Fall Fair Season

The temperatures are cooler at night, it's getting darker earlier each evening, and the leaves are changing from green to gold, red, and orange. And you know what that means... it's time for Fall Fairs to start!

This photo of my trunk of my car is a good snapshot of my life this week. I have camping gear for the weekend, a bag of quilts for fall fair entry, my briefcase for work, and 3 dog pillows to drop off at the Humane Society on my way to work. That is a lot of details to manage in one day!
I have entered two fairs so far this month and have won a couple of photography ribbons and some quilting ribbons. The financial rewards are tiny and don't even cover the cost of the gas you need to drive yourself and your entries to the fair! 
But I really enjoy these community events and if I want to see them continue, I have to be ready to contribute. I like getting out in the fresh air, seeing friends, and being inspired by the creativity of talented people.

Next week I will be judging at 3 different fairs and it's a challenging job. For example, look at this photography category. I didn't judge or enter this category but want to show you what an impossible task it is sometimes when you have amazing entries. 
This category is... minimum 5" x 7" photos with a theme of "Dominant red". Some photos will be eliminated for being too small for the specifications of the category, and the rest of the photos are judged according to the theme. That cardinal photo is incredible, but it doesn't read as "dominant" red. It's mostly blue. So it didn't win a prize in this category, but would likely be a winner in other categories such as "Up in the sky", "Canadian wildlife" or "Birding".
As with all competitions, a win/ribbon is relative to all the other entries and the preferences of the judges.
Do you have fall fairs in your community? Do you enter your quilts?

Small Community Fall Fairs

In addition to enjoying the fantastic weather at this time of year, another highlight of the season for me is the longstanding community tradition of Fall Fairs. If you live in Ontario, Canada you can click here to find the fairs closest to you. 

Give me some human flavoured taffy!

I'm not a big fan of attractions such as demolition derbies, or midway rides, or scary creatures like this one wandering the fair grounds! But I do enjoy the animal shows, and the beautiful exhibits of flowers, photography, crafts, baking, and antiques. My contribution to continuing the fall fair tradition is to maintain my fair judging certification and I try to judge at a few fairs every year. Also, for the fairs that I don't judge, I try to enter some of my photos and some quilts.

1st prize photo of Max!

My great delight this year so far has been winning the first prize ribbon at the Paris fair for "That Special Pet". Here is my photo of Granddog Max. 
He's special alright! 
Oh my goodness this little guy just makes me laugh! You wouldn't know it by this photo where he is trying to look like a fierce Santa, but he is so sweet and loving.


And he's not only just "special" to us, he beat out all these other special pets in the category. I couldn't even get all the entries in this photo, but let's just say the competition was stiff for our little Max! There were so many entries, they gave out double ribbons, so in truth he tied for first place.

These were my quilts that I entered in the fair last year. It's always fun to see ribbons on your quilts. Last year I had 3 hand quilted ribbon winners and I was tickled about that. I don't have as many finishes this year to enter, but there will be a few.
I encourage you to continue the tradition of attending community fall fairs. Get out there and find out what you enjoy the most!
Linking up to Wandering Camera September linky party ... if you enjoy photography, hop over to see some amazing photos!

Fall Fairs and Quilt Parades

One of my favorite things about this season is the local fall fairs. I love this community tradition and want to see it continue, so I usually try to enter two or three of my favorite fairs every year. I am also a certified judge and this year I was a judge at two fairs. 
This experience leads me each year to reflect on the judging process. It's always a difficult task and every year I seem to have at least one conversation with someone who is quite hurt and/or angry about the results of the judging. I try to tell them that the award decisions are a combination of 1) the category in which the item is entered, 2) the competition within that category, and 3) the experience and preference of the judge. Some judges use a numerical equation to calculate the awards, and some judges have a more visual and intuitive approach. It doesn't really matter at the Fall Fair level where the prize money doesn't even usually cover your entry fee and gas money to get there and back! You're definitely not going to get rich entering fall fairs!


For example my favorite hand quilted baby quilt was a 1st prize winner in one fair and yet didn't win anything in another. 
Same experience with my version of Orca Bay, which I call "3 Sisters Grace". 
It won first prize in the category and a special award for machine quilting at one fair, and nothing at another.
I'm happy if I win, and happy if I don't. 
Because I love a fall fair, and my quilts always enjoy an outing! 


In addition to entering my quilts, I like to enter the huge Paris Fall Fair Photography competition. It is an amazing display of photographs and I am always delighted to win a ribbon there. This year I won a first prize for this photograph taken in Montreal.




And my favorite win this year is a 3rd prize ribbon for this black and white portrait taken of my brother in Port Elgin.

What could be better than a fair?
A parade!
Pam Buda is having a Quilt Parade over on her blog. She is sharing the versions of the Market Day mystery quilt that her blog readers have made. It's always fun to see the same quilt made with different fabrics and layout changes. I added another border to my quilt. This is my mini version of her quilt and it won a ribbon at the Fergus Fall Fair! Thanks again Pam for such a fun mystery quilt!

Fall Fair Wrap Up & Judging Thoughts

I am finally finishing up my fall fair postings...thank you to those who had some fun with my fall fair quiz.

The answers to my 2 questions were were 3 and 9:

1) I entered quilts in 3 fall fairs this year: 

Paris, Fergus and Erin.

2) I wanted to enter the 10 quilts in the photo, minus the top 2, which for some reason stayed on the table at home (a quilt block and a quilt top), plus the one quilt I took off my bed = 9 quilts entered!

Congrats to Sandra C who was the closest guesser, with her guess of 3 fall fairs and 8 quilts entered...send me your snail mail address Sandra and I'll get a fabric treat in the mail to you.

And a few thoughts on judging fall fairs...

after a number of years as a quilter submitting quilts to fairs and contests, and as a judge of juried shows and fall fairs, I can secretly admit to you that judging is mostly a matter of personal preference. In a perfect world, trained judges would make the same decisions re: awarding prizes and ribbons, but I know from judging with other trained judges, that it is not usually the case that we all agree.
This year I entered several quilts into my favorite local fall fairs. Each fair has it's own charm, and I love fall fairs, so I can't resist participating. 

I submitted my Dr. Seuss quilt to the three fall fairs.
In one fair it won a first prize and best of show.
And in another fair, it won nothing.
Why is that?
I think it is due to the personal preference of the judges, plus the category it was entered into, plus the competition of the other entries in that particular category. 

I don't enter fairs for the glory, (there is none unless my daughter comes with me and is sweet enough to gush about my quilts that receive ribbons) the ribbons (don't need more of those), or the cash (1st prize is sometimes $5!). I enter quilts because I enjoy this longstanding tradition of community participation. It's a lot of administrative/busy work to check the fair categories and see what quilts I could enter, get the tickets/paperwork all organized, gather the fabric samples to attach for some fair requirements, and to get the quilts to the right place at the right time, then pick them up at the right place at the right time. 
But I love to see quilts hanging at the fall fairs and I want to keep this community tradition alive, so I plan to make it my goal to try to participate every year if possible.
And I want to remind us all not to pin your artist's self esteem on winning ribbons or awards. Just because a judge didn't love your piece or "get" your vision, doesn't mean it's not an amazing piece of art. Keep making the quilts you love and sharing them with those who appreciate your efforts. Just sayin!

And under the category of bad ideas...
a deep fried Mars bar!
It was a new (to me) fall fair treat that I just couldn't wait to try... OMG...it was so gross I can't even tell you! What the heck was I thinking trying that?!?!

Fall Fair Fun

Fall is my most favorite time of the year...such beautiful colours, cooler temperatures, and lots of fun activities, including fall fairs! This was one of the views I passed by on my way to drop off my quilt entries for the Erin Fall Fair last week.
To celebrate the fall fair season, let's have some fall fair fun! 
Guess the answer to these two questions:
1) How many Fall Fairs did I enter quilts in this year?
2) How many entries did I have in the Erin Fall Fair this past weekend? 
Here is a clue of how to calculate the number...the number of quilts in this pile, minus the number of entries that were in this pile, but stayed at home for some unknown reason  (although they were really looking forward to the outing!), plus the one I had to take off my bed to include that is not in the pile in this photo = the correct number of entries!! 
I will put all the winning guesses into a draw for a package of batik charm squares. I have two more blogposts to write re: fall fairs, and then I'll draw the winner from all the correct guesses.

Fall Fairs

This is such a crazy busy time of year...garden harvesting and canning, back to school shopping, and new routines. But I still make time for the Fall Fairs!
We have been regular attenders since our children were little...this is an old photo of the kids with their faces painted riding the bumper cars.  The rides, the animals, and the face painting were the favorite attractions then. Now that the kids are older, we enjoy the displays and the entertainment more.

Last year I entered some quilts in a fall fair for the first time (click here to read about it). This year I entered a couple of quilts in the Paris Fair and my recently finished quilt-as-you-go project won first prize (thanks to Lyn Bell for sponsoring the fair prizes...I can't wait to spend my gift certificate!).

A new goal that I set for myself this year was to not only enter some quilts, but to enter the photography category.  There were hundreds of entries, so I was very excited to win a couple of ribbons.

This was one of my winning photos in the category called "In The Snow". I was not impressed that pins were stuck into the corners of the some of the photos to hang them on the display walls! That is why the photos are mounted on a background so that they can be easily displayed without damaging the photo! 

However I was very happy that my storyboard ("a collection of small prints on one subject mounted on a 16" x 20" board") of photos documenting the making my spiderweb quilt won a second place ribbon (no pin holes in the storyboard photos!)
And speaking of Fall Fairs, I see on Sandy Gervais' blog that there is a
A Country Fair Blog Hop - 26 designers offering free projects for the month of September. Check it out!

Machine Quilting

The fall weather continues to be glorious! This is a photo from an afternoon walk with my dog...aren't the colours amazing?!?


Today is the last day to enter the Fall Into Fall Quilt Bloggers Giveaway. If you haven't entered yet, click here and put your name in for my draw. I will be picking the winner's name tonight...check my blog tomorrow night to see who wins!






For the first time ever, I entered some of my quilts in a Fall Fair and found out that I won a couple of ribbons!  This quilt won the machine quilting ribbon and I have learned that it will "go on to district" (whatever that means!)  so I won't get the quilt back for a while. Maybe it was the only quilt entered in this category?!? LOL
You can read more about the details of the machine quilting - click here.





Winning some ribbons and seeing all the quilts was really fun, but I have to admit that this was my favorite part of the fair!

Today I taught a machine quilting class at Triangle Sewing and the students were fearless with their machines! Here they are showing some of their quilted sandwiches. They practised quilting feathers similar to the ones I quilted on the wallhanging on the right of the photo. (To read more about the quilting - click here.)