Forest Fall Fair

Each year I enter craft items in our local agricultural fair, the Forest Fall Fair. This year I entered cross stitch, sewing, photography and scrap booking and I received three 1^st Place Specials, two 1^st Place and three 2^nd Place ribbons.

Cross stitch items are always the first on my list of entries and there are three categories.

Picture over 12 inches (framed), Picture under 12 inches (framed) and an article.

The article I entered was a cross stitched bookmark.

I bought self sticking magnetic pages at the dollar store and I cut them the size of the bookmark. I stuck one magnet to the bookmark and left the other magnet with the paper backing still on it, and placed it on the back.I displayed it on a piece of paper to show that the bookmark was magnetic. It won 1^st Place Special.

The picture under 12 inches was from a kit that I bought 24 years ago and didn’t realize when I bought it that it was ‘counted’ cross stitch.

It sat in a drawer for several years, then when I learned how to do counted cross stitch, I dug it back out and whipped it up.

This picture won 1^st Place Special.

The picture over 12 inches …. Also sat in a drawer for several years. These patterns were all found in a magazine series. Each month another pattern would appear and Tracey would scream at the delight of how I always seem to find patterns representing three girls. I love this picture because it represents my family; three girls, mother stitching and a cat at her feet. In real life, my cat insists on sitting on my lap while I try to stitch. She loves following the thread with her eyes as it travels up and down, in and out and she always surprises me when she lunges at my work to catch the thread. I wish she would just learn how to stitch and finish some of my WIPs.

The first daughter (to the left) in the picture seemed to represent my oldest daughter Niki who, while not at all shy, seemed to be so when it came to going to school. The middle picture reminded me of Holly who loved to play with dolls and the gift in the photo has Holly on it. The picture of the little girl riding the pogo pony reminded me of Paige always bouncing around the house. It was uncanny how the hair on each little girl was the same as my daughters growing up. Two with shoulder length brown hair and one short bouncy blonde. NOTE: my hair does not look like the mothers, although it is now blonde.

Each picture has a charm placed on it: a ruler for Niki, a reindeer on the Holly gift, a ‘Cinderella’ key (her favourite Princess) around Paige’s neck and scissors for Mom. This picture won 1^st Place Special.

The sewing category took Second Place: I’ll show THAT one closer to Halloween!!

I am challenging my cross-stitch group to enter their works of art next year. When I enter my items in the fair, while it’s lovely getting the ribbons, I enter more for the ‘show’. It’s a small fair, and people come just to see the exhibits in the building, but the exhibits seem to be getting smaller each year. I want my group to show this town what we can do. And more than anything: I want to give those judges a run for their money! They will have a heck of a challenge deciding winners next year. It’s ok, it’s my group – I’m allowed to brag about them.

Bonnie