finishing up the pink one!

Repairing some "issues" with this one - these two ladies are a hoot... that's all I'm gonna say.

All done!

And the last one of the day done! It was decided we weren't leaving until it was finished, so finish it we did!

Now that you've seen the day in picture's let talk about the day in numbers... :)

I was a bit concerned with the snow that we wouldn't have a very good turn out, but we did, with a total of almost 30 people coming to help sew!

We had 6 big blankets (twin size) pre-laid out before everyone arrived. We finished all six and another big one, with a total of 7 big (twin size) blankets sewed!

We had near 1300 blocks donated before the Block Party, and more were brought the day of, with a total of 1769 blocks for this year!

Thank you so much to Jill, Anna, Rachel, Isaac, Rebekah, Anita, Betty, Amy, Lora, Jenny, Sydney, Hazel, Ellie, Ellie, Tracy, Darlene, Jim, Jeanne, Laurie, Diane, Link, Sheri, Lisa, Lisa, Rochelle, Klara, Jocelyn, Heather, and anyone else I missed for coming and helping sew!!!!

And thank you from the bottom of my heart to every single person who made blocks, whether it was 1 or 1000, each one mattered!

Many people will feel the love stitched into each blanket, and they will be blessed because of your efforts. Each blanket and block is bring some joy and hope into the lives of the hopeless in Ukraine. Thank you!

My Little Pumpkin Munchkin!

I just finished a pumpkin hat for an order! And I'm very grateful to my little pumpkin munchkin for modeling it for me! :)

Is he not the cutest!?! Love him!

The pattern I based it off of can be found here @ nothing's creative anymore. (I never follow any pattern exactly, and the fact I followed this one as close as I did without making major alterations is a huge compliment! ;)) 

It was very easy to make (not saying it was super quick, but it didn't take forever!), and very easy to adjust the pattern to the right size.

Happy October!

Fair - Crocheting

Last part of Fair Showing - Crocheting!

Judging my Dishcloths

Judging my scarf/shawl/wrap thing

Judging my cotton bag

A blue! - She liked how lacy it was and that the tassels were a good length and thickness for the project. 

18" doll swimsuit... I had this done, and I still needed an entry for a doll or toy item. :)

I had these done as well, and decided to bring them. It's nice that everything I sell is "fair worthy" so I don't have to make everything specifically for fair to bring it! :)

Baby Bluebird Hat - It REALLY annoyed me when I had 5 flowers made and sitting in my room, but I had to make a new one for this hat for fair. Why? Because Rachel made the others for me... ;)

Frog Hat! :)

Rebekah's Plarn Bag

Dish Cloths - I realize now blogging this picture that the blue and multicolored ones are upside down, and the purple one is sideways... and it's driving me CRAZY! lol It's a pet peeve, and I've blogged about it before.
The next day when mom was there with the other kids (I was home babysitting the littles as I'm done showing!), I had her flip them, and I attempted to have her take a new picture for me, but that doesn't work when she has my camera, and my memory card is still in the computer. :P

And the surprises of the day - A Best of Show on my baby blanket...

...And a State Fair on my bag!! That was the big surprise! I knew I would most likely get some big award of something with all first and 3 stars... like I've said, little competition, but was NOT expecting it on these two items! My guesses would have been the dishcloths and wrap/shawl/scarf. But nope. 

She really liked the fuzziness of the blanket and the fact she could find no ends (this is CRUCIAL that you hide all your ends if you show knitting or crocheting, I've learned the hard way, and she didn't find any on my stuff this year!). 

And the bag... that was a HUGE surprise. If I had to choose which item I thought would get a red, it would have been that bag! You know the bag which took FOREVER and we stayed up till 2 am the night before trying to get done. ;) She really like the strap, and the how tight and sturdy seam up the side was (maybe because I stitched it twice because I did the first one wrong and I didn't want to rip it out.. hehe).

So that sums up fair showing! And just to sum up our day excluding how well the actually showing went... I'll show you this picture.

Ya... no naps for anyone. The plan was to get there early, get done quick, and then come back and do naps. Didn't go so well. Oh and I mentioned the end of the night after the judge left in my last post.. that was at 9pm, and no worries, we didn't all stay until then, I stayed with some friends to help hang up photography photos on the boards. Everyone else ended up leaving around 5. Even so, without naps, it was a LONG day. ;)

Fair - Sewing

Next up for Fair - Sewing!

Judging Rachel's outfit

Judging the skirt I made (haven't posted about it here yet). You can get this pre-shirred material at the store, but we did it ourselves by switching the regular bobbin with a bobbin of elastic thread. It wasn't that hard to do, except for getting each round started. But definitely worth doing it yourself instead of buying it pre-shirred for $15 a yard!

My bag - another post coming about this, once I get it back from Fair at the end of this week and can take more detailed pictures!

On Rachel's outfit I got Best of Show! :) I wasn't expecting that, though I knew it was possible (like there is very little competition in my levels of sewing and crocheting... they are becoming lost arts!). The judge said really liked how neat and clean all the seams were on the inside. It was originally going to be a State Fair, but they changed it to Best of Show because I had told her it was for my little sister, and if it had gotten State Fair, Rachel wouldn't have been able to wear it until after State Fair next year (our Fair is after State Fair) and it wouldn't have still fit her. Plus she's been asking to wear it since I got it done. The head sewing/crocheting/knitting organizer told me this later... we have gotten to know her pretty well, and the judge, who I have had for crocheting, knitting, and sewing the past 3 years. :)

Next up - Crocheting!

Finished Friday - Rachel's Outfit, Shawl, Plarn Bag, Sponge Bob Hats, and Baby Blanket Border

If you would like to join me in this Finished Friday quest to get rid of all the half finished projects we all have... please blog about your project(s) you have finished the past week on Friday's, and come back here and leave a comment with your blog link. If this is successful, in the future I might set up a linky list you can join. Projects do not have to be projects you procrastinated on, they can be anything, sewing/crocheting/knitting or any other fiber art, and they need to be FINISHED! :)

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I never said you couldn't post about more than one item! I usually tend to do only one, but I'm changing it up this week! :) Hopefully this will also make up for the Finished Friday's I missed in the past few weeks.

My excuse for being MIA lately- fair judging starts in 63 hours.. err 2 1/2 days. And I still have LOTS to do. :)

So onto this week's Finished Friday! First up, a sewing project for fair - An outfit for my little sister Rachel. I have to admit, this turned out absolutely adorable, and it called for an impromptu photoshoot. :)

Had to take this picture... because you won't look at the outfit in the pictures below... only my adorable model!

Seriously? Little Diva! I had her put her hand on her hip and on the garage there, but she lifted up  her foot and put it on top of the other one!!

Not a fan of the bees buzzing around her head...

So I "threatened" to tickle her if she didn't smile!

Peek-a-boo! I see you!

My favorite picture!!

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Next up - a shawl/big scarf/wrap thing! I used a N hook (REALLY big for my non-crocheter readers), and reg worsted weight yarn to create the lacy effect. I used this pattern, and used ALL of the One Pounder skein. This shawl is going go to fair (if it makes it), and then I'll sell it on my other blog.

Yes, I used the shower curtain rod to model it for me because I didn't feel like it. I'm cool like that.

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Next - a plarn bag. I never blogged about it here (hello, I've blogged 7 times since the Block Party posts.. I kinda don't have breathing room in there to blog about such projects), but I made a rainbow plarn bag for my sister Anna awhile back. I took most of a day to make (6+ hours?), but I finished it in a day, and same with this one I just made the other day for my sister Rebekah.

It looks much cooler in person. Take my word for it.

This bag will go to fair, and then it will used by my sister and hopefully not get sprayed with water and rot. I used plarn (plastic bag yarn) and a strand of regular acrylic held together for stability. I changed the color of the acrylic to do the striping effect (same with the rainbow one). I did make up this pattern, since I HATE using patterns (no offense pattern writers), and I will write and test this pattern soon so I can share it with you so you can make your own awesome colored plarn bag! :)

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Next - Sponge Bob Hats. Ohh these were dreadful! They were for an order, and I will let you all know that if you want to order one of these, expect to pay $50 per hat, and expect it to take a couple years. Ahem. I am not in favor of making more. :) 

The pattern used is from Ashley Phelps, who is one of my favorite designers for hats. I've come back again and again to her patterns to use as the base for mine, and haven't been disappointed. I've used her Angry Red Bird, Angry Black Bird, and now SpongeBob. I also have intentions of using the Minion, Panda, Polar Bear, and I have a Monkey in process. So yeah, all her hat patterns. :)

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And lastly - I finished the border on this blanket. :)

Until Fair is a "Finished Friday",

Sarah :)