Today is the first day of fall, and just like that, summer is gone.

Some of my readers who have followed my state fair projects over the years have wondered if it is possible that I am ahead of schedule this year.

I knew going into this project that putting it together was going to take about a month. I completed the cookies on September 17, and have now had five crochet days to work on assembly.

When I went to press on Thursday night, I had gotten this far:

By early Friday afternoon, I had gotten the ends woven in:

and before sunset on Friday, I had nearly completed work on a fifth motif:

I lurched along through Saturday making progress in fits and starts and had gotten this far by late afternoon:

Then, with a bit of a burst of energy, I continued to work some of Saturday night and most of today with this photo showing how far I got:

Part of the slower pace at the moment is the result of repairs around the house that I knew would have to get done despite the fact it was state fair season, and I am hoping that come September 30, when most of my non-crochet commitments will have been met, I will have continued to make sufficient progress and be able to put (in crochet sort of way) the pedal to the metal and get this piece completed without staying up all night as I did in 2011 and 2012.

And if I do have to stay up all night, I can always listen to Simon and Garfunkel as the time continues slip slidin’ away: