Off To The Fair

The original Belted Star

 As I mentioned earlier, I signed up for the Quilt Block Competition at the Iowa State Fair.  After much hemming and hawing, I decided on the Belted Star pattern for my 9 inch block.  I have never sewn a block so carefully in my life before.  When I paper piece I usually just trim off the extra with scissors at about a 1/4 inch give or take, but this time each seam was trimmed to exactly 1/4 inch and the block was pressed to within an inch of it's life.  Only one seam was just a bit off.  Then I measured the block...it was 9 1/4 inches instead of 9 1/2 inches!!!!!!  #$%@#^&#%^@#$#!!!!

My templates had printed just a hair off - each 4 1/2 inch quadrant printed at 4 3/8 inches.  Augh!!!  I thought about making a different block with the scraps, but there wasn't much left of the background and green fabric - we are talking a 1.5 inch square of the green.  My husband suggested adding a small strip to the middle which I translated into widening the middle.  Actually quite a brilliant idea.

The modified Belted Star on it's way to the fair!

So here is the finished block that I turned in this afternoon.  It doesn't look quite as balanced as the original and two of the corners are off now, but at least it won't be eliminated immediately because it is too small.  I wanted to finish off a mini quilt to enter but it just didn't get done.

So instead, I entered a smocked dress I made years ago for the Emily.  It won grand prize in the Tippecanoe, Indiana County Fair back in the day (yes, it is just as small time as you might think!) and I thought, "Why not enter?"  When I turned it in today they said they don't get very many items in the smocked category anymore so maybe it will stand a fighting chance.

The Fabric and Thread's preview night is August 8th and I will know the results then.  It is rather nice that they have a preview night before the start of the fair - close parking, less crowds.  Hopefully, I will be able to take more time to look at the exhibits and won't have kids tugging on me and wanting to go look at other stuff.  :)  I can't wait!!