County Fair Results, Stash Enhancement

It was a successful trip to the fair for me and my cross stitch projects. This is the Ellis County Fair in Hays, Kansas where I go to help a college friend work the Needlework Section of the fair. Needlework includes knitting, crochet, stamped embroidery, latch hook, and clothing construction. If you stitch it in some form or fashion it is included. The only thing that is a separate section is quilts. On Monday, we check in all the exhibits and they are judged on Tuesday. This year there were 113 exhibits which was an increase of 10 over last year. Anytime there is an increase it is good.

The big disappointment was the number of counted cross stitch entries was down with only 9 entered. To add to the frustration, I had 8 of the 9 entries. It was kinda like competing against myself. I kinda felt bad about taking so many, but my friend, Sam, said that there would not have been much of anything good if I had not exhibited. The big news is that I got purples on all of them. They give 3 purples, in each class within the section, if quality warrants. I got 3-1st, 4-2nd, 1-3rd. The only section I did not get 1st in was a class called "any other needlework". That included plethora of things. The 1st purple was given to a huck-weaving table runner done by a man. I think she did that just as encouragement to the man. Then from all the 1st purples they pick a Champion and Reserve Champion. I got both of them.

Champion- Bent Creek/Winter Snapperland
Reserve Champion- The Workbasket/Quaker Santa (aka Santa Burl)

Below are pictures of all the exhibits that we had to arrange for public viewing. Winter Snapperland is in the top left of the first picture. Santa Burl is sitting beside the cabinet in the second and fourth pictures. I did not get a good picture of him.

The trip to and from Hays is 3 hours each way and that is the hardest part of the trip. It cuts into stitching time. I have not figured out how to drive 70MPH and stitch at the same time. So to break up the trip on the way home, I made a couple of stops to enhance my stash.

One stop was at Picture This Plus in Junction City. Found a piece of Sterling 28-ct Cashel Linen. It is a color that I had not seen in person before. We have about 10-12 colors in the LNS on a regular basis. I also love Needle Necessities fiber. Picked up a couple of those too. Notice the color. My favorite.

The other stop was at The Quilting Bee in Salina. I found a nice Halloween panel with a neat witch in the middle. One other part has a black cat riding a broom. So cute. I bought one of the companion fabrics that has pumpkins wrapped like mummies. Cannot pass up any good Halloween stuff. Also found a nice Christmas with candy canes. Thought it would eventually find itself as a part of a cross stitch finish. They were out of another one that I liked. It has those round red and white candy discs in it. I am going to be looking for it somewhere else.

Before I sign off, I have to say a few words about one of the judges at the fair. She has judged the last three times I have helped and one of the previous times she told me that she had not done any counted cross stitch in a long time. Well, it was very obvious this year. When she first looked at Winter Snapperland, she pointed to one place on it and said "must be using low quality thread". Seven of my eight pieces were stitched with Sampler and Weeks threads. She has never been familiar with it. I have talked to her about it before. Then when she looked at my LHN-Moon and Stars she said "it must be a kit, they always put inferior thread in kits". Again, this was stitched on Picture This Plus fabric with overdyed floss. As she was looking at the Quaker Santa, she had to run her hands all over the stitching. I almost bit off the end of my tongue trying to keep from saying "Get Your Mitts off My Stitching". But, of course, you are not supposed to say anything to the judges like that.

In the end, when she was picking the champions, she did say that there was a lot of work involved in the stitched pieces, more than in any of the other things up for consideration. She said she could not do all those little stitches. After all the judging was done, I had a little visit with her explaining what overdyed threads were and they started out with DMC or Anchor thread to make them. She then showed her lack of knowledge when she said she had never heard of Anchor. I came out of it good, so I guess I should not complain, but I had to rant a little. When I talked the LNS owner about what happened, she just could not believe it. She is ready to educate her.

Last night, I was able to get caught up on all my blog reading, but I did not take time to comment on everyone. Sorry, time is a precious commodity. We are leaving again on Saturday morning for a trip to South Dakota to see family of my significant other. An aunt will be there from Oregon. Don't get to see her very often, so decided that we needed to make the effort to go up there. It is a 500 mile trip one way for us and she has probably traveled 3 times that amount. Haven't had very much time to stitch in the last few days. Hope to get some done on the way to SD.

Unfortunately, my Adult Attention Deficit kicked in last weekend and I started a Christmas ornament from Prairie Schooler, Cranberry Christmas. When I was taking pictures tonight, I forgot to take one of my progress. Maybe I can take one in the morning and make a quick post tomorrow.

Until next time, keep on stitching.