Ribbons

I entered 2 quilts into the Trinity County Fair this year. I've never entered a quilt into anything before and I was so excited to see what the judges said about my quilts and how I "stacked up" to some of the other quilters in the area. Well, now that I make a little money quilting, I had to enter as a professional. Yikes. I've only been longarm quilting since February and now I have to be judged right next to people who have quilted for who knows how long? I was intimidated for sure. Imagine my surprise when my friend who sat in on the judging called me giggling with excitement.
She started with the one that I knew wouldn't do as good as the other. This quilt is called "Glory Bound" It is the first quilt that I ever free motion quilted. I used my, now popular, stars and loops pattern and had some fun.
I entered the quilt under the professional division, in the large quilts class. It got 2nd place in its class, and 2nd place in its division! I was astounded! I did not expect to get much from this one and look how well it did!

Judges Comments: Beautifully done points ~ seams match precisely. Selection of fabric colors makes for lovely composition. Careful trimming would help keep borders straight and corners square. Nice even quilting keeps quilt flat and enhances design. When using stripes or plaids for binding, cut stright with pattern to look straighter.
Ok I can absolutely see what she means about the binding. The plaid didn't stay straight and instead kind of did a twist around the binding.
Ok, a close up of my first ribbons!

Sweet! Now for some really exciting news. I knew that this quilt would do ok, but it far exceeded my expectations! Check this out!!

 I entered this in the Professional Division, small quilts class. I got First in its class, First in its Division...AND Best Machine Work Overall! That means not only did it get the best it could do in its division, beating out all of the professionally quilted and made items...it also got the best machine work ribbon out of all of the quilts that were entered in the fair! WHOA!

 Judges Comments: Pleasing color selection placed on white makes for cool, crisp composition. Quilt design enhances piecing and is beautifully done.  More uniform quilting in center would eliminate bubbling. Quilt is straight and square, beautiful bindings!

I used a few straight lines in quilting

 Used my "signature" curly-cue feathers

 And made up my own little curly cue suns!

I don't understand what she means by bubbling in the quilting? I did use 2 layers of batting so that the quilting would be a bit puffier and stand out even more. I still love it and apparently so did the judge...

I'm still dancing in my seat. What a thrill to have hard work pay off.

Happy Quilting Everybody!