The Sea of People

Lookit 'em all. On this day, there were 171,633 people in attendance at the Fair. The total for the whole ten days of the fair was 1,693,533. I know it looks scary, but really it's very friendly. I mean, it's Minnesota. People are polite. Mostly. This is actually the only crowd event I can tolerate, and even like. I hate the 4th of July, and just in general get really irritable and have to leave when I'm in a large crowd. Claustropeopleia? I dunno, I just want them all to go away. And yet, the fair is the one exception.

Fair Food

These are really yummy.

Butter Sculpture at the Fair

You thought I was kidding, didn't you? But it's true. Every year, there are several dairy princesses, called "Princess Kay of the Milky Way," and they get to be temporarily immortalized in butter in the dairy barn. This globe rotates, so you can see the butter sculptor and the princess from all angles. And the other butter heads that are already done. Isn't it great?

My Favorite

Way to go, Kim. This one is very creative, and artistic, and just has an essence of Minnesota about it that I love.

Back to the Seed Art

This is fun, but it looks so, hmmm, not handmade. It looks like a computer laid out a kind of paint by number and someone just followed it. I don't know. Maybe I'm not giving Laura enough credit.

UFO finally finished!

This is the ginormous nap pillow (the middle is 31" across) I started to make when I was pregnant last year, and I just finished it. It's supposed to be a flower with petals. My seams are uneven, my edging is all over the place, but it doesn't matter, you can't tell any of that. It turned out wonderful. The top picture shows the top of the pillow, which has a big pocket for baby to put stuff in. The bottom photo shows the back, and it's hard to see but there is a velcroed seam across the middle so I can pull the inner pillow out and wash the cover when I need to. I can't believe I finally finished it. It's a little poofy right now--when we put baby on it she rolls off--but I think it will be fine once it's used a bit. This was done from an Amy Butler pattern that is sadly no longer available.

And it's Political, Too.

This is about our kiss-ass Senator Norm Coleman, who has perfect hair and no spine. And though I have only bowled once in my life, I love bowling pins.

State Fair Seed Art

It's...a jar of pickles. I like it.

Weirdest Piece?

It's called "Sock Monkeys in Meat Grinder." This is from the same woman who did the sock monkey dresses a couple years ago, and last year it was an upholstered (monkeyed?) chair. Only they were in the creative activities building, as in Home Ec. I guess she figured this was bizarre enough to get into the fine art show, and she was right.

Next: Enough with the Fine Art, let's get to the Crop Art! And of course, the butter sculptures...

White Elephant

That's the name of this piece. I love this collage. This is my kind of thing. It has so many fun little weird treasures in it. It also reminds me of my friend Sue's bowling balls, which I wish I had a picture of for here. She encrusts bowling balls with jewelry, and lately she's been working on a Day of the Dead one that is sooooooo coool.

Best in Show

At least that's what I voted. I loved this. It's huge, like 4 feet wide, and the materials are listed as something like "bits of wood and junk from my garage." Maybe it's not Joseph Cornell, but it's fun. And it's unique.

Cheeky

At first you just think, seen it, neon lights at the Fair. But wait, look who's on the bench. Three very tired Barbies. Not just tired, but exhausted. The artist did a very nice job of making these babes look seriously bedraggled after a long day at the Fair.

Fused Glass

I like shiny things. Isn't it neato how this looks gooey and sharp at the same time?

From the Fine Art Show: Trees

The Fine Art Show was weird this year. They grouped all like subject matter together, to the point of making you sick of it. J. and I both commented in the book that it was overkill and really took away from the power of each individual piece. And although I didn't write this down, because it's mainly a personal preference, I am so sick of silver gelatin photos. Big ugly faces with lots of detail. Gach. Silver gelatin must be the in photo format these days. I hate it.

I like trees a lot. I thought these two tile/glass pieces were really nice. I love the rich colors. In the top one, I like the contrasting shapes of the leaves (circles) with the sky and land (squares). I thought that was a very creative juxtaposition. And circles for leaves, I wouldn't have thought of that. But they look so good. In the lower one, I love how the bark is depicted on both trees, and all the different surfaces that feel cold and reflective, icy even.

MN State Fair pictures!

Alas, the Fair is over for another year. We did go, though, and even with a baby in tow, we got to see most of our favorite stuff. Even the bunnies! Too bad she was asleep for that, she would have loved them. Next year we'll start there.

So the first picture here is of a carved tree. These are all over the fairgrounds and some of them are quite intricate. This is on Tractor Hill (duh, that why all the John Deeres surround it), and it even has a tractor coming down a hill if you look closely.

Blogger Giveaway! I Give You Stuff!

Of course, there's a catch. Well, duh, it's my birthday. I'm not one of those people that gives everyone else presents on my birthday, no no. Just one person. Or two. Maybe three. It depends on the response here. First, the prizes, because I know how greedy you all are (just like me). Oh, and as far as the magazines, I'm not giving these away because I think they're crap and I want to get rid of them. I wouldn't do that to you! I'm giving them away because I have duplicate issues and I think they're really good:

1. Adorn Magazine, Summer 07, the 1st issue. This magazine died an early death, which made me very sad, cuz it was fun. And I had a subscription. They didn't even send out a letter saying "I'm sorry, we died. You won't be getting any more issues. Or your money back. Okay, bye!" So this is now a collector's item, because you can't buy it anymore. Ooooooh, so valuable, I know.

2. Cloth Paper Scissors Winter 2006 Issue 9 : this is the issue with the crazy lady who made a purse a day for like a year. One issue of this magazine is enough inspiration for a year of projects.

3. Cloth Paper Scissors September/October 2008 Issue 20 : There's a dog collage on the cover. Need I say more? There's also articles on sketch techniques and fabric books.

4. One of my little dolls. I love making these. If you haven't seen my dolls, check out these posts: Dotee for Mommy, Robot Doll, Caribbean Dotee.

5. A copy of my new zine, Bookstore Thief. It's not quite done yet but now it will have to be by the end of this month. It's the true story of me getting robbed at gunpoint when I worked in a bookstore. Plus some other shorter reader adventures. I'll be selling it in my Etsy shop and it may be a one-shot, but this is where you come in, dear reader...

WHAT I WANT FROM YOU: email me a true story that happened to you that has something to do with either working in a bookstore or a library, or a story that has something to with your reading life. Of course, it has to be an interesting story. Maybe you burned a book, why? Maybe you read a particular book once every year, why? Maybe there's a book you hated in school and it scarred you for life. Or the opposite. It doesn't have to be a long story, just a few paragraphs or pages. Heck, I'd even take a few lines if they're interesting or funny.

If your story is ten pages long then obviously you need to write your own zine. My hope is that I get enough stories to make another zine that's a compilation of these stories. I will of course give everyone credit for their stories, and even plug space for your Etsy shop, blog address, etc. Or if you want to remain anonymous, you can do that, too (this is all in leiu of actual money). I won't charge an exhorbitant amount for the zine, I'm not looking to get rich (ha! if only it were that easy!), I just thought it would be fun. I got the idea when I read this great zine called 12 Items or Less that I bought off Etsy all about working in grocery stores and shopping in them. I thought it was fascinating. You're only going to find things like this in zines. So get writing! Your deadline is Sept. 29th, my birthday!

Okay, is that enough? Depending on how many people participate, This may be five different prizes or one big prize package for my two devoted readers who check my blog like every day, Chris, and my sister K. And I'll decide who gets the prizes by a random drawing of people who sent stories. Now get writing!

I will update this post periodically with new info. Oh, and yes, it's international, I'll mail stuff to my adoring fans outside the U.S.