Hahaha…that’s when I did “Little I” at NDSU when I was a senior. That event is called the Lamb Lead and it entails making a garment out of wool, making a matching blanket to represent your sponsor, putting the blanket on a lamb, and showing the lamb. It also entails an interview with the judges prior to the show and a written test about the wool industry. It was a blast. I always wanted to participate in Little I since the first time I attended my freshman year of college. It is a spirited event dedicated to agriculture. Afterwards there is a dance in the arena and after THAT everyone would stay up all night partying.
When I was a junior I got a work study job sewing theatrical costumes for the theatre department where I expanded my sewing skills beyond the home ec sweatshirt I made in middle school and my senior year I decided it was finally time to do the lamb lead. The sewing a garment out of wool was the easy part…the part about showing an animal was the hard part! The lamb lead was different from other events because the competitor didn’t have to spend the time maintaining and preparing the lamb (which, by the way, was a full grown sheep that was still considered a lamb because it was under 1 year old). I borrowed a nice AGR guy’s lamb that he was preparing to show and spent a few hours with him in the weeks beforehand to get acquainted with my lamb.
During those days of preparation I was exposed for the first time to what is involved in showing animals. Although I spend most of my childhood on a farm, it was not a farm that had livestock and the area I grew up in was more of a cropland type of area. Also, my county was not a big 4-H county (although it used to be during my dad’s childhood…go Garfield Rockets!) I was kind of fascinated by the preparation. The animals were washed and groomed and washed and clipped and once again washed! The black colored cows where sprayed look shinier and even touched up with paint! Some of their fur was combed into a little mohawk down their backs! While this was all going on, they just stood there like they didn’t give a crap about any of this and pooped as they wished.
On the day of Little I, there is a morning show, where the in-depth judging takes place, and the night show, where there is more pageantry (complete with king, queen and princess!). During the morning show, the lamb lead judges asked a few questions (we had already had interviews earlier in the week). I recall being asked the difference between worsted wool and wool felt (which I knew) and what the term “blood weight” meant, which I couldn’t remember (wool is measured by the American Blood Grade System. I still don’t really understand it.)
The photo at the top of the post was taken during the day show. That lamb looks beautiful! (No thanks to me!). For the night show I didn't wear that distracting scarf!
During the night show, the animals were all getting really annoyed and starting to act up. One of the lamb lead ladies’ lambs kept trying to lay down. Her dad had been in the animal area earlier and thought she (the lamb) might be pregnant! Mine was starting the be uncooperative as well and when we were lining up the heifers from the previous show paraded by, also rowdy and starting to thrash around, and got the lambs all agitated. Well, not surprisingly, I didn’t win! Hahaha. I think there were seven competitors in the event and they were all long time 4-H members who had grown up sewing and showing. My outfit, a deep purple knee length coat, was really nice. An old rancher type from my hometown area who was in attendance even told my mom it was the nicest one (and he wouldn’t just say that!) The problem was that I didn’t know how to show a sheep! Hahaha no one told me what to do! I was told, if I remember correctly, to walk on a certain side but I didn’t know. I just did what the others did. Also, apparently, you aren’t supposed to touch the animal when you are showing. I was petting mine the whole time because I thought it would calm her down! Ugh! Oh well, I didn’t care. I had a blast anyway. I had a huge cheering section too!
This was taken at KD before I went to my intervew.
There I am in action during the main event! Coicidentally, that guy in the white at the bottom is the guy who let me use his lamb! I never noticed that before now! He is probably looking away in shame at how bad I was at showing. 
My fans! I started talking about sewing because I was sewing yesterday and today. I made a few quilts and I was going to showcase them! Since this is already so long I will just show one.
I made the top of the garish monstrosity two years ago! It is composed of many of my t-shirts from college. I had previously made one of these from my old high school t-shirts and also a few for other people. This one is the biggest of them all, 5 squares by 5 squares, and I know it is waaaaay over the top and almost hurts the eyes to look at! Kind of like pictures from my college years! I put flannel between the squares and on the back so it is very soft. I knew I had to have that crazy flannel as soon as I saw it and based the rest of the quilt around it. With the front and back and batting it is so heavy and I knew sewing it together would be an ordeal so I put it off for two years. Hahaha. Well, DONE! I have to say that my sewing has improved a lot in two years! If you look up close, this quilt is full of little mistakes and puckers. That’s OK, though, it’s just for my own enjoyment. I had a lot of good times in those t-shirts! And that’s not even all of them! I kept some of my favorites to keep wearing. (Some of the ones in the quilt, especially the ones from my freshmen year, were pretty oversized compared to what I prefer to wear now so I didn’t mind parting with them). I like to search thrift stores and rummage sales for old Bison shirts so maybe one day I can make a themed t-shirt quilt! 
I made this square with all the little logos from the fronts of the shirts! They were too cute to throw away!
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