Time to Try Something New

Sweet Teen and I went back to the county fair after school today--because I had wanted to see the quilts, and the exhibit was closed when I got there last night.
Here are the ribbon winners:

 Great piecing.

 Quilted with a pantograph.

 1930's era fabrics in a Lone Star.

 Interesting star treatment in the corners.    Star was pieced and lined with muslin. Star was tacked down in some places and held in the rest with the lines of quilting.

 I thought I had a photo of the quilting in the triangle, but I guess I didn't get one.  Looked like the design had been traced on and then quilted.

 This red and black Lone Star had one of the other first place ribbons.  Looked long arm quilted but with some hand-guided quilting.

 The following quilt did not earn a ribbon, if I recall correctly.  Has an all over hand-guided wiggle.

 It's being raffled for $1 per ticket to benefit an area civic organization.

 There were a few wallhangings...all but this one just quilted in the ditch or following the lines in the piecing.  This one was made by the same lady who made the 1930's looking quilt.

 This last one was in the 4-H exhibit, made by one of Sweet Teen's fellow FFA officers. It too was quilted with a panto, so I'm guessing it was quilted by someone else.  There were machine embroidered crosses in a couple of places in the big center panel.

 Okay, I need to check out the county fair booklet and start planning to enter next year. I think it would be interesting to try to do something outstanding that will be seen by others.  (That's my new thing for this week--even if it is just a new plan and not a new finish.)

We were able to vote for one favorite thing in the exhibit, and I voted for a delicate embroidered and appliqued table cloth of white lawn.  It looked like it could have been made by my paternal grandmother 100 years ago, but the guy manning the exhibits said everything had to have been made within the last year.

I did sew the first set of borders on the Little Miss Gardener quilt today....

 and I quilted borders on a prayer quilt for Victory Quilts.    But other than that, the important thing that happened here today was:

 I purchased this sink and hardware some time ago.  The husband of one of my friends is a plumber and was going to install it, but it never happened, so I asked one of the retired guys at church if I could hire him to do it.  We've talked only casually before, and I so enjoyed having the chance to get to know him better.  He and his wife have been at our church only a couple of years.
We have frighteningly hard water in our town--so I'm hoping it won't be too difficult to keep this sink shiny.  I'm so glad to have it.  It's the same outer dimensions as the two basin sinks, but I intensely dislike little sinks into which I can't fit a large casserole or roasting pan. We also pulled out the dishwasher that I haven't used in ages because it just doesn't do its job--which means I finally get to make a pretty curtain for that area with some wonderful toile type fabric that I purchased last year.  It's a great place to keep the waste basket out of the way--and you know how much I'll love seeing that yellow and blue fabric there.

And the other news?  I hear raindrops hitting the skylight.  We're on the southeastern edge of the storms.  I heard the train tracks have been flooded between Santa Fe and Albuquerque (other side of the mountains from where we live).  In a desert, flash floods can happen so very quickly!

I am going to link to Melissa's Try New Things Thursday.

I plan to work on Little Miss Gardener some more tomorrow.

Happy quiltmaking.....