The Wood County Fair!

I'm going to blow my horn here as all four of the pieces I entered won blues. Of course, I don't know how many were the only entries in their category... I won't know that until the newspaper prints final fair results in several weeks. But meanwhile, I am quite happy with the outcome as the prize money will mean I broke even with my entry fee! 

Framed Sampler in the cross stitch on 32-ct fabric:

Framed picture in needlepoint:

Speciality stitching, counted thread:

and Fair Theme ("Love is in the Air" --- needed to be red or pink, a flower or love-theme), framed picture:

The County Fair Results Are In...

Knowing the issues I had with many of my entries (I knew that some didn't really fit in with the category I entered them in and others had some major technique issues which could result in them placing out of the running) , I held off until today to actually go see for myself how I did with my nine fair entries (although my husband did check them last night and called me with the results so I wasn't surprised).

Anyway, here are the results, and the photographic evidence!

First place in their categories...

Home is Where the Heart is in "Counted Cross Stitch 25 count, framed picture" (technically, it's a sampler, thanks to the words on it but I took a chance...)

Red Thai Mandala in "Counted Cross Stitch 28 ct, framed picture" (See that loose black thread that's showing through the linen from the back in the upper left corner! AAACK!. And it's not really cross stitch or a picture but it had some cross-stitch in it so...)

Kimono - Revisited in "Needlepoint framed sampler" (was it a sampler? It had many different stitches. But it was also a picture?)

The Charles "name badge" in "cross stitch 28 ct, framed sampler (yes, I suppose it is a sampler --- it has words but...) - and another bad photo because the case it was in was all scratched up!

Encrusted Crazy Quilt block in Green in "Any beaded item on fabric" (heck, it was a crazy quilt block and it was potentially competing with all sorts of other kinds of beading:

Second place in their categories...

Sumptuous Embroidery in Blue in the category "Hand embroidered or Stamped framed picture" (wasn't sure how this would fare against stamped pieces...)

Birds of a Feather in "counted cross stitch, 32 ct" (the mistake in the upper right side border should have downgraded it. To me, at least, it was blatant and fudging didn't correct for it - but it was husband's favorite, and he was upset about the second place more than I...) - sorry about the glare, I couldn't get a good angle on it in the case...

Third place in its category...

The Taco Sampler in the 2013 Special Contest "In the Kitchen", wall hanging or picture with a kitchen theme (again --- potentially competing against all sorts of other kinds of needlework, it really wasn't a picture, and the white stitching didn't contrast enough with the background to show; the winner was a black-on-natural cross stitched chicken while the second place was a quilt)

Honorable Mention in its category...

"Pink" Crazy Quilt block in the "Pink Quilt Block" special category (it was a crazy quilt block competing with traditional blocks so fourth place was a good result, IMO... although the guild members who were with me didn't agree with my reasoning that crazy quilt blocks don't quite hack it technique-wise in judging when up against perfect points and the like in pieced blocks - which was encouraging! )

Oh, and I made my entry money back! YAY!

2013 - Reconnect to My Stitchery, Week Twenty-Six

I don't know where this week went! I KNOW I stitched but I don't have a lot to show for it. I seem to have gotten sidetracked into reading and sleeping late (because I can't get to sleep until late.) Oh, and the local HOA Girls' Night Out on Thursday didn't free up much stitching time either...

Oh well, I did get in one completion --- the "pink" quilt block for the special "Pink" category for the fair:

It's not as encrusted as I would have liked but I was stumped as to what to put on it. I have some pink (and green) buttons and beads but they looked too heavy for what I was aiming for so I left it rather simple. What I get for using such a bold print, I guess... it sort of set the scene and I couldn't match it with buttons or beads. Hope it qualifies...

I also got back to stitching on "Midnight Garden":

Borders are set and I'm starting on the backstitching and blackwork in the inner borders now, with the parts that are in black... Doesn't loom like much but it's like confetti stitching in those inner borders. I'm hoping to get started on the blue this week.

I'm so far behind on other pieces, though. The basic block for the Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2013 is made up but now it needs embellishment.  I have yet to kit out a June butterfly for Bead Journal Project and it's already July (which means two in one month! AAARGH!). The sashing hasn't been touched on my 2012 color palatte/CQJ/BJP wall hanging. I have two "Roll Your Own" mandalas to select a color scheme for and kit out, to say nothing of the Sharon B weekly TAST (which starts up again this week after a week's hiatus) and background stitch guide. Oh yes, and in one month, there will be the "Messy Beading" Purple Daisy for L. Perin coming! I really need to get my stitching mojo back!

2013 - Reconnect to My Stitchery, Week Twenty-three

I finally got in some stitching this week. My eyes sort of lose focus after a couple of hours, though and so I couldn't do long stretches of stitching. But the flashing and aching eye muscles appear to be a thing of the past (knock on wood). 

Besides TAST and finishing my May butterfly (have to get cracking on kitting up the June one), I put in a few stitches on the borders of "Midnight Garden":

and started a piece for the fair's special category, "In the Kitchen". It's a Casey Buonaugurio Designs sampler called "Taco":

It's small, only 3 x 6, so it should be doable. The issue is the time to get it framed.

I  got the fair booklet on Thursday and tried to assign what few finishes I had this year to categories --- not easy since there is no crazy quilting category this year, and there are no categories that work for speciality stitching/blackwork, etc. So I'm winging it a little with seven pieces, a;; of which require framing:

- "Kimono - Revisited as a needlepoint sampler. I plan on having it backed with a pale blue cotton that will prevent "Show through" of the mounting board through the congress cloth.

- "Red Thai Mandala" as a framed picture, 28 ct

- Michael Powell's "Home Sweet Home" as a 25 ct framed picture (it's really 27 ct but there is no 27 ct category and I want Red Thai Mandala in the 28 ct space)

- The "Charles" name badge in framed sampler 28 ct

- My Sumptuous Embroidery blue piece in framed stamped or embroidered (No category for hand embroidery anywhere else) - I'm going to get my monochromatic beige piece framed too but I think the blue one is the better of the two.

- "Birds of a Feather" in the framed picture 32 ct category

- the 8" block I did for Encrusted Crazy Quilting in the beading on fabric category.

If I get the Buonaugurio done in time to get is framed, that's eight, and, because they don't require framing, I maybe could knock out a set of ornaments (trouble is, I need to do three to make a set and that will probably limit me to plastic or paper, but I have a set of patterns that could work) and a 12-inch "pink" quilt block for another special category. 

I figure of I load up the entries, I might get close to getting back the majority of my entrance fee. Registration starts July 1 and the pieces are to be handed in July 27... AAARGH!

WIPocalypse 2012 - August 2, 2012

What did I do this past month? 

Well, there were 

• the Take a Stitch Tuesday stitches: Bonnet Stitch, Up & Down Buttonhole Stitch, Basque Stitch,  Oyster Stitch and Algerian Eye Stitch.
• The July Stash Buster from Janet Perry
• The July Mittens & Mini-Socks form Janet Perry --- both a mitten and a sock
• The July Color Through the Ages from Janet Perry
• the July parts for "Kimono - Revisited" 
• The July Color Palette Challenge/Crazy Quilt Journal/Bead Journal Project block
• and 3/4 of the border (second color) for "Birds of a Feather", shown here:

I was pretty much caught up --- until today, when two online projects came in --- the 13 sections for "Kimono - Revisited" and the latest Janet Perry Stash Buster!  Also waiting in the wings is this month's Color Palette Challenge which is yet to be "kitted up" (I need to pull fabrics, seam treatments and beads) for the Crazy Quilt Journal Project/Bead Journal  Project...

I took my entries to the fair office on the 28th of July and they were judged as follows:

Four blue ribbons...

*Cross-stitch set of ornaments

* set of perforated paper ornaments (hard to see as it was so far away!) 

* "Sewing with Mama" in the 14-ct framed picture needlework category

* Set of needlework framed pictures, any fabric count ("Purrfect" and "Cat Pack")

One red (plastic canvas Christmas ornaments, set of three) - I saw the blue in that category, I think, and I don't know why they were considered better than mine but, hey, I'll take it!

and one white --- "Ornaments ala Round" in the fair theme "Twas the Night Before Christmas". Sadly, it was up against quilts and so really didn't have a snowball's chance of doing better, I fear. Not bad for something I rushed to get ready, I suppose, but I'm still disappointed considering the effort I did put in, the amount of metallic and beading on it, etc... Bad photo as it was way to far away for me to get close enough to get a good pic.

My fair record is perfect --- three years of entries, every entry has come away with a ribbon of some sort! Michael Phelps, eat your heart out! LOL But maybe I should quit while 'm ahead!

Three more ornaments

I have never stitched on perforated card before so these are a first:


The shapes are from Tokens & Trifles (they are, respectively Style 2005 Kugels - left and center,  and 2006 Kugels - right), stitched in one strand DMC, and backed with blank sewing cards of the same shape. The pattern on all three is based on a design by Tricia Wilson Nguyen of Thistle Threads, for Redefined, Inc. All they need is a hanger and they are good to go for the fair!

2012: A Year of Challenges - week 25

This was a week of "Finishing Frenzy"! Also a week of attempting to catch up, although I wasn't as successful in that.

Let's start with new completions.

1. Take a Stitch Tuesday, week 25 - cable chain stitch. Didn't do really well on my first attempt but the second was better and by the time I finished five more rows, I pretty much had it down. Top two rows are plain chain stitch; next two are "laced" with a contrasting blue thread, through the cable part of the stitch; and the last three rows are "interlaced" through the chain part:


2. Color Through the Ages - Renaissance Reborn. This is a needlepoint adaptation of the "Nelson's Victory" quilt block pattern, stitched using DMC cotton floss (115, 310, 355, 3582, 3586) and DMC metallic gold (5282) on 18ct canvas:


3. Candy Cane Horse (I plan on making this the first of three so I can submit them to the fair in the Christmas ornament category), pattern from the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Orrnament Issue 2009, design by Charlotte Dockens of Charlotte's Collectibles on 14 ct plastic canvas using DMC cotton floss (blanc, 310, 321, 436, 725, 738, 746 and 3347) and Kreinik blending thread (002, 003, 015, and 032).


I plan on switching out horse colors in ##2 and 3 (a darker brown in one, a dark grey in another is the plan at present), and maybe even the ribbon colors/pattern.

Now for the finishes!

1. Four pictures back from the framer, all candidates for the fair!

"Catpack" and "Purrfect", to be entered as a set, framed pictures, any count:

"Sewing with Mama", to be entered in framed pictures, fourteen count (my husband says he likes this one best!):


and "Ornaments ala Round", to be entered in the Fair Theme Category, framed picture or wall hanging:


2. And I got those three Christmas tree ornaments finished up as flat folds, using coordinating green fabric from my quilting stash of fat quarters (Kona Cotton) for backing, some silver cord for hangers and some white gimp for covering the raw edges:




I might have gotten quite a bit more done but Monday through Thursday were lost causes, given that we had house guests to "entertain". So now it's time to catch up...

What is sitting in that pile of projects-to-do? Well, there's a Janet Parry "Mittens & Mini-Socks" piece called "Singular Carnation" (somehow, that title has me humming music form "A Chorus Line"!), a Janet Perry "Stash Buster", two more "Candy Cane Horses" and the inevitable "Kimono - Revisited" (the 13 parts for June haven't been touched, although I have read through the instructions), to say nothing of reading through the latest lessons in Janet Perry's "Stitch Guide" class. And, of course, on Tuesday there will be another TAST!  And with July 1 there will be another 13 parts of "Kimono - Revisited" and another Color Palette Challenge (which means another Crazy Quilt Journal and Bead Journal project piece as well!). Given that fair registration begins July 2, I suspect "Candy Cane Horses" will take precedence...

2012: A Year of Challenges - week 24

Yesterday was the start of this month's International Hermit & Stitch Weekend and I stitched. Oh, man did I STITCH!

And itt's finished! It's FINALLY finished!
OK, now it needs to be pressed (it got really really crumpled when I had to finish the beading in hand --- didn't have q-snaps or a frame large enough and those four center bells were horrid. Hind sight being 20-20, I should have done the center first but...) and then to the framer. Registration for the fair is between July 2 and 14  and the piece needs to be at the fair on July 28 so it should be ready in plenty of time. It will qualify for the "Special" contest - ""'Twas the Night before Christmas" in wall hanging or framed picture, although, since all needlework is now lumped in that one category, the competition will be stiff with quilters and all entering the same category. Now wondering if all this is worth the framing costs and entry fee of $24...

The categories have increased in number this year: One can enter in Framed Pictures or Framed Samplers one in each of needlepoint, stamped, crewel, counted cross stitch (11 ct, 14 ct, 16 or 18 ct, 25 ct, 28 ct, 30 ct,32 ct, 35 - 36 ct, 40 ct or higher) and in Framed Pictures on in counted cross stitch set, any count. In addition, there is the Hand-embroidered Wall Hanging category,  and the category for sets of three Christmas ornaments! Wouldn't you know, with all the stitching I've done this year, I can only enter one piece in all of these --- "Sewing with Mama" would work for Framed Picture, Counted Cross Stitch, 14ct. I did finish "Purrfect" after last year's fair and it could work as part of a set with "CatPack" although it was finished BEFORE last year's fair... so I don't know if that meets the deadline requirements. So that means frame two (or four?) pieces (which isn't cheap), pay $24 and at best, get $15 in premiums back? Hmmmm...

So what is left in my to-do pile? well, there are three Janet Perry classes to kit up: Stash Buster, Mini-Socks & Mittens, and Color Through the Ages (Renaissance). The third Stitch Guide lesson is also here and while I've read through it, it 's now time to do something about that class. And then there is "Kimono-Revisited" - I haven't touched it since I finished May's "lessons" and there are 13 sections awaiting stitches!

And in my stash --- Oh So Many Pieces calling my name. But I swear, until I get my act together, no more big complex ones! Or at least, none with deadlines! And maybe I should start planning early for next year's fair! LOL

Reporting in on the fair... UPDATED

I entered 12 pieces in all into seven categories and won.........

six ribbons! And made back my fair entry fee with $4 to spare!








A third place for my Marilyn Robertson Art deco black cat set (four of the pieces)

a second place for my Michael Powell "Greek Window"


 and first places for "Witches Wheel"


"Harvest Sampler"


"Garden Stars"

and "Fountain Mandala"



The last three pieces --- a trio of Christmas ornaments --- well I couldn't find them anywhere so I'm assuming they didn't win anything (although I didn't see a blue for any cross-stitched ornaments so I really don't know. The blue I did see was for three cute little snowmen but they weren't embroidered, so should have been in a different category...

We went back this afternoon and found my ornaments. They hung them on a tree about ten feet away but they were there!


And another blue! So make that $7.50 profit! LOL

All but two were in glass cases, and so there is some glare... Apologies! My husband took more pictures so I replaced my really glarey "Fountain Mandala" photo  with his...

WIP myself into shape, Week 24

One more frog completed...


And my progress on my Christmas ornaments for the fair - I think they need a little something extra, like an edging or cording around each ornie...:


I checked into the Ohio State Fair entry requirements... The entry deadline for the State Fair is June 20, 2011 (this weekend! AAACK! but one can register online) and the delivery date/time is July 16 – 17, 2011 (the State Fair runs July 27 through August 7) from while the entry deadline for the county fair is July 5-16 while the delivery date is July 31 (County fair is August 2-8). Since  exhibits need to be delivered two weeks before the County fair entry, this will NOT work unless I use last year's pieces. So I guess I can, in good faith, decline to go to this year's State Fair!

The categories at the State Fair are much more limited: Any item (6-14 fabric count), Any item (16-22 fabric count)  and Any item (23-60 fabric count). Last year's entries would qualify since the State Fair says they can be made within the last two years but they also list judging criteria. So while I could submit in the 6-14 and the 23-60 categories, I suspect a few issues with "nice flat full stitches, no twisted threads, no visible carry over from reverse side or hoop marks, backstitching straight and even"! I know that some of my stitches are a little thin in places, some do have twisted threads (I do not use a laying tool because I stitch in hand) and my backstitching can get a little wonky sometimes! Besides, I just know that on one of these, at least, there are some cross that go the wrong way... BOUND to be! Another no-no which the county fair apparently didn't catch or doesn't care about! I'm too scared of rejection to submit something I KNOW will be marked down...

Picked up framed pieces for fair entry today...

Nine in all (six entries plus the Christmas ornament entry that didn't need framing)...

Here's what I'm thinking so far...

In framed pictures, Counted Cross Stitch 14 count


In framed pictures, Counted Cross Stitch Set with related theme (2 or more)


In framed samplers: Counted Cross Stitch 18 ct


In framed samplers: Counted Cross Stitch 25 ct or higher


In Needlework Specialities - counted thread on even weave


and in special themed contest (Halloween) - framed picture (oops, my camera strap is in the photos!)

Clearly, I don't have a common thread (no pun intended) in what I stitch! Eclectic, that's me!