Tag: San Mateo County Fair

I attended the Fair last weekend with my wonderful SIL#3 and some great friends, including the fabulous Friend Julie. Her terrific husband Marc came along, too.

First, my quilt, Colorblocks #3, won second place. I always want first, but Julie won first and she deserved it. Her quilting was much better than mine.

I might need to make this quilt over again. I like it, but am not sure it hits the points I was hoping to hit. I need to look up my original notes on the iteration I wanted to make after I made Colorblocks 2. Good thing I have plenty of silk left.

Sadly, neither my nor Cindy’s Enigma pouches won anything. The big bags always win even though the one that won had NO zippers, NO hardware, nothing complicated.

Fortunately, Laura said she is breaking up that category so small bags are separated from large bags.

I only put in two entries, so I only got one prize this year. They  are reintroducing the Sweepstakes winner next year, so I’ll have to start collecting various projects to enter.

The challenge quilts were well hung (except for mine, which was at knee level) and there were many ribbons on them: 4 total. There is an award for the best quilt in the challenge category, but none of us won that one.

I’ll have some time this year to beef up my entries, so I will work on that. There is something really satisfying about entering the Fair. It’s a feeling I don’t get from entering regular quilt shows.

DH and I were both sick over the long holiday weekend. The illness lingered through the beginning of the Fair and through the day our extended family had decided to go together. I didn’t think we would be able to make it at all, but we decided to go last Saturday. I was not intending to see every single thing at the Fair and I made my desires clear: quilts and a frozen chocolate covered banana. I didn’t want to overdo it after resting and taking it easy for a few weeks.

I let DH pick what he wanted to see first, so we looked at the Commercial area first. It was sad. So many of the vendors and information booths we had seen before were not exhibiting. The vendors who made the effort were selling items of low quality or of no interest. I wish the Fair management would find a way to get artists to sell their wares.

After that, we went to see the quilts and other Home Arts. I saw Laura, the organizer of Home Arts, pretty soon after we arrived. She will be taking suggestions after she rests for a bit, but I talked with her about some things I thought were confusing. She also said that they had 75% of the entries they had pre-pandemic, which was a lot better than the other areas. I was pleased at the number of quilts even though it was obvious there were fewer.

BAM made a GREAT showing. In addition to my wins, I saw that Sue G., Joelle, Bonnie, and Cyndi all received awards of one kind or another. The upcycle/recycle challenge was shown in a prominent place.

I saw one of the orphan block Sew Day quilts, Cyndi’s, which is a great effort. It is colorful and interesting to look at.

I was so impressed that she got her act together enough to get this into the Fair. I think it was made in April and since the deadline for entry and deliver are in different parts of May, it was a quick turnaround.

SIL#4 also won a prize for one of her knitted hats. I saw her hat before I saw either of my winners. It makes sense, though, as small knitted items are right at the front of the hall.

I was really pleased to see that my teaching paid off. Sue G., one student in a recent class (and member of the door prize team), put two quilts in the Fair and won prizes for both! I was thrilled beyond belief. She has been sewing a lot and practicing her skills, so the prizes were well deserved, but I was still thrilled. I’m not saying that I did everything, but I do take credit for instilling good habits and teaching good skills.

I was shocked at the prices. Everything had gone up. In some ways I felt like Fair management and the vendors were making me pay for the loss of two years worth of my attendance at the Fair:

Entry fee: $20.00 x 2 – $40.00

Parking:                          – $15.00

Ice Cream:                     – $16.50

Drink:                              – $10.00

______________________

                                             $81.50

minus free ticket:         $20.00

______________________

                                             $61.50

We didn’t even have lunch. I wondered how families with children were able to afford the costs just to get in? I told DH he had a year to figure out what to enter into the Fair next year so he could get a free ticket as well. By the time we got home, he had decided on a cell phone photo.

I always look forward to the Fair and make a point of entering.

I wasn’t well enough to go to the Fair last weekend with the family, but they were kind enough to send me photos of my wins as they walked the exhibits. I was SHOCKED to get two wins in the made-by-one-quilted-by-another category. That category is almost impossible to win in since there are so many entries. I am thrilled!

Fabric of the Year 2019 and Frolic! both won. Isn’t that purple ribbon pretty? I’ll have to see the details if I get to go to the Fair or when I get everything back.

After a two year hiatus, I entered the County Fair. I entered 3 items and hope I get free tickets.

My three items are:

I kind of wanted to enter more things, but wasn’t sure what else to enter or I don’t have the thing anymore. Also, I am busy, I don’t have time to figure out all the divisions, etc, especially now that they are only giving prize money for first place. Phooey on that! I really wanted to enter Flying Around, which has had no outing at all. It was, however, finished in 2019 and that seems like a long time ago in Fair years.

Last year I let you know what projects I entered into the fair. I saw the post by accident and can’t really believe another year has gone by. I didn’t wait until the last minute this year. Cyndi was kind enough to collect a bunch of entries at the BAM meeting to take to the fair. I gave her mine since it is much easier to have someone else drop them off. I think I’ll have to give her a gift or take her to lunch, because she really does save me a lot of time and energy.

I didn’t enter as much this year as I only wanted the free tickets. I know it is pretty callous, but it is true. There are so many quilts in the pieced-by-one, quilted-by-another category that I have no hope ever of winning for a quilt. I can usually win in the paper category, but didn’t finish the piece that I started with Nancy and Maureen.

SIL2 figured out that the embellishment category was the least populated so we had the best chance of winning, thus I had incentive to finish Under the Sea.

Under the Sea was entered.

Since Metroscape is pretty unusual, in that I haven’t seen a lot of finished quilts using the Quick Curve Ruler, I thought I might have a tiny chance, despite it being in that overcrowded category.

I really ended up liking the Aqua-Red Sampler. It is a striking quilt. Though I have no hope of winning anything with it, I wanted someone to see it and entered it anyway.

We’ll see what happens.

I talked about my entries a few weeks ago. Once I get to the fair, I like to go and look at my entries right away to see what I won, if anything.

I got some prizes, but not many. Of my entries, two got prizes, the paper wreath which I expected and the Planned Improv quilt, which I did not. It is almost a guarantee I will not get a prize for a quilt, so i was thrilled to even get an Honorable Mention in any quilt category.

I was sad that none of these projects got prizes. The Flapper apron is probably the most ordinary of all of the projects, but it does have a great shape and interesting construction. The others are all very creative, especially the fabric placement on the Cal Shirt and the way I created a corset look on the Superheroine apron. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. I did well last year, so I can’t complain too much.

I have some quibbles with the categories. They don’t have a bag category and they should. There were a number of bags and the bags have to compete against everything in the sewn accessories-non garment category. My Zip Away organizer would have been better in a bag category.

I also think they need an apron category. There were a lot of aprons and mine would have done better it they weren’t competing against a tailored jacket.

I really worked hard on the shirt, especially finishing the inside seams with French seams, so it was letdown not to get any prizes at all for it. It will be interesting to see what they say.

SIL #2 cleaned up. She got four prizes including a first for her fabulous two-sided shell table runner. I did well last year; it was her turn this year.

Here is a gallery of random photos from the Fair.