Iowa State Fair–4-H Edition

A post from Kelli–

A while back I told you about when Jason and I went to the state fair.  When we were there, there was all kinds of stuff to see, but some of my favorite things were in the 4-H building.  For those of you that don’t know, 4-H is a youth program that encourages community service and personal development.  Throughout the year, clubs do educational and community service projects and then there is fair in the summer.  Kids are able to do projects, detail their process at completing the project, and then meet with a judge to discuss their project.  The judges ask questions about the process and what was learned.  The best projects in each county advance to the state fair.

I didn’t know for sure if I would be able to coax Jason away from the tractors to checkout the 4-H building, but was pretty happy when he agreed to check it out.

When we first walked in, we were greeted by lots of quilts.  It seemed as though there were more quilts there than when I was ever in 4-H–definitely more t-shirt quilts.  They also had other projects that I thought were pretty neat like a rug made from 2 1/2″ or so squares.  I was really happy to see that sewing and quilting is still alive and well in the younger generation.

Close by, I saw this neat mosaic tile project.  I could only imagine the time that it took to complete that!  What a beauty!

I loved this map!  When I was growing up, my Grandpa Johnson had this thin in one of the spare bedrooms (the one my cousins told me was haunted) that had the nails with different thread wrapped around it to make a picture.  This is the same concept.  I think this would be really neat to try, but I’m sure that it would take a wild amount of time to make…maybe a future project!??!

There also seemed to be a lot of fairy garden projects.  Some, like this one, used wagons, while others made use of pots and other outside materials.  I always love the fairy gardens as they are so individual, but so neat and unique!

This was one of the neatest projects that we saw.  It’s an owl that is made completely of silverware.  Obiviously you aren’t supposed to touch the projects, but this one looked like it probably weighed a ton and a half or so!  But is was sooo cool!  I don’t even know where the ideas for some of these projects come from.

I also really liked seeing the woodworking projects–especially the ones that focused on refinishing and repurposing items.  Of course these ones grabbed my attention right away.  I don’t know if the one in the middle has a machine in it, but either way, it was beautiful.  And the spool drawer too!  I’d love to take an old singer and make it into a little stand for my dining room.  I have a few things just hanging out that I’d love to display a bit better–Maybe this would be the solution!??!

Keep in mind that these are just a few of the things that I really loved.  There’s so much more, but I didn’t want to bog your internet down with loading all of the pictures.  If you happen to have a chance to visit your state fair–especially the Iowa State Fair–I definitely recommend it!

Thanks to US Cellular for the tickets so I could admire all of the hard work these kids put into their projects!