Crafts and Fairs

I dug up a few more pictures from our adventures over the last several months.  Here is Eliot in one of those big jumping contraptions at the Cumberland Fair.  I love that fair.  It certainly isn't the hippie goodness that the Common ground fair is but I still love it for all its tractors and giant animals.  It is in the town I grew up in and always feels like a welcome tradition when September rolls around.  Also, another excuse to eat fried dough.  

I sat and nursed Willow during the oxen pull thinking it would be a semi quiet place and I enjoy watching those huge animals.  I saw way in the back out of the way to be sure I wouldn't bother anyone.  Turns out it was excruciatingly quiet except for the commands of the Ox handlers and Willow deciding to scream full force.  All eyes turned on us and I bolted out of there as fast as I could.  

Here we are at Christmas time with Willow in her cute leg warmers and in my favorite of her tops (thanks again Heather!).  She is getting so big here.  

One last crafty project I finished up right before W was born.  It is a postage stamp rug made to be a seat cushion.  It is super simple to make.  I had some heavy duty twine left from the rock rug that I used along with a heavy needle.  After cutting wool scraps into basic square shapes I strung them onto long pieces of doubled up twine.  After I had a length of a few feet I started spiraling them together and sewing through the length a few times, similar to a braided rug.  I had meant to make a rug but a seat cushion was exactly what I needed.  It was the perfect place to sit post birth and nurse in the middle of the night or to sit and rock for hours and hours while she cried before I figured out the dairy problems.  It has since felted itself together a little bit (unexpected) giving it an even more sturdy mat like feel.  I think it would make a fun easy rug if I could find the right colors.  Maybe monochrome or white?  I like that it sits in my Grandfather's rocking chair.  It is where I remember him being the most and I tried to channel his calm, playful being during those long hours.  I think it helped.

Lastly a random picture from Halloween.  A vampire again - with the handsome 'rose' at his collar to woo the ladies, hehe.