Country Fair Winners!

Thank you to everyone (again and again) for your fantastic suggestions on picking the binding fabric for my quilt! Once i finish it off, i'll be sure to show you how it all turned out. So for Part One of the giveaway, and our random winner of the Terrain fat-eighth bundle...

Hooray to you! We sent out your bundle yesterday and it's already on its way to your front door!

Onto Part Two of our giveaway...

Sunday was a big day here in Fairfield...and i mean BIG! Giant pumpkins were trucked in from all over Connecticut and neighboring Rhode Island for the annual CT Giant Squash and Pumpkin Grower's Association weigh-off. That's the CTGSPGA for short. You've heard of it, right? Me neither. And like me, did you also not know that there's an International Great Pumpkin Commonwealth (GPC)? Yep, we've been missing out! The growers and farmers we met on Sunday were such an enthusiastic bunch and i could have talked pumpkin with them all day long. As it was, Pete and i learned many interesting facts about these...fruits!

Some of you were wondering how the pumpkins are transported. As far as we could understand, they're lifted from their patch using a pulley system and harnesses that are specially configured around a big metal ring to ensure the weight is as evenly distributed as possible. Here's a picture i found that matched the description one of the farmers had given to me:

Then they're lowered into the back of a truck and onto a wooden palette that's been covered with a soft, cushie material like foam insulation panels or blankets. This one is being unloaded here in Fairfield, but you get the idea:

dropping off

All i could think of is what these must have looked like driving down the interstate in the back of a pick up truck!! Over the course of the morning, more pumpkins continued to appear — including Dr. Garrell's — the one you were asked to guess the weight of. Hooray! Well, until the one to the right of his showed up.

We had a chance to talk with Dr. Garrell and found out that he lost his entire patch during hurricane Irene...except this one pumpkin that he found floating in the flood waters. He explained how heartbroken he was after hand-pollinating the pumpkins and nurturing them through what was unanimously a very challenging growing season. Apparently his dreams of record-making-victory were dashed when his contender stopped growing over a month ago. I asked how he knew that it stopped growing? The answer blew me away. He told me that once a pumpkin of the giant variety reaches beach ball size, it will grow somewhere between 30 and 50 pounds a day, A DAY!! Is that crazy or what?! And they do much of their growing at night. Here's a cool time-lapse clip that shows a giant pumpkin growing from 40 to 225 pounds. The photos were taken every 4 hours and only during daylight hours, but it still gives you a sense of the rate at which these things grow:

Back to our escalating competition...after a pumpkin was dropped off, a swat team of contest officials would swoop in and take measurements...

measuring at widest point

...and then they'd go around to each one and perform a "tap test" which would help them determine what kind of density the walls of the pumpkin has. The variety of sounds each one made was remarkable (i tagged along). Some were more hollow, some more thunkie, some more...i don't know...clunkie? As you can tell, my pumpkin vocabulary is limited.

Tap test

Don't they look like someone let the air out?

The pumpkins were then lifted (again with that metal ring and harnesses) and placed on a flat scale — sorry no pictures...camera battery was on-the-blink! But i managed to save just enough battery juice for one last photo of the BIG results:

Wow! As you can see, Dr. Garrell's pumpkin came in 6th place and weighed a whopping 836 pounds! Sooo...aren't you dying to know who guessed closest?! We were too! Won't you please join me in congratulating

We were so surprised that anyone guessed it exactly, but Jodi hit it smack on the bullseye! Way to go, Jodi! Your jelly roll was sent off yesterday so be on the lookout for it any day now.

Several of you were only off by a pound or two — impressive! And so all 15 of our additional winners guessed within a mere 10 pounds of the correct weight (without going over). If your name appears below, congratulations! Please send your mailing address to pete@katespain.com and we'll send your mini charm pack of Terrain off right away!

Thank you all so much for playing along!! GPC weigh-offs are happening all over the country around this time of year, and if you're curious (like me) you can check the standings here. However, the world-record (not listed, but shown here) was broken this year by a pumpkin weighing-in at 1810.5 pounds. That's a lotta pie!

I wanted to leave you with these two pictures because it is beginning to look (and feel) a lot like Halloween around here...

our resident Charlotte (or Charlie?) just outside our garage

xo,

kate

Moda Country Fair

Welcome to my stop on the Moda Country Fair Blog Hop! Did you happen to visit Julie and Eric over at Cosmo Cricket yesterday? What a laugh (and cute cute free project)!

So hello! I'm Kate and it's such a pleasure to have you stop by. If you're new here, feel free to poke around. You can browse some of the amazing projects people (maybe even you) have posted to my flickr groups, share photos of your own, visit my website or some of my favorite blogs, or if you'd like, sign up for my monthly newsletter to find out what's happening here in my studio. Plenty of ways to find out much more than you ever wanted to know!

I've had the privilege of designing fabric for Moda for almost three years now. Whew, time sure does fly when you're having fun, especially the Lissa Alexander kind of fun! Lissa is the infinitely imaginative marketing director at Moda...who continues to broaden the spectrum of the word "creative". A big thanks to Lissa for keeping things so colorful and entertaining!

So without further ado, come join me here in "Fair"field, Connecticut!

Believe it or not, Connecticut and New England have a tradition of country fairs – although on a smaller scale than the mega-state fairs in the heartland. The largest fair when I was a girl was the Danbury Fair. Here's an old post card from its heyday: 

We would pass the grounds whenever we'd visit my grandparents in New Milford, and from the backseat of the car, i'd press my nose against the window to catch glimpses of the larger-than-life sized statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. In this picture, you can kind of see Paul near the ferris wheel in the way back, the large farmer in the middle of the crowd, and the carousel horse in the foreground:

 When the fairgrounds had to make way for a shopping mall in 1981, the statues adorning the fairgrounds were sold off – including this one — a 38-ft., 4,500-lb. towering Uncle Sam! Today it can be found standing in an amusement park near Lake George, New York.

 Other area fairs that we went to were in Goshen, NY and Bridgewater, CT. Both continue to this day. The biggest fair in New England today is the “Big E” in Springfield, MA.

What's your favorite thing to see or do at a fair?

Even better than the rides (and almost better than the cotton candy) at the fairs, for me, were the hay bale-lined tents and booths where the most outstanding produce, animals, and kitchen confections from the region were on display for judging. Some years we’d even get to see the judges wandering around with their clipboards and keen eye in search of the blue-ribbon-winning pie, peppers, piglet, or to watch the official weigh-in of the giant whatever!

Speaking of which...

Our fellow townsman, Dr. David Garrel, enters his giant pumpkin in an annual contest here in Fairfield. It's called the "Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off" (i mean what else would you call it?!), and the other day Pete and i decided to have a peek at how this year's contestant was coming along. WOW! (and yes, it's surrounded by caution tape):

 Can you believe the size of that thing??  Impressive. Not only because it's a gardening achievement of the highest degree, but especially because it somehow survived Hurricane Irene. Just a quarter mile down the road from this pumpkin, the hurricane tore a house right off its foundation and swept it into Long Island Sound. Crazy.

Pete and i were trying to guess how much the pumpkin weighs — which gave me the brilliant idea to have Pete take a picture that looks like i'm holding it. But we were caught in the act by a passerby who shouted a little pumpkin humor our way...

...which of course cracked me up. Who doesn't love a little pumpkin humor?!

What's your favorite fair food?
That's easy. Hot dogs. It's also my guilty pleasure. Though i have never eaten more than two in one sitting, i am flattered (and flabbergasted!) that so many people entertained the idea that i could have won a hot dog eating contest when i was in high school (see 2 truths and a lie section--and i'll tell you more about the Smurf thing in another post)! But hot dogs are partially why we moved to "Fair"field in the first place. You see, on one side of town is this place:

that both Martha and i love for their deep fried hot dogs. It's extra dangerous because we can walk to here from our house. And on the other side of town, thankfully a car ride away, is this place:

My favorite is the New Yorker Dog and i can say so with certainty because oh yes, i've tried them all.

What's on your bucket list?

Well, i spotted this on the wall of Super Duper Weenie, so i guess i can cross that one off!

What else is on your bucket list?

Learning how to make hot dogs? Just kidding! I'm sad to say i've never been to the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls or Yosemite, so i would really love to travel more here in the U.S. to see the natural beauty of this country. Actually, if Pete and i could visit every National Park in the U.S. together that would be even better. We went to Olympic National Park in Washington this summer and it was wild and beautiful. Or wildly beautiful.

 I'd also love to venture to faraway places like Thailand, India and Japan. And to set up a small pottery studio so i can work with clay again. And to volunteer in an animal shelter. And to grow a lemon tree. And to learn how to actually use each of the nozzles on a cake decorating set. And so many more!

What inspires your work?

Our garden is always an immediate source of inspiration for me. When i was a student at RISD, there was a place called the "Nature Lab" where many of my drawing classes were held. In the lab, there were drawers and cabinets filled from floor to ceiling with specimens of butterflies, shells, seed pods, dried flowers, coral (and more), as well as a number of plants, live birds, turtles and even a bunny! The purpose of the place was to connect elements from our natural surroundings to the art and designs we created...and it worked, and the idea stuck with me. I learned that you never have to look or go too far to find creative inspiration. Just look around.

How many quilts have you made?

Four actually finished, and two quilt tops (yup, there's a UFO in the middle of the pile).

The other quilt top:

 is being finished by Teresa Coates of Fab Shop Network to whom i owe a triple-exclamation point thank you!!! She will be donating it to survivors of the Texas wildfires as part of the 100 Quilts for Kids sewing event. And thank you to everyone who emailed me and graciously offered your time and help to finish this project for such a worthwhile cause.

Tell us about your pet(s)...picture?

I'm not sure you really want to ask me that question! You can search my blog using the word "fur" and will quickly find out how crazy i am about these two:

Their names are Lou (left) and Franny (right) and we adopted them from a friend of mine in late June of this year, and fell in love instantly. I started a blog series called "Furry Friday" and post pictures of them each week. It's verging on embarrassing, but i just can't stop!

What movie do you watch again and again?

I'm a hopeless romantic and four of my favorites are: Sense and Sensibility, Notting Hill, Sleepless in Seattle and Before Sunrise. Oh, and recently added one more...Midnight in Paris.

If you could be any age again for one week, what age and why?

I would be whatever age i am in this picture (5? 6?) so i could wear a hat like that, mix plaids and a jean jacket, eat an apple and reconnect with the feeling of dancing like no one's watching..

If you've read this far, then you deserve a Blue Ribbon!!! So this blue ribbon key ring is a super simple and fun project i came up with just for you (because you're all winners to me...awww...) You can download the project sheet here! I used two of the blue prints from my latest fabric collection, Terrain.

Annnnd, i am thrilled to give away some Terrain to a bunch of you. I've got a fat eighth bundle, a jelly roll, 15 mini charms and a few other surprises...thank you Moda!

The giveaway portion of this extravaganza will be in two parts, but please only enter once in the comment section.

Part One

For this part, i need your help. You see, from the very first moment i saw these ziggy zaggy quilts popping up on blogs and all over the place, i knew i wanted to make one. Then one day, i came across this tutorial that showed how to make said zig zag quilt with strips instead of triangles! Woohoo! So i added a couple extra rows to make the quilt slightly larger and made this using some of the prints from Terrain...

I am so happy with how it turned out and was surprised at how quickly it went together (even for me)! Now here's where you come in...i need your help to pick the binding fabric! I just couldn't decide on which color/print to use. Here's a better look at the whole thing:

and the back:

So...which would you pick?

A

 B

 C

I'll go with whatever the majority decides and randomly pick one winner for the fat eighth bundle...and a few others for the surprisey things. Fun and easy, right?!


Part Two
This part is a little trickier. Scroll back up and take a good hard look at that giant pumpkin. I mean a really good look. Now take a wild guess about what you think that thing weighs. The "weigh off" contest for Dr. Garrel's pumpkin will be this coming Sunday Oct. 2nd at which time i'll get to find out the correct answer. The person who guesses closest to the actual weight of the pumpkin without going over (just like the "showcase showdown" on the Price Is Right) will win a Terrain jelly roll and the 15 people who are the next closest will each win a mini charm pack!

So just to review, please leave only one comment that addresses both Part One (binding selection) and Part Two (guess the pumpkin weight). Entries will be accepted until this Friday September 30th, and i'll announce winners for all prizes on Tuesday October 4th.
Good luck everyone!

**Comments are closed for this giveaway, and the pumpkin has been weighed!! Stay tuned tomorrow to find out who the winners are! Thanks to everyone for playing along.**

Thank you so much for spending some time with me, and i hope you'll come back again soon. The fair festivities continue tomorrow with Karla, Susan and Lisa from Sweetwater! Love those ladies and their free project is as sweet as they are.

Happy sewing!
xo,
kate

Fortune

Hop on over to the Oliver + S blog to see what Liesl has dreamed up for your visit to the Moda Country Fair!
(sorry for the lame-o, cheesy segue)