A Win! (And Keeping Up Appearances)

I went to the State Fair Preview Night for the Fabric and Threads department last week and was happy to see my star block took 3rd place (far left).  The competitive part of me was disappointed that it didn't take first, but you can't have it all.  :)

I was glad that I placed, because it made me feel a bit better about something that has made me quite uncomfortable for awhile.  Let me tell you about it.

A little over a year ago I had to write an author bio for You Can Quilt!.  I had no idea how to start, so I googled "how to write an author bio" and got on my way.  One of the things the site said to include were any awards or prizes won for your work.  My first thought was, "None, skip to the next section" but then I remembered that I had a placed second and runner up in the State Fair quilt block contest and that a dress I made (the only one in it's category) had also placed.  Not a big deal in the quilt show world, but something, so I said something about winning a few ribbons at the state fair.

Much to my embarrassment, when AQS posted the book on Amazon they put in an abridged author bio that said in part, "Leila lives in Huxley, Iowa where she continues to quilt and win awards."  Continues to win awards?!?  First of all that is a lot of pressure to continue to win awards and second it makes it sound like I am a way better quilter than I am.  I am more of a make-quilts-to-use-that-are-pretty-good-quality quilter, but the level of perfection it takes to win awards at quilt shows is really high.  I can make one quilt block almost perfectly, but a whole quilt?  It made me feel really uncomfortable and embarrassed that someone that knew me and my quilts might read the bio and think that I was a big liar face and pretty full of myself.  Ick!  

So, I am very glad that this year I did indeed "continue to win (minor) awards" so it isn't a total lie.  :)

It was also fun to walk past the building with the frieze of quilt blocks.  This year I saw them with different eyes.  Because I have been working on the At the Fair BOM, they were all old friends and I have a real soft spot for each of them.  

I hope you all have a great week and that we all find time to "continue making quilts"!  :)

Iowa State Fair Block

When I got back from vacation two weeks ago I found these fabrics in the stack-o-mail.  They are the fabrics for the 9" Quilt Block competition at the Iowa State Fair.  This is my third year entering (see my other entries here and here) and I have to say that these were the most challenging fabrics to work with so far.

The first year's fabrics weren't my favorite, but there was a good distribution of color and value.  The second year they used some of Vanessa Christensen's fabric (loved them!) but this year.... Well... None of the fabrics is bad by itself.  I actually really like the orange dot.  The green is a nice basic and the others...well, I wouldn't buy them, but they aren't yucky by any means, but all together they were really hard to work with.

Because the values were similar it was hard to decide on a block pattern that would look good.  The orange and the dark green didn't have enough contrast and the stripe blended with all of the other fabrics.  And if I cut the leaf fabric too small the dark orange leaves blended with the orange dot fabric.  Ugh!  After looking through tons of block patterns trying to find one that would look good with the fabrics and look decently challenging without being too hard to make I came up with this foundation paper pieced block:

Nothing fancy, but the best of all the options.  (The chartreuse around the center is the stripe - fussy cut to add more interest.)  Unfortunately, I have forgotten how to blog this summer and didn't take a picture of the actual block before turning it in.  Don't worry, you aren't missing much.  ;)   But I will for sure take a picture of it when we go to the fair in two weeks.

I hope you are all enjoying your summer.  Only three more weeks until school starts here.  I can't decide if I should put multiple exclamation points after that sentence or a frowny face.  Being a mom is such a mixed bag.  :)

Fair Firsts

Yesterday we went to the Iowa State Fair.  It was so much more enjoyable than last year.  Much cooler (only in the 70s!! Notice that they started the day wearing sweaters?) and my husband was able to come too.  I can't believe I took the kids by myself on a super hot day last year.  I must have been insane!

The first stop was the Fabric and Threads exhibit to check out the quilt block contest winners.  Here are all the blocks that were entered into the competition.  After the fair they will be made up into a quilt and raffled off at next year's fair.

Here is mine!  An honorable mention!  

I was quite proud to be in the top 6 blocks.  There were some real beauties.

The smocked dress I entered won a blue ribbon.  Which I am proud of ...but I think it was the only one in it's class (Child's Smocked Garment Size 3-12).  So if you want to win a ribbon with minimal competition, the smocked category is for you!  ;)

Another first was our 3 year old deciding that she could go down the slide all by herself.  It was only 3 feet tall, but she was so proud (and so was I - going down the slide with her is getting very old).  She went down at least 30 times before we left the play ground area.

It was also our first time getting the free boiled egg on a stick.  Sooo much more fun than a regular boiled egg and everyone ate their yolks - another first.

We made it up to the Cultural Center for the first time this year.  We stuck around watching glass beads being made, pots being thrown and eating lunch long enough to participate in Art Attack (free art activities for kids).  I loved being up there in the courtyard.  The weather was lovely and it wasn't crowded at all -well compared to the rest of the fair.  Very relaxing.

Looking at and petting animals rounded off the day.  I love the little calves!  It was a lot of fun, but my belly and back were glad to rest on the couch for the rest of the night after a long day of walking around.  ;)

What is your favorite part of going to the fair?

HST Pillow

I meant to have my HST quilt done in time to enter into the Festival of the Half Square Triangles, but that is just not happening.  I did however steal some of the hst and make this coordinating pillow cover.

I hand stitched along the edges of the hsts with black pearl cotton.  It was my first time doing hand stitching in quite awhile, and my first time ever using pearl cotton.  I had been thinking about hand quilting the large hst quilt, but now I don't think that I will.  ;)

I added a flange and a one inch border around the edge.  I love how it frames the design.

For the back, I used a print from Echo (oh, how I love it!) and burgundy kona cotton.  Who would have thought that burgundy could look so good?

Now I just have to pick up a pillow form the right size.  Be sure to jump on over to the Festival of Half Square Triangles to see all of the other beautiful things people have been making.