I had the opportunity to go to my local fair on Friday night. My husband and I braved the long ticket counter lines to get in, and the first place we went was straight to look for my quilts on display.
Small Item Display
I knew that I would have quilts hanging from the ceiling (more details on that in a minute), but I also submitted a few smaller items so we walked the perimeter display areas to find them first.
Blue Rin Pillow
I was excited to see that the Blue Rin pillow received a first place ribbon! Note that in general, ribbons are not placed on the items and instead stickers are put on the name tags for the items. The ribbons and judging comment sheets are handed out in an envelope at pick up (which happens later this evening).
Green Rin Pillow
The Green Rin Pillow (in the same category as the Blue) received honorable mention. I knew I was putting them up against each other in the same category, and I can’t argue: the blue pillow was executed a bit better than the green just because the needle turn applique on the green pillow was larger and wrapped around the edges a bit. At least, in my mind that’s why. I’ll be curious to read the judging sheets when I get them!
Spring Growth
The toughest category at the fair (meaning the category with the most entries) has to be the large quilt, machine pieced, longarm quilted category. I submitted 2 quilts to this category, and Spring Growth was one of those two quilts. It did not place, but it was still fun to see it hanging on display. I’m really proud of the flow quilting I quilted in the negative space.
Digital Wave
Digital Wave was the second quilt I entered in the large quilt, machine pieced, longarm quilted category. It also did not place. Neither of those results surprise me. As you can see in this picture, it can be hard to view the quilts as they hang pretty high over head. For the most part, my husband and I tried to photograph the hanging quilts from a distance, but the photography display was tall and just behind my back as I photographed Digital Wave and there just wasn’t a better angle.
Spiraling Petals
The category that I am always excited to enter is the original pattern category. This year, I only had one quilt in this category (we are allowed to submit up to 2 quilts in each category) because Oh Happy Day was selected to show at Quilt Festival in November. Spiraling Petals placed second, which I found very exciting!
Freefall
My version of Freefall (pattern by Sandra from mmmquilts and done as part of her Freefall Quilt Along) placed second in its category.
Downstream
Downstream received a second place as well. This ribbon surprised me the most! I feel like the design and quilt are really modern and I was really stunned that it placed / received a ribbon at all.
Cross Check
Now for the 2 mini quilts that I haven’t shared yet on the blog (stay tuned, more details coming very, very soon!!). Up first is Cross Check and another 2nd place.
Single Burst
Last but not least out of my quilts is Single Burst, which received 3rd place.
Whew! What a roundup. Overall I will be bringing home 7 ribbons (for 9 submitted quilts): 1 first place, 4 second place, 1 third place, and 1 honorable mention. I have to admit that I did not expect to receive so many ribbons and I am looking forward to reading the judging comments.
Big Winner
This quilt by Marilyn Hendrix was the big award winner for all the quilts at the fair. It is so hard to show detail in these photographs, but the quilt was beautifully executed/pieced, and crisply quilted.
Modern Hand Quilted Quilt
And this hand quilted modern quilt caught the eye of everyone in the room. I heard a lot of “look at the goldfish cracker quilt, mommy!” comments as I was walking around. It won a well deserved first place in its category.
Shaved Ice
For me, no visit to a fair is complete without a shaved ice. My favorite flavor is Tiger’s Blood (Cherry and Coconut), and after the hot day, it was a refreshing treat.
Dorky Rabbit
My husband and I love walking around and seeing the animals at the fair. This year we made friends with this dorky rabbit (who was just in mid cleanup after having a bit to drink).
What is your favorite part of a fair, other than the quilts (of course!!)?
Candy Floss!!! As a child my Mum and Dad took me once a year or every two years to a fair, and candy floss fascinated me. Well done Yvonne, I am so happy for you,and all your ribbons are so well deserved. I can see a new wall hanging in the making, of ribbons.
The poultry barn — so many weird varieties of chickens — and funnel cakes.
Yvonne, congratulations to you on your well deserved ribbons. You submitted so many beautiful quilts. I would give any of them a first place ribbon Thanks for sharing them with us. Our fair is next week and I am looking forward to see our quilts. I am in an area where all the quilts are very traditional. Will be exciting to see if anything modern pop up this year.
I’ve never been to our state fair here in New Jersey–something(probably the advertising) makes me think it’s more of a carnival. There may be county fairs, but I’m not sure if is quilt judging.
All of your quilts are beautiful, and you really cleaned up! Congratulations!
Congratulations on such a great showing!
My favorite part of the fair has always been shopping for handmade goods from local artisans.
You had a lot of great entries! Congratulations on all of them. That was a lot of hard work.
Congrats on a great showing 7 out of 9 is very impressive!
Congratulations, Yvonne; well done! Your quilts are so striking;.I am not surprised at all that you had such an amazing showing.
Congrats to you. How fun to see all your quilts there on display at the fair.
Congrats on all your ribbons and your monumental efforts in introducing modern quilts in a traditional quilting environment. My favorite part of any fair is cotton candy. There is just something so magical about watching colored sugar spin and turn into puffs of sugary goodness. The goldfish quilt is just darling but I find myself wondering what the water would look like done with the transparency technique you do so well…hmmm.
Wow! Great quilts! Congratulations on all the wins. We love to visit all the different kinds of chickens. Love those feathery creatures!
Love the write up and pictures! Oh, and the dorky rabbit, too. Thanks for taking us along.
Congratulations!! It’s great to see so many ribbons on your modern quilts. Hopefully you receive some nice premium money too. They do the ribbons differently here where it is more of a individual ranking blue red white and not a strict 1st 2nd 3rd per category. They are so generous with the blues too lol. Thanks for sharing all the details. It is nice they have space and hang the quilts in full up high. I bet it is beautiful just hard to see and photograph details then.
I was eager to hear how you did at the fair, and I’d say you did well! Congratulations! Its a lot of fun to wander through a fair exhibit hall, trying to play it cool but eagerly searching for your items to see how you did! Our family enters things in our local county fair every year. This year, my 10 year old son’s pecan chocolate chunk pie won Best of Show for desserts in all age categories. He was busting his buttons proud. 🙂
Congratulations on all of your ribbons! It was fun to see where they placed. I have actually never been to our fair. I’ll have to think about going.
Congratulations. You cleaned up, and deservedly so. So great that Freefall was completed in time to enter, and win a ribbon.
I haven’t been to a fair in years due to allergies but we used to spend a fortune in food. lol We always checked out the buildings for crafts, displays, sale items. And no trip is complete without a wander down the midway.
om gosh what a cutie rabbit! And congratulations to you and all your ribbons! I put one in our fair one year and didn’t place, so I was discouraged. ALL of the quits other than mine were traditional. Mine was, surprise, surprise, a more modern. But all in all the experience was fun and when my friend saw it they loved it. Maybe I should try again?
You certainly did well at the county fair, congratulations. I love seeing so many of your quilts hung and the variety among them. I am pleased to see that FreeFallQAL was in the fair and won a ribbon, too. Its a great quilt and I loved your version (mine will be quilted in the next few weeks!). That shaved ice looks huge!
Congratulations, Yvonne! Beautiful quilts.
Congrats on all the wins! How fun and exciting it must be to see your quilts hanging in a show and then to place…I’m a little jealous of the shaved ice, it sounds delicious!
Congratulations Yvonne. I’d say you really had an outstanding showing. Our Allentown fair starts tomorrow, and I only have a crib quilt and a table runner in for judging. I love to visit the cows at our fair. My grandfather was a dairy farmer and we lived on the corner of the farm, with lots of fields surrounding us. That shaved ice looks tempting.
Congratulations. What great fun to see your entries and read your descriptions…..and all the ribbons! Amazing. Way too bad the quilts can’t be viewed from distances and best advantages, but that is the way it is. I love cotton candy and corn dogs. I love all the handmade stuff and the 4-H displays. When I was a little girl there was a water show in a tent. There were colored lights turned onto water spraying in many rotating designs, music played. That was early 1950s. That was magic. Thanks for the memories. ❤️
I love seeing your quilts on display at a fair. Congrats on your awards. To me, they’re all winners!
When I lived in IL, our local fair would let you come in for free during the lunch hour, so my friend and I would always go get funnel cakes for lunch. (Totally healthy.) I totally went to try this tigers blood business.
Congrats on your totally deserved ribbons!
CongratsSeven out of nine, well done.
Congratulation on all the wins. Beautiful quilts.
Congrats Yvonne on your great showing at the fair! My favorite part of our local fair is our carnival. Our community owns our own carnival & we run our own rides & games. All the rides & games are 25 cents. Thousands of people flock to our little community for the week of our fair & its so fun to walk around the carnival grounds visiting with old friends & family that are home for the fair. Our community is quite famous for our carnival (and because we’re the home of Steve Tasker, Buffalo Bills famous special teams player)!
Great results at the fair!!! I think fair quilt shows are usually made up of mostly traditional quilts but mixing in some modern work is good as it provides exposure of the different styles. I am not surprised to see your strong showing here.
Love the animal barns – especially the rabbits, chickens and pygmy goats – so cute!
Congratulations on your ribbons. I know this was an experiment for you…introducing modern to the public. It appears that inroads are being made. I look forward to hearing more about the two minis and if you are willing to share, what comments the judges gave. I know that those comments can be so helpful further down the road. I really love visiting the animals….except rabbits (too allergic). The different kinds of chickens always make me smile.
Congrats on your ribbons! It’s always fun to see what tickles the fancy of the judges, and what doesn’t – I love the surprise! My favorite parts of the fair are the quilts, of course, and the artwork – especially drawings and paintings. There are some very talented people who enter our fair.
Congrats on all of your well deserved ribbons!
Congrats on all your wins…that must feel good! I too like looking at the animals at the fair..it’s aways a must for us as well.
The quilts followed by the photography divisions. Congrats on all the ribbons!
Congratulations on your winnings. That is a lot of entries. Our local fair here does not have a quilt entry, but there are other beautiful handi work that were submitted by makers. I too like the animals at the fair.
Congrats, Yvonne! It’s always exciting to see the quilts we make hanging with friends 🙂 I have to say that shaved ice looks pretty yummy.
Looks a great day and a fantastic result for you Yvonne. We don’t have a tradition of fairs like that here . I wish I did
Yay! Congrats on your ribbons! Well deserved!
Congratulations. That’s amazing that you received so many ribbons. Well done.
Wonderful to see your work receive so many ribbons! 😉
Congratulations on all the ribbons, Yvonne! They’re well deserved, for sure 🙂