My 2015 NC State Fair Wins

This year I entered nine items in the 2015 North Carolina State Fair. Today I went with my daughter to see how I did. What an exciting experience! Six of my entries won ribbons.

Blue Ribbons (1st place)

Pillowcase edging

Knitted edging on tea towel (my first time entering a knitted piece)

Red Ribbons (2nd place)

Handkerchief edging

Framed tatted piece

Crocheted baby sweater (first time entering a sweater/crocheted)

White Ribbon (3rd place)

Crocheted shawl with beads (first time entering a shawl/crocheted)

Non-winners included a tatted brooch with beads, a knitted shawl, and a trivet with tatted edging.

Shuttle Cleaning

I spent some time this week cleaning off tatting shuttles so I could start new projects. Usually, I just run off lines of picot flowers to glue onto paper bookmarks as a way to clear off a shuttle, but this time I decided instead to see how many hearts I could squeeze out of the short lengths still left on the shuttles. I managed 15 using Rosemarie Peel's heart pattern. I love this pattern because it's almost all chains so you don't need much thread on the shuttle.

I must have overdone the "pinch" in the process because the next day I woke up with the tip of my left thumb a bit numb. I'm taking a break from tatting to give my thumb a rest.

I'll glue these hearts onto cards and send them to friends on Valentine's Day next year.

2015 NC State Fair Entries Submitted

Today I entered all my pieces for judging in the 2015 North Carolina State Fair. It was almost an anticlimactic moment for me after all the last minute work to get everything ready. Now I just wait until the fair opens to see the judges' results.

To recap, here's all I entered:

Knitted Shawl


Crocheted Shawl


Crocheted Baby Sweater


Knitted Edging


Tatted Edging on Handkerchief


Tatted Edging on Pillow Case


Framed Tatted Piece


Tatted Edging on Metal Trivet


Tatted Brooch