county fair

The county fair just finished up this weekend.  Our club did really great with their entries.  Lots of things have changed since I was in 4-H or possibly it's just a difference of how the program is run in a different state.  One difference that I was skeptical about was back in my day, the judges were not supposed to know whose entries they were judging, but here you sit down with your judge and have an interview about what you made/grew/collected etc.  I do think the judging is softened by the kind, volunteer judges meeting the nervous, squirmy kids face to face.  In the end, I felt like it was such a good public speaking kind of experience for the girls to answer questions and explain what they learned and how they completed the project that I'll admit that it's a good thing.  Here's S highlighting out the finer points of her wildflower arrangement to the judge.

 . . . and that wildflower arrangement. . . got Best of Show!

Our club did very very well.  They all thought it was excruciating labor to finish their skirts (a mere 4 or 5 straight seams, with quite a bit of un-stitching to do in between.)   This is S the moment she finished the last of the hem. . . a tad dramatic I'd say.

But once they got to the fair and saw all those ribbons and read all the judges encouraging comments, it was all worth it.  Everyone got blue ribbons (first place or it means the item exceeds the standards in all categories) or purple ribbons (means the item is so freaking fantastic they will be going on to exhibit at the State Fair!!!) AND a Best of Show for beginner sewing construction and a Best of Show for beginner Style Review (modeling your entry and interview)!  I suppose I should note that we might have been the ONLY beginning sewing club, but hey they did great regardless.  Here is our club's exhibit with our skirts, banners and pin cushions proudly displayed.

 A couple of the girls were out of town and missed out on the Style Review & fashion show for the public.  Here are the cuties that did get to model in spite of their stage fright.  Way to go girls!!!