Inspiration From the Iowa State Fair 2013

We so enjoy going the the Iowa State Fair and this year was no exception.  The weather was stellar which made the crowds exceptional.  The spiral potato chips and rib on a stick went down nicely too!  Had to bring home a bag of cotton candy too.....that's gone!!!!

I mostly took pics of machine quilting designs for my MQ notebook.  I need ideas when I have a new quilt in my frame....maybe you will find something that inspires your next project too!

I was mainly looking for quilting designs that fill a certain space....

Wonderful border!

This is a wonderful mini.....love the border fabric!

The 4-H building is always a good source of ideas and inspiration!

This is garden hose and electrical ties fashioned  into a basket....genius!

How about an upside down stool made into a portable gift wrapping station!

Love wooden advertising yardsticks!

Cute little bench!

Great clock!

I call them Gertrude & Hecliffe....I think I need a pair of them!

Iowa State Fair

 We so enjoy the Iowa State Fair....it doesn't always work for us to go every year.  But we always have a great time when we do go.  This year the weather was spectacular.....73....sunny.....balmy breeze.  If you have never been to the fair in Iowa...... you have missed a great experience.  I know it is rated one of the best in the USA, with good reason.

Looking down at some of the judged garden produce in the agriculture building.  

Hard boiled eggs on a stick........Egg Council booth were handing these out by the hundreds!!!!

Little Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts.....a fair favorite......these little suckers are  yummy!

The very famous butter cow, an Iowa State Fair tradition....people wait in line to see this up close.

We shared the day with a couple hundred thousand of our closest friends!!!

A chocolate moose was new this year....he is huge!!!!

The Silver Fox enjoying his ice cream cone.

The award winning pumpkin....933 pounds.  The farmers had to work harder to grow these this year with the lack of rain.

A bald eagle nest ......I always forget how big these things really are....not something you can see usually up close.

The Silver Fox always enjoys checking out the new John Deere's.  He is showing the part he used to machine when he worked at the Waterloo Tractor Works many years ago.

This model was priced about $230,000.  Unbelievable!!!  The bigger ones shown were $320,000.

They were judging horses that evening...... so amazing all decked out.

The tack, horses, wagons and riders are ALL gleaming!!!!

Lined up in the barns getting them ready to show.

Counties of Iowa & Hazel

I was recently reminded through a couple conversations with a cousin on Facebook about a neat poem that named all the counties in Iowa.

I used to do a 4th of July party every year and invited any and all family and friends and my great uncle and aunt would come.  She had a huge raspberry patch and she would make me a fresh raspberry pie and bring it to share at the potluck....BUT she would always tell me...."You know if you put this in the refrigerator and forget about it, I won't mention there is a pie and you can have the whole thing for later."  So guess what I did every single year.  :)

My husband always had a patriotic game for us to play and one year to all our amazement, Hazel recited this poem that she had learned at country school of all the counties in Iowa.  It was unbelievable.  I had never heard of it before.

So after talking to my cousin about the poem, I was able to find it online.  Then I used the poem and included it as a part of a digital scrapbook page for my family members.  I took mine after printing it out and included a special Iowa paper, ephemera, a couple family pictures and journaling to tell the story.  I love the way it turned out.

I included the link for those who would like their own copy of this special poem.  A little piece of Iowa history.

http://publications.iowa.gov/2152/1/Iowapoem.pdf