County Fair 2013: (Not a) Raffle Quilt

Without any further ado (or wait), here are this year's raffle quilt blocks:

You'll find mine at the center top. So I made it into the quilt, but not one of the top 6 winners. (But I still get a premium--all of $4.) Here's a close up of the winners:

While I was checking in the canning entries, I wandered over to the quilt blocks a few times to see the other entries. (It's a good time to get a chance to get up nice and close.) I saw the first place block (top left) come in and remember thinking "If that doesn't get first, this whole thing is senseless." But it did. It's quite a bit like the block I wanted to make if I had more time. (Option 2 in this post.)

You may have noticed in the first picture that the block layout isn't typical. They had far fewer entries this year than most. They aim for 20 blocks in the quilt and six pillows. There are 14 in the quilt. I don't know how they're going to lay them out. (I don't really like it the way it is now.) A couple years ago, they had a similar problem, and went with 12 blocks on the quilt. They laid it out like this at the fair but ended up sewing it together like this. So who knows what they will do.

The bigger problem is that the State is cracking down on raffles and they weren't able to get a license. (I've heard this from other charities like the AIDS Walk--it's super expensive to do just an annual event.) So there is no quilt raffle this year. Very disappointing. It also has me wondering what they're planning to do with the blocks. If they make it into a quilt, what will happen to it? Or do we just get our blocks back like all the other entries. That would be odd. Maybe they should have done the same thing with the quilt as what they do with the pillows...

And that is sell them in a silent auction. There are five pillows this year:

There are some lovely blocks there. I recognized some of the  names as usual ribbon winners so I'm guessing they had something technical wrong with the block, although that would be surprising from seasoned veterans. I went ahead and bid on the last pillow (the pieced square with border). On Monday night it was the only one with bids on it, which I find interesting as it's the only pieced (not applique) block. Makes me think they should do more traditional block themes. Or it's just a coincidence. (BTW, my bid has since been beat.)

And here are three "also rans":

I love the blue and orange bird in the top right. I'm pretty sure all of these used more than the two allotted fabrics you're allowed to add to the kit.

And here are last year's quilt blocks done up:

Once again very dark sashing. Much darker than what I would have went with. The raffle winner gets to chose, however, so I guess they should get what they want! ;)

This quilt got a lot of comments as I was sitting there on Monday night. (It's also the first one by the doorway.) There was a lot of misunderstanding, however. The sign on it said "2012 winner Jane Smith." I think you have to announce contest winners to fulfill some regulation, but it was poorly worded. Most people assumed Jane Smith made the quilt and won overall. (They completely disregarded the incorrect year.) I talked to a few people who were open to it to explain, but most people don't want to listen.

The other odd thing about the quilt is that they moved all the blocks compared to how they were placed in judging. The center six blocks are supposed to be #1 through #6. I won #6 and I find my block on the top row. Later I noticed #1 (because I remember that beautiful block) is on the very bottom left. Either they got mixed up, or the winner didn't like the arrangement and was allowed to change it. I think those center positions were fought hard for and don't like that things are all willy-nilly. But the main thing would be that Jane Smith is happy with the quilt and I hope she is.

When Troy gets tired of my complaining suggesting improvements, he tells me to just get out of it. But for some reason I can't. I love the idea of this project. A theme. A competition. Nice quilt blocks. A raffle you could win. The year-to-year progress of the project (1-kit; 2-blocks; 3-quilt). So I bought a kit for next year. Only $5 and I wasn't ready to remove all opportunity to participate.