Monday, August 16, 2010

A Blue Ribbon Day

Well, what happened around here??  I can't believe it's been so long since I posted last.  Really, I didn't fall off the earth or anything.  It's just been busy around here, plus we've been battling a host of nasty computer viruses.  (I really hate computer viruses.  Don't get me started.)  Wow, here it's the middle of August already - summer is just flying by.

We've been so busy with pottery-related activities.  There's a once-a-month sale activity that's been happening, and a big Street Fair where DH spent two days sitting in the sun, demonstrating throwing pottery.  He was a big hit, and made a lot of pottery that weekend.

Last weekend we had our big pottery sale of the summer at the local Art in the Garden.  That was very successful, in spite of a lot of rain on Saturday.  Everyone closed up shop early that day, and it was still the biggest sales day in their history.  It was for us too!  We had showers off and on most of the day, but by about 3 o'clock the rain settled in and didn't let up.  It's a good thing pottery is water-proof!  Sunday was still overcast, but not too cold or hot.  The gardens were so beautiful.  Here's just a sample, which was "part" of our booth.  (You can see how overcast and threatening the sky was.)

If you look closely, maybe you can see our friendly dairy cows across the road from us.  They were pretty curious about what we were doing!

This week DH is doing "pottery camp" for some children of friends.  Right now we have the 9 year old here for 3 days, and then later in the week his 7 year old brother will be here.  Today was spent practicing in the pottery studio, plus fishing and canoeing in the pond.  Tomorrow starts the real deal!

I have hardly been back in the quilt studio after finishing my color challenge quilt.  What with being so busy, plus now it's so danged hot, I just haven't made it there yet. The studio is on the southeast side of the house, and it heats up real early and then never cools off.  So I have no desire to get in there.  Maybe by the end of the week, when it's supposed to cool off.

It's also been too hot to be upstairs in the office, so I haven't been on the computer much since DH got it working right again.

Last week I was brave and did something I've not done in over 20 years.  I entered some quilts in the county fair.  We had such a poor showing last year (maybe 10 quilted items total), that we were soundly "encouraged" (think arm-twisting!) to enter more this year.  So I put three quilts in.  We were told that they wouldn't be judged this year, but then they were!  Ack!!  Not ready for that!  Thank goodness I took the sticker roller to them to remove most of the cat hair!

So, I know you're dying to know which quilts I entered, aren't you? 

First, I entered "Carrie's Quilt", made with the vintage 30's fabrics.

I entered "Touch of Black".



And, I took a deep breath and entered "Button Button".  I only did this because I thought we wouldn't be judged.  I thought it was too "different" to do well in a judged competition.


Well, guess what?  The quilts were judged after all.  *gulp*

And "Carrie's Quilt" got a blue ribbon!  The judge said "good choice of design for the fabrics". 

And "Touch of Black" got a blue ribbon! The judge said "Interesting idea, intriguing to study"  and she liked the wavy quilting lines but didn't quite seem to "get" that the lines were supposed to be unevenly spaced.  

 And "Button Button" not only got a blue ribbon but a pink "Best in Class" as well!!   The judge said "Clever idea, well presented - do enter again next year!"  She like it!  She really liked it!  (with apologies to Sally Field) 

I found out about the ribbons when we went to the fair with our granddaughters and our friend K~, the "other' grandma.  Man, was I in shock!  Pleased as punch too, of course.  I still have a big grin on my face. 

Congratulations to Sue over at "From The Magpie's Nest" blog, who also entered quilts in her county fair, and also did very well.  Go see.  I'll wait.

We liberated quilters did pretty well for ourselves, didn't we?  *huge grin*

Remember the ceramic pendants I showed in this post? (scoll down a bit) Well, Lis over at Online Quilting blog bought two of them from me.  She has completed one necklace and you can see the necklace here (you need to scroll down a bit, again).  Wow, she did an awesome job.  She made it look so good! 

Do you like silly cat videos?  This one involves 2 curious kitties and a treadmill.  Watch that black & white cat's reaction when his sibling touches him

I hope it won't be so long before I post again.  Maybe next time I'll have something new to show.  Maybe not.  But I hope we all have some fun being creative between now and then!

21 comments:

  1. Woo hoo Sharon. Well done you! And what a surprise that the judge liked Button Button.

    Congratulations.

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  2. Woo hoo! Congratulations! Great Job.

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  3. oh wow, congrats!!!! that was a great way to get all of you to enter, not worrying about being judged. and then to do so well - wheeee, excited for you!

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  4. Congratulations ! I'm so proud that your most creative quilt won best of show.

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  5. Oh my goodness......how absolutely fantastic is that! Congrats on those ribbons. I'll bet that smile is going to be there for a very long time
    Way to Go!!!!!

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  6. Wonderful! Congrats on winning indigo ribbons!!

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  7. How very wonderful !!! Your quilts are beautiful and I really like "Touch of Black".
    Great job and your blog looks really good!
    Very best wishes,
    Barbara

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  8. My goodness you've been busy! Love your hubby's pottery. I'm glad it was a good show, so many of them haven't been this year.
    Congratulations on all the ribbons!!! How exciting! Especially the Best In Class on Button Button - that is AWESOME! So many times the more contemporary quilts don't do as well in fairs, and it's high time they did.
    I hope it won't be so long before you post too - but hey, it's SUMMER, and we need to enjoy it, right? It was good to see you post, though!

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  9. Triple congratulations to you! They are all beautiful creations, and well worth sharing...

    ; )

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  10. Fun to get an update from you...yes, a busy summer and fun too! Love the blue ribbons!!

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  11. Congratulations on your entries and your wins!! They look worthy of ribbons for sure!!!

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  12. Whoohoo to the ribbons, fairs are a great place to showcase local work. We have the NW WA fair in Lynden this week and I have 3 pieces entered. Will go tomorrow and see everyones work. Maybe I'll have a ribbon or two?

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  14. Wow, many, many congratulations and so well deserved. Go girl!

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  15. WOW! Congratulations on your ribbons!

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  16. Wow! Congratulations!!! We done good, didn't we?! I'm so happy for you :- )

    Love the new header too.

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  17. Congratulations!! Glad to see such innovative quilts are getting out there to be seen and appreciated. Bravo!

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  18. Belated congratulations to you Sharon! The quilts at the Alameda County fair years ago were the catalyst for me learning how to quilt since I realized that if anyone wanted to sell their quilt to me, it probably would cost an arm and a leg. Thus began my quest to learn how to make my own quilt! You never know when someone, looking at our quilts, will decide to learn how to make one of her own.

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  19. Hi Sharon, Love, love, love, that touch of black. I'm working on a red/white quilt on the same order, but I'm doing sampler blocks for the "red". Mini ones! I haven't shown any pics on my blog yet, but will soon. I tried entering quilts in our county fair, but got turned down because I make money at it. Go figure! Have a great day!

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