Fair Results (2 of ?): A Showing of Quilts

Fair week is over! We cleaned up and handed back all the entries Sunday morning.

Now that I have a moment to do so, I can share some of the quilts on display.

Let me start with the raffle quilt. If you read the blog last year, you followed the saga of my "Spirit of America" quilt block. This year we saw all the blocks sewn together and quilted in the colours chosen by the raffle winner:

The sashing and borders definitely go with the quilt blocks, but I have to say I find it far too dark for my taste. Usually the winner has the quilt by December, and then has to lend it back to the Fair for display. (You can find my block on the second bottom row, third from the left. It won sixth--the ribbon winners (#1-6) are in the centre six places, ranked from top to bottom.)

This year's raffle quilt had far fewer entries, and for the first time they did not have 20 blocks on the quilt. They picked 12 blocks from the blocks of lighthouses of the Great Lakes:

Most of them were quite good, and it was interesting to read where the lighthouses were located and the stories that some of them included. The one that won second place (with the red rosette) is the same lighthouse I was going to do.

Here is a close up of the six place winners:

And then of the ones that don't make it into the quilt, they pick six for pillows:

I believe I already showed you these, as my square was made into pillow #5 (middle of the bottom row). As Isaac pointed out, my mariner's compass somehow placed higher than a square that actually had a lighthouse on it. (I don't know why, but I won't argue.)

In case you're all wondering (or if even one of you is wondering), my mother won the pillow with her highest bid. All of the pillows sold (which I don't think happens every year, but I'm not sure because I haven't always paid that close attention): the highest for almost $80 (!!!--I know!) and the lowest I think for $10. Mine was somewhere in between. All the money goes to support the Home Arts building at the fair.

I did not win the raffle for this year's quilt. :(

I did buy a kit for next year's raffle quilt. The theme is "Down on the Farm" and the fabrics include a good barn red and two "farm scene" prints. I think this is another theme that suits applique over piecing. I think I will have to give in and do a "scene" if I want to win a prize. We'll see if I think it's worth it or if I just go with a block that fits the theme, even if it doesn't fit what they want.

Following are some of the other quilts that were on display. First, we have the grand champion:

A very lovely log cabin arrangement. I really like the stars with their halos. I think I already commented that the quilting was just a very functional big loose meander. Looks like it was done on a long arm.

There were lots of other fun quilts, like this quartet of ladies:

with their hats forming a Snails Trail block in the middle.

This was the only quilt done with batiks that was hung:

It was quilted with different patterns in different sections but it didn't show up very well against the patterned fabric.

This was a an arrangement of half square triangles and solid squares:

Very nice scrap quilt, I think.

This one was very prominently displayed immediately after the raffle blocks:

Troy thought the colours looked like a gracefully faded Persian rug, but I was not such a fan of them. The colours look a little too "off" for me. Impressive quilt, nonetheless.

A scrappy star quilt:

And a version of the Very Hungry Caterpillar:

This book has become very popular in quilting circles. There was a pattern published in one of the major quilting magazines and everyone was doing it. This is the first alternate version I've seen done with the fabrics. I like it. (A quick google search, however, reveals that it is just another pattern, not an original idea. In any case, it is cute.)

A great version of a trip around the world quilt:

I just love the big white and grey X across the quilt. This one was hand quilted in diagonal lines in one direction (i.e. not cross hatch).

And then we had these two nearly identical quilts:

One with a blue ribbon and one with no ribbon. Doesn't that seem a little odd? The one on the right was much more heavily quilted, and there are slight variations of colour and borders between the two. Troy definitely liked the one on the right more. I wasn't sure.

I was there when one of these quilt makers came through the building. One of her kids was amazed there was another one "just like yours, Mom!" Apparently they do know each other and had planned to make the project together on a weekend quilt retreat they had.

Ah...weekend quilt retreats...trying not to be jealous...

There were more quilts there but many of them had to be folded over racks and were hard to get a good look at. And the photography/art area keeps getting more and more crowded--they may have to add more shelves and take away even more quilt display area. That would not be good!

Alright, I think that's all I've got on the fair this year. It was interesting to get more involved in the behind the scenes stuff; and fun enough I've signed myself up for the same duties next year!