County Fair Entries and Results, 2022

The Cass County Fair is going on this week. I did my usual stint checking in the canning entries and helped in other departments as needed.

I, myself, didn't have that many entries this year. Although I've been doing some "making", it's not as much as previous years and I'm not sure I finished any big projects. Or none that I still have in my possession. :)

Realizing the fair was coming up, I thought I'd better get to that quilt block for the raffle quilt! About two weeks before the fair, I decided on my idea (the only one that was going through my head), looked up some pictures for ideas and got started.

The theme this year was "Keep on Trucking" and they gave us a few pieces of fabrics including this piece of novelty fabric as the focus fabric:

I really didn't see how it would be very useful for piecing (with the wide variety of colours and values), and there were very few whole trucks for applique. What to do??

I ended up appliqueing a scene. I drew out the scene, copied it and cut apart the copy to know what shape to cut out the pieces. I used the original copy to place the pieces in the right place. I sewed it all together with a buttonhole stitch.

You have to use each of the fabrics, so I cut out the most complete truck from the focus fabric and put it on the road.

There are things I would have changed about the design, but the cream background fabric is the only one that is big enough to span the whole width of the block. The rest are only 10"x10".

In the end, my block was awarded honorable mention and was chosen to be included in the quilt.

There were a lot of block entries this year so I was gratified to make it.

Here are all the blocks that will be in the quilt.

I was surprised how many pieced blocks there were. Generally there are more appliqued ones.

Here are the top six:

And here's a close view of the top block. There wasn't a person who looked at the blocks that didn't point out this one as their favorite! It's beautiful.

The focus fabric apparently makes up the flowers in the back of the truck and the railing. I find it interesting that the block they liked best used the least amount of the focus fabric and you can't recognize it at all. This year's theme is "Keep Calm and Grill On" and it includes a novelty fabric with grilling paraphernalia. It's going to be just as hard to work with.

Here is the quilt from last year's blocks.

Where's my block? I couldn't find one in my pictures or Instagram feed from last year and then I remembered that I couldn't find the kit. I remember all the little squares with different animals so I either lost the kit or they had run out by the time I went to buy one. I can't remember!

My second entry was my Bright Stars on Black quilt.

It was in the category of king/queen/full--machine quilted--pieced and won first! I finished this a few years ago, but it was the same year I finished my blue and white elephant quilt and I had entered that instead. There were two quilts in this category and the other one had quilting issues.

This quilt actually has machine and hand-stitched quilting but I entered it in machine quilting because I know they value hand-quilting more. Any machine quilting would disqualify it in hand-quilting, but hand-quilting wouldn't hurt my position in the machine quilting category. People are funny, right?

That's it for hand crafts!! A far cry from my usual number.

I also entered two photographs. This one from a senior picture session:

which did not place,

and this black and white lakeshore shot,

which also didn't place.

I thought I could only enter one colour and one black and white photo, but they've changed the rules. Maybe I should have looked at the fair book more closely and sometime before the week that the entries are due! :)

I had a nice time walking around the fair after I worked the Home Arts table on Wednesday. I enjoy walking through the animal barns and had to check out the new goat barn that someone I know had worked on.

On Monday evening I was with a group of people and mentioned I volunteered and the fair. She asked, "Is that the one with the baby animal barn?" I said, ya the fair has one, not realizing that every fair doesn't have one. She was so excited! She had heard about this a couple years ago but lost track of what fair it was. She has looked online and asked anyone who mentioned a county fair and finally, I had given her the answer! She immediately started planning which day to go to the fair this week. Lovely to make someone's day so easily! :)

The County Fair is Back

Like many other things cancelled last year, the county fair is returning this year. Tomorrow morning I will be taking care of the canning entries and be turning in my own projects for judging and display.

You would think I would have lots more things to enter after two years, but this is not the case. I used my time for some other creative pursuits and I spent a lot of time recovering from surgeries, etc., which meant I wasn't doing much of anything. (Watching videos of other people making stuff doesn't give me anything to show for it! :)

When I started to think about what to enter this year, I remembered that I would still need to make a quilt block for the raffle quilt. That meant I would need to find the fabric kit that must be used. Long story short, I searched high and low (twice) and can't find it. I've decided to believe that I didn't buy a kit. (Never mind that I bookmarked a post on Instagram just a few months after the fair and tagged it "Fair block ideas".) They didn't have any more kits available so there was nothing to be done about it.

So what did I find to enter?

Knitting

1. Cardigan, coat, pullover or sweater – adult

The Telja sweater. I finished it in 2018 and could have entered it in the last fair, but I had another sweater (this striped blouse with collar) to enter and you're only allowed one.

It's been worn but when I pulled it out of the hope chest it looked like I had cleaned and blocked it before putting it away. I pulled off some fuzz balls and called it good.

2. Vest or shell – adult

The Boxy T. This was finished in September, 2019, just after the last fair. This also had some evidence of wear and I had to re-work in some ends on the twisted edging. (There are four strands to bury and nothing to put them in!)

3. Socks

These socks were made in 2016. They were supposed to have a pattern woven on the side as you knit. I took them on a trip without the pattern and knit too far. Not wanting to rip it back, I figured I'd add some embroidery later. Now, five years later, I worked in the ends on the second sock and pulled out the experiment embroidery I had started at some point.

I didn't have time for a full blocking so I put them on the sock blockers, made them damp by spraying them with water, and hung them under a ceiling fan.

4. Any other knitted article not listed

The True Hope Cowl. I knit this in 2018. I hope the judge appreciates that it's double knit, which means it looks like the "good" side on both sides with the colors in reverse.

Sidenote: I have to admit looking at these pictures is making me a little nostalgic for this hair!

Crocheting

5. Cardigan, coat, pullover or sweater – adult

The Summer Dreams top, made last year. This might be my first crochet entry. I don't know if they're going to consider this a "pullover" but it has long sleeves and does pull over your head, so I didn't know where else it would fit. I provided a hanger for hanging so they could see a little better how it would fit.

Quilting

6. Full, Queen, King size – machine quilted: Pieced

The Nocturne Star quilt! Just finished today and ready for its debut! I put a note on it that it was quilted on a home machine (not a long arm) because I have heard them make that mistake on my quilts in the past. Credit where credit's due.

7. Twin size: Pieced

The Plaidish quilt. Finished last year and I almost forgot about it!

8. Wall hanging (180 inch perimeter and smaller): Pieced

"Prayer Flags" I took this from where it was hanging at church, leaving a naked rod. I hope no one thinks it was stolen. :)

9. Mini quilts (96 inch perimeter and smaller)

The Yellow Star on Blue wall hanging. This one is only 18" square. I submitted the sister wall hanging (Crossed Canoes on a Starry Night) in 2010 and it won a blue ribbon. Fingers crossed!

10. Any other quilted article not listed

The mug rug I made for Troy's desk. It was pretty dirty but a hand wash and a soak in Oxyclean has it looking bright and fresh again. I hit the binding with an iron and it's all set.

Photography

11. Color: abstract

This is a picture I captured last summer of Lake Superior waves breaking on some rocks. I wasn't sure what class to put it in--seascape? still life? I went with abstract just because it's cropped close enough that it's a little hard to see what you're looking at at first.

12. Black & White: head or figure

Self-Portrait. Is it weird that I keep submitting pictures of myself? I don't know. I don't have anyone else to take pictures of so self-portraits it is. (I convince myself it's ok because of the long tradition of artists painting self-portraits. I'm guessing they had the same problem I do!)

There you have it. All the fair hopefuls I'll be turning in. I'll let you know the results as soon as I have a chance.

Going to the Fair (2019)

Time for the fair again! Each year I look at the current "fair book", consider the categories, and decide what items I've made over the last year fit. Here's what I came up with this year:

Knitted Cardigan/Pullover
I've finished two sweaters since the last fair. My Telja (made with Icelandic wool),

and the vintage Vogue flashback:

Since my recommendation of abolishing the "knitted blouse" category was acted upon, I can only enter one of these in the "cardigan or pullover" category. (Yes, I was responsible for combining the cardigan and pullover categories too. If you don't like it, you should have entered more projects. Besides, it made room for the shawl and sock categories that were missing.)

Even though my gut tells me that the Telja sweater would be traditional enough to be appreciated by the judge, I have decided to enter the striped blouse. It certainly required more time and a lot more fussy finishing work.

Knitted Shawl or Wrap
I had two shawls I thought merited entry: the Hasukai cowl,

and the Blooming Brioche shawl:

The Hasukai is hard to understand when it's not being worn and is essentially a lot of garter stitch. The triangle shape of the Blooming Brioche is easy to understand and the patterned brioche stitch demonstrates a lot more skill. So Blooming Brioche it is!

Knitted Socks
Apparently I have made only one pair of full socks this year! Hard to believe. These are my entrelac socks made from wool purchased in Iceland.

I added several pair of shortie socks to my "done" pile this summer, but I don't think shortie socks are going to cut it.

Knitted Pullover-Child
I started this sweater in February for Wool-Aid and just sewed on the buttons this week.

It may not seem to qualify as "child" since I knit for the larger end of Wool-Aid's needs, but I think it should still be acceptable. (And it is literally knit for a child, so...)

Any Other Knitted Item
For this category, I decided to throw a set of these bookmarks into the ring.

I have five left. They are so stinking cute so I hope they are well-received.

Full/Queen/King Quilt-Pieced
Since this quilt wasn't accepted to the International Quilt Market's Sapphire Celebration exhibit and I wasn't in town to put it in the Shipshewana Quilt Festibal this year, its debut will be at the county fair.

If history is any indication, the worse it does here, the better it will do elsewhere!! :)

Raffle Quilt Block
My entry for the theme "Grandma's Scrap Quilt".

And I usually put in some photography as well. In the black and white section, I have entered this capture of a dandelion:

In the full colour section, I debated between these shots:

I love this shot of my mom and her sister. Besides their smiling faces, the background is out of focus just the right amount for a portrait.

I cropped this shot from the garden in Akureyri (Iceland). It ended up not printing as well as I had hoped.

This is the sunset Troy and I saw on our last night in Reykjavik.

I ended up going with the sunset, entering it in the "seascape" category.

I don't usually enter anything in the "grouping" section. (I don't have a frame suitable for multiple pictures for one thing.) This year I tried a different approach and made the collage in Photoshop and had it printed all on one 8x10 shot.

They are from a morning I walked around after a rainfall.

Tomorrow (Saturday) I will be helping with the sign in process and of course organizing the canning category for the judges and recording results. As always I will try to overhear as much of the quilting judging as I can. (I never seem to catch the knitting judging; I think it's done later.)

If you'd like to come to the fair, it will be open Monday, July 29, through Saturday, August 3. Check out their website for specials and events. (Super Kickers Rodeo is on Monday night!)

County Fair Entries 2018

Check-in for the Cass County (MI) Fair is tomorrow. I'll be helping in the canning department again. I missed last year and I'll be happy to be able to say hi to my judges again. It's the same ones each year and we get friendly in that I-only-see-you-once-a-year way.

Without any further ado, here are the entries I'll be submitting this year: (Click the link in the description if you want more information on any of the projects.)

1. Knitting: Socks

These are my "Jeans Socks", knit with yarn harvested from a sweater and then dyed. I have not worn them since they were finished (end of October) so that they would be in tip top shape.

2. Knitting: Vest - Child

This is the vest I knit for Wool-Aid.

3. Knitting: Doily or Table Topper

Because there is no shawl category (I know!), I am putting my Celestarium shawl in the Table Topper category. It's round like a doily, I guess. And I have thought that I may spread it out on a bed sometimes, so I guess that's almost the same thing.

4. Knitting - Hat, Scarf and/or Glove/Mitten Set

I've had this set done since last fall (and really enjoyed it over the winter), but never got to a photo shoot and so it hasn't been on the blog yet.

The cowl looks a little funny, but I really like how it wears. Here is a post about a similar set that I made a couple years ago so you can see how it looks.

5. Knitting - Any Other Not Listed

I'm submitting my skowl, but I'm just labeling it as a skirt because I really don't think I could explain a skowl.

6. Quilts: Full, Queen, King Size - Machine Quilted, Pieced

I am submitting my Cardinal Nine Patch. The size for this category is anything over a 320 inch perimeter. This quilt is 384" around.

7. Quilts: Twin Size, Pieced

This category is for quilts 181" to 320". My red and yellow Kaffe Fassett quilt fits in at 288" around (72" square).

8. Quilts: Wall Hanging, Appliqued (180" & smaller)

This is the "Homecoming" wall hanging I could have submitted last year. I think I had it done just in time, but decided to take home to our family campout to show it off to them instead.

There's a chance it may not gain any points with the judges because all of the applique is done just with adhesive - none of the pieces are actually sewn down! But once again, I make it how I like and submit what I have; I don't make pieces just to do well with the judges.

9. Quilts: Mini Quilts (96" & smaller)

This is another project I haven't shown on the blog yet; and apparently I don't even have a picture of it finished. (Which it is, with a blue binding.)

This is a little mugrug for a swap that was organized in the Quilters Knitting group on Ravelry. I'm planning to write about it after the recipient has received it. It's a semi-secret swap.

I will tell you that it was English paper pieced (surprise, surprise!), hand sewn, and hand quilted.

10. Quilts: Table Topper/Runner

I'm turning in my Watercolour Roses quilt for this category.

11. Quilts: Quilt Block Contest

I wrote about this recently. This isn't an updated picture, but yes it is 12.5" now.

12. Color Photography, Head or Figure

I'm submitting one photo this year - a cropped version of this self-portrait.

You can no longer submit a picture in each class - you have to choose only one colour and one b&w - so the number of entries is very limited. Gone are the days when I bring in a bunch of pictures! (I think nine was my highest number.)


This was the first year that I went to the fair office ahead of time and pre-registered. I've always been kind of curious about how that works, but it's never been easy to get in while I was working. I think it makes it easier on the fair organizers, but I don't even really know.

I hope you get a chance to check out the fair. It's open July 30 through August 4. Check out their website for information and click here to buy tickets online.

My coworkers used to make a game of trying to find all of my entries. Good luck on picking out my dozen! :)