Surprise, Surprise!

I haven't actually been to our little county fair in recent years but I have been entering quilts every year. I was afraid I wouldn't have anything to enter at all this year. Then I remembered two quilts I finished shortly after last year's fair that hadn't been given away. One I kept for myself:

Grandma's Box of Crayons

And the other I meant to give away but my husband decided it had to be his!

Autumn Forest

Unfortunately both quilts fit into the exactly the same category and you're only allowed one quilt per category. Of the two I thought Mr. Magpie's quilt would be the most interesting or out of the ordinary for the fair-going public to see so that's the one I entered.

When my husband brought it home from the fair the following weekend he had three ribbons to bring home with it! One was a regular blue ribbon, and with it was...

the Best in Class rosette! There was another rosette too, a pink one:

Not a Reserve winner but Judge's Choice!!!! I've never had such an accolade before! This almost means more to me than the Best in Show ribbon I received a couple of years ago. {happy sigh} There were no negative comments on the critique sheet either. I feel I have successfully climbed Mt. Everest. Of course, up against a larger pool of quilts mine would probably have slid right under the radar. So maybe a better analogy would be Mt. Ranier. It's shorter and closer. ;- )