Look, a post with pics!

I'm sorry I've been away for a bit...classes are starting at the college where I work, and life has just been end-of-summer-crazy lately! Measi asked if we were staying dry -- yes, we are a bit removed from the terrible flooding in upstate NY. We live west of Binghamton and well south of...well, south of most of anything in NYS. The biggest danger here is river flooding from the Chemung River, which has happened in the past, but we were spared this time. My heart just breaks looking at the pics of Vermont and parts of my beloved Adirondacks, though.
Anyway, on to stitching. First, here is my progress on Just Nan's "Mermaid Heart." I love it. (And yes, I started beading before I was completely finished stitching. I can't help it, it is a sickness. LOL)Next, my latest TUSAL pic. This month, M-ort-icia forced me to do some finishing so she'd have something pretty to pose with, so here is LHN's "Moon and Stars" finished as a pillow. And let me tell you, sewing metallic ribbon on with invisible thread is a b**ch.....Finally, last weekend DH and I took Wee One and headed to the New York State Fair. Wee One loves the animals....and selfishly, I wanted to see what the competition was like in the needlework category! Here is my pic of (what I think was) the winning pices in the cross stitch category:I can't believe TW's "Peacock Tapestry" only got an honorable mention ribbon! I don't know the designer of the iris piece - the blue ribbon winner - but that is Nora Corbett's "Fairy Alphabet T" with the second place red ribbon. And I think that is Glendon Place's magi design on the floor? Also, there were 2 versions of The Cricket Collection's design of the spooky ship with ghostie sails...I can't remember the name....but one of the pieces had a blue ribbon and the other had a white one. So evidently they were entered in different categories? I didn't quite get the division of the categories, honestly.
Oh, but this was hanging at the entrance to the exhibit hall.(Damn you, Blogger, for rotating things!! Oh well, it doesn't really matter for this one. Also, I thought the fair pics would be clickable so you could see them biggified....it doesn't seem to be that way. Hmph.) Anyway, this quilt took the blue ribbon in the recycled crafts category. After squinting at it for a LONG time, I think it is made of ties!!! What a LOT of work. And gorgeous, no matter what it is made of...