Sew Bittersweet Designs

Anne and I made a trip to the Washington State Fair on September 11th, admission was free if you brought a canned food donation. A small price to pay to help someone else. We haven’t been to the fair since she was three because she had an allergic reaction to something there and we ended up under the care of 6 paramedics. Needless to say our trip left me nervous. We literally arrived, walked a mile to the quilt exhibit (no stops, no touching anything, no eating anything, barely breathing), looked at the quilts and walked a mile back to my car. I was scared the entire time. I am happy to report that this time we didn’t have to visit the paramedics at the fair.

We went to the fair because I entered three of my quilts. My Swoon, Hypnotic Eye and Divergent.  I wasn’t really expecting to receive any ribbons at the fair because having been in the past I know the quilts they typically pick are the ones that are hand appliqued and clearly years were invested in making them, so I was pleasantly surprised to find ribbons on two of my three quilts.

Swoon didn’t receive any ribbons, but that’s ok, she was a blue ribbon winner and a judges choice at the county fair and I’m still riding high on that.  She did get juried in to the upcoming Pacific International Quilt Festival, so that is super exciting.

Hypnotic Eye got a Judges Craftsmanship Ribbon, which is just awesome! It is such a wonderful feeling to have my technique recognized as being good.  It was kind of difficult to see it shoved into a corner, in fact, it was so well hidden that most of my friends who have gone to the fair haven’t even been able to find it. Oh well! Oh and good news, she’s heading to the Pacific International Quilt Festival too!

Now Divergent just surprised the dickens out of me, when I dropped her off I was warned that she may be disqualified and not even judged, so when I saw two ribbons on her I just beamed.  She received an Honorable Mention and a Judges Craftsmanship ribbon!  Wowzers, talk about knocking my socks off.

So, here’s why I entered the state fair. I want to get better at my craft, one way to improve is to know what you are doing right and what you are doing…”wrong”. I don’t really like the word wrong but it fits here.  The judges always provide feedback and good judges will provide positive comments and areas for improvement. Some judges turn their areas for improvement into negatives and that can be hurtful to read, but a good judge turns it into constructive criticism and that’s where the growth comes in. If you are willing to learn from the judges then it opens you up to growth.

I am excited to read my comments and send off Swoon and Hypnotic Eye to the next show. Wish me luck!