Second prize

I won second prize in the "contemporary patchwork" section at the show! I'm quite chuffed ... although I'm not sure there were any more than four entrants. But anyway, there you go! Here's a photo of me smiling happily (or possibly grimacing) and you can see glimpses of my quilt behind.




The show was fun, as ever - lots of judging of sheep and cattle and goats and alpacas, and dog races and sheepdog trials and camel rides and steam tractors ... and then the competitions for vegetables and fruit and chocolate cake and honey ... and then the craft hall ... even before you reach the rides and the sideshows and the show bags. I'm exhausted just writing it all, let alone doing it. At least it wasn't a million degrees today, but the time the boys and I had dragged ourselves around I was utterly knackered. And broke.


I usually enjoy the craft displays the most but this time it was really disappointing. Not the craft itself, which was varied and fascinating, but the display space. Although they used the same hall as last year, there seemed to be half as many display panels as usual and absolutely everything was crammed on top of each other. You can get an idea from the photo of the quilts above; although that was a good one compared to the poor schoolkids' quilts which barely got a square foot each before another quilt was pinned on top.


Unfortunately the overall effect was a jumble sale - there is something about lots of textiles piled together that shrieks rummage rather than the works of art most of them are. So, despite being well pleased with my certificate (and rosette! same as yours, husband!) as a visitor it was really quite horrible and depressing.