3...2...1...County Fair Results (2017)

3. My long cable socks came in third. Not what I was thinking they deserved!

You can see the second place socks right beside them. Stocking stitch socks made with a self-striping yarn.

Here are the first place socks:

You can't really see it because of the tweedy or coloured yarn, but I'm pretty sure I could see a lace pattern.

I would say that the judges value lace work and colour work above cables, except that my elephant socks,

didn't even place and the colourwork there is a lot better than either of these. Oh well. At least I get to take them home with me and wear them!! (And today I found two pair of skinny jeans I can wear them over. Yes, you heard right...I'm planning to wear these socks over my jeans like boots. Just try and stop me.)

2. My striped knit dress received a second place ribbon:

I didn't see what it lost to--it was hanging with sewn garments and it's hard to pick out stuff in the "other" category.

1. My shawl made from handspun received first in the handspun category.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was the only entry. I think it's a good category to have but there aren't many entries (if any) most years. That's why I figured I could get a way with submitting something that was mixed with commercial yarn. (I did declare that very clearly on the card label.)

And my Farm Girl Vintage quilt received first!

That's out of all of the full, queen and king sized quilts pieced* and quilted by the same person. (They added a separate category this year for quilts quilted by others--meaning a professional long-arm quilter.)

*Pieced, meaning not applique or combined with applique.

The quilt entries were way down this year, but still...I'll take it! :)

My quilt block square for the raffle quilt got honorable mention:

That means it didn't place in the first six but did make it onto the quilt.

Here are all the blocks:

And here are the ones that will be made into pillows:

There was some drama about the second block not being on the quilt, but since I wasn't there, I don't know any details!

They have changed the raffle system this year.

The finished quilt from the 2016 raffle blocks.
My block is in the second row, third from
the left.

A little recap in case you forgot...it used to be that the raffle winner of 2016 (let's say) got a quilt made out of the 2016 blocks. Of course, that meant the quilt wasn't ready for a while after the drawing. It also meant that you couldn't see the final quilt. To me, that would be a plus because I could have some input on how it was finished. But for many people--especially those with no quilting experience--it was impossible to imagine the quilt they were buying a ticket to win. And 100% of the time, the finished quilt (which was displayed the following year) looked far better than the individual blocks.

So, they have decided to raffle the quilt made out of the 2017 blocks in 2018. They can display the finished quilt and the winner can take ownership of the quilt right away.

But that has left a gap year in 2017 with no quilt to raffle--the 2016 blocks were raffled in 2016 and the 2017 blocks will be raffled in 2018. What to do?

The solution was a generous quilter making a quilt for this year's raffle:

I bought my tickets. The drawing is tonight. I'll let you know if I win! :)

_____________________
UPDATE! I DID WIN!!

I just got the call. We had an amusing start to the conversation where she didn't know who I was because I only wrote my first name on my raffle tickets. (People were waiting and my last name is too long!) Once she realized who I was, she said "Oh you're my Christina." Ha ha, yes I am.

So tomorrow I will be able to bring home the quilt pictured above with my entries. How awesome!

PS: I'm crediting this to slightly crumpling my tickets so they don't lie flat and are easier to grab. But now that I've said that, don't use the same trick and lessen my perceived advantage!!