State Fair Time

I have always been hesitant to "show off" my work to people. It's not something that comes naturally to me. I have been working on that a lot lately using this blog, twitter, and flickr to show photos of my completed quilts and other projects. It's one thing for me though, to show a photo online and to have people say "oh, how pretty!" and something else altogether to willingly bring in something I have made and have it judged. The thought of someone judging my work terrifies me to no end.

Last year I had a conversation with someone who said to me "you need to put your work out there where people can see it and touch it. You need to be open to criticism and be open to getting you feelings hurt in order to succeed. If you never put yourself out there, no one will ever see how wonderful you are." Granted, this person was a family member so they have to say I'm wonderful, but his words really struck a chord with me. He encouraged me to enter a quilt in my local fair.

Here's the thing about my local fair. It's the Puyallup fair. It's the largest fair in Washington state. It's a tad bit, um, intimidating. I talked to my friend Lizze (who also happens to be my biggest fan) and she encouraged me further. I decided to go ahead and jump in with both feet. I knew right away which quilts I wanted to enter.

I spent the day yesterday hand-stitching labels and hanging sleeves to the back of two fairly large quilts. After church this morning I drove the few blocks to the fairgrounds and my stomach started to knot up. I remembered the message from service and played it over in my mind "Only a fool would wait for the perfect time". I bit my lip, grabbed my bag, and went inside. Phew.

Entry #1 Urban Cabin

Entry #2 Royal Garden

Now comes the nail biting and the anxiousness of waiting to hear how they did. I'll have to keep myself plenty busy so I'm not constantly thinking about it. It's a good thing I have so much sewing to do!