State Fair Madness

Goodness, is it the end of the summer again? I guess that means it's time for the fair!

My dad asked if I wanted to meet him and his girlfriend there, so I was happy to have some company.

Here's my dad being a good sport, even though I was about an hour late. Sorry dad! It's a lot harder to get to the fair from Portland than from my old place in Salem. Congestion from the outlet mall in Woodburn, and limited turn lanes in Salem made for a very frustrating drive.

Now, when I was a kid, my mom worked for the State Fair. I don't remember what her exact job was, but I think she worked for the Oregon Wine Advisory Board. It was part time, but it meant we got free tickets to the fair, and if we were very lucky, sometimes we got free ride tickets too. We used to go almost every day the fair was open, so I have very, very fond memories of the fair.

There seem to be less quilts than I remember as a kid, but maybe the State Fair isn't where people display quilts anymore? I don't know much about the Oregon competitive quilting scene, so I really couldn't say. I took some pictures of quilts I liked though.

There weren't divisional labels on most of the quilts, so it wasn't always easy to determine what quilts were in the what category. That might have been helpful in understanding why some quilts had ribbons, and some didn't. Overall, I was underwhelmed.

A big part of the fair for me when I was a kid was the rides. We always used to dare each other to go on the Zipper in my family, as it was the twirliest ride we could think of. I only did it once with my dad and brother. A bit before we got on we saw some pretty sick looking people exit a car, and the attendants hosing it down, presumably because they puked all over the car. As a kid, it made the ride seem even cooler. I'm too much of a wuss to go on it now though. And I'm also too cheap. Ride tickets are pretty spendy for just a few minutes of fun!

One of my absolute favorite ride though, was the swings. The ride itself was fun, but I love the way the ride looks. It was always my mission to sit in a red swing, and under a pretty lady. I was happy that I got a chance to take some photos of the ride this year.





I think those two ladies are the prettiest. It surprised me a little that I love stuff like this, with super embellishments and curvy lines, but I've been making super geometric and simple quilts.

Speaking of super embellishments and curvy lines, another favorite part of the fair when I was a kid was the cake decorating competition. I would drool over all the elaborately decorated cakes. They usually looked something like this.

I guess that kind of cake has gone out of style. Almost every cake this year was more like this.

All of them seemed covered in fondant, which I don't find very exciting. I hate the way it tastes. I'm not crazy about cakes covered in it, because it seems to beat the whole purpose of decorative frosting by being sort of inedible. I'm just a grump about it though, and I'm no fun to watch cake related show with because I spend the whole time talking about how much I hate fondant cakes.

Quilt Show!

This past Saturday I went to a quilt show at the Oregon Garden down in Silverton. My friend Elyse lives there, so I had a nice brunch with her and her family before heading over to the show. The space was very pretty, with lots of twinkly lights on the ceiling.

This group of quilts was from a local fiber arts group, and they all incorporated a lime green line somehow.

I liked the way the green line was slightly separate from the rest of the quilt.
I thought the root vegetables were a natural subject for thread work. The brown fabric isn't quilted, it's just a perfect print for the subject matter.
There were also some antique quilts there, which I have a real fondness for. They look timeless.
Check out the nice hand stitching!
Another nice antique quilt.

I love the blue and tan one on the right.

I thought this one was interesting. I couldn't quite tell where the quilting was though. It was very light and transparent.

There were a whole series like this. I can appreciate the craftsmanship (which was amazing) even if the imagery isn't exactly my taste. I'd seen pictures of these online somewhere before and assumed it was applique, but it is all patchwork. Very impressive.

Check out the cool quilted umbrella!