Today was, as days go, excellent. It included not only progress on my state fair project, but measurable progress on what is a future felted fat bag.
It started when I read the following tweet over coffee this morning:
@crochetbug I just learned how to crochet! I feel satisfied and extremely happy!!
I completely understood what my fellow crocheter meant as those are the feelings I experienced when I first learned to crochet.
Crochet gave me a way to tap into all of the wonder and joi around me and then share that wonder and joi.
I sought to capitalize on the residual goodwill from the tweet, so I set myself up in my outdoor office, got out my 6.5 mm hook, and added four more rounds to the future felted fat bag:

Satisfied with the progress I had made on the future fat bag, and mindful of the fact that I need to continue to move forward on my larger 2012 North Carolina State Fair project, I swapped out my 6.5 mm hook for my 5.5 mm hook, and got busy with the six multi-color motifs I have been working on.
Here is how they appeared yesterday:

and here they are after a couple of hours of work interrupted by one dog walk:

just ten small squares and one rectangle away from completion.
The next sixteen days promise to be very busy, but all indications are that if I stay focused, I will finish both of these projects in time for the October 8 deadline for entry in the 2012 North Carolina State Fair.
Now, back to the crochet mines I go.