County Fair

EDIT: Go here to see what other quilters are doing!
http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com

My entries this year...

Christmas Tree Decoration category.

Collections  - 6 items under 25 years category. My mother gifted me with all but the small picture, which was gifted to me by a friend. My kitchen is decorated with a rooster/country theme.

6 inch block category. These are part of the 365 Challenge that I am so far behind on. 

12 inch block category. The bottom one did not place.

Quilt Machine Quilted category. Did not place. The judge wrote on the back of the entry tag that she thought this one deserved a blue ribbon. This will go a co-worker friend who resigned at the end of this school year to move closer to her grandchildren.

Quilt Machine Quilted category. 3rd place. I love the bright batik fabrics in this one.

Quilt Machine Quilted by Owner or Other. Did not place. I had originally thought to make this one larger, then changed my mind. I used the extra parts to piece the backing which worked well since there was not enough of the green plaid. 

* Very disappointed that I did not get a ribbon for this one. More on that at the end of this post, if you care to read it.

 Quilt Hand Quilted category. Got first place. This will go to a friend.

** Disappointed, read below.

Over all I am pleased with my placings, however, I am disappointed with a couple of them. 

There is a category for Champion Hand Quilted Item. There are 4 categories for hand quilted - quilt patchwork, quilt hand appliqued, quilt hand embroidered or cross stitched, and child's size quilt. Any in those categories must be hand quilted. The first place winner of each of those 4 categories is then judge for Champion Hand Quilted Item.

**My hand quilted one is LARGE - king size bed with a large drop all around large, prairie points, lots of quilting, good piecing. Since I got a 1st place it was in the running for Champion Hand Quilted. The quilt that won that award was very nice, but smaller, child-sized, less complicated block with less quilting and a simpler quilt design. But this person wins that award every year so I shouldn't be surprised that I didn't win.

Sort of last minute this year a new category was added - Champion Machine Quilted Quilt (machine quilted by owner). The winning quilt was suppose to be machine quilted by the exhibitor, not another person. There is a category for Quilt - Machine Quilted by owner or other.

A problem arose when it was not clearly stated in the rules that the quilts must be quilted BY OWNER after each category listing and apparently there was some confusion by exhibitors as to which categories would be judged for this award. Turns out any quilt category that is machine quilted, except the one for Machine Quilted by owner or other got judged for this award.The winner of this award did NOT quilt her quilt herself. She said she was confused about which categories would be judged for that award. I was pretty sure during judging that she, and some others, had not quilted the quilts themselves. I was also pretty sure that had they read the rules carefully they would have known which categories would be included for the Champion judging.

The committee has talked and we will be making changes to the rule book for next year so that hings are very clear.

* I am disappointed with my placement with this one because there is a lot of piecing in this one. And, it is good piecing. The quilts that won, while nice, were of more simple designs. The judge (I assist) looks at each quilt as it is laid flat on a large table. The next quilt is placed on top, and so on until she has viewed each quilt. Mine was the last one and on top of the pile. She folded each quilt back covering the one on top of it to view them all again, then unfolded them to view again. She did that several times only she didn't look at mine again. It remained folded back with the next one folded over it. I can't (and wouldn't) say anything as that might influence her, but if it had been another persons quilt I would have. 

That being said there were some beautiful quilts this year.  I like to assist in the Fine Arts building, especially on judging day, so that I learn where I can improve, and also so I can see all the quilts unfolded in all their glory. We don't have a lot of space to display the quilts and they have to be folded so small that you really can't get a good look at them. This makes me sad, knowing all the work that went into making them. We keep discussing other ways we could display the quilts but have not come up with a solution that is acceptable to everyone.

 In memory of my brother.