The NC Mountain State Fair this year has been as much fun as ever. I worked the quilt take-in table for a shift on Labor Day, then back to the Expo building on Wednesday to work as a judge for the Professional Crafts Division. Both days were fun, and so inspirational to see the wonderful projects and quilts coming through. Back to the fair on Friday evening for the first cooking competition, I had a chance to look around the exhibits to see how my entries fared. I was so excited to see Koi Pond with a First Place ribbon! It was in the category of Wall Quilts, Mixed Techniques with Embellishments. There are over 400 seed beads hand sewn to the koi fish, and that must have put it over the top. It has piecing, applique, hand beading, and a dry brush of diamond dust on the fish to increase the shimmer factor. The fish actually sparkle as you look at them, much like the real ones do.
Lemon Twist was awarded a second place in Bed Quilts, Pieced. Competition was formidable in this category with a lot of outstanding quilts entered. I did make the extra effort on this one to get the points perfect, the border completing the lattice, and tearing out two rows of bad quilting to re-quilt. It was worth it.
This piece won a second place ribbon, and I’ll have a post for you soon about the technique. It is from a program I saw about a year ago, and then the same program was given to our Area just last week. It is called A Year of Improv Meditation, and is 12 small handwork quilts with embellishments, mounted on ribbons. I honestly didn’t really think the judge would understand it, but apparently they did!
In the Lullaby category, my Little Farmer quilt won a third place ribbon. I haven’t shown this to you yet, as the basic design will be a part of Fall Fortnight. Somehow the sheet it is pinned to was scrunched up, so it isn’t laying flat as it should be.
So that was four ribbons in the Quilts division, which is by far the best I have ever done! I had three more entries that did not place, lest you believe everything I do gets an award. Nope, far from it, and that is OK. Great competition means the wins are just that much sweeter. I had a bunch of entries in Crafts and Senior Crafts that also did not place, including these hot pads that I thought were pretty good. But, the category was Senior Crafts Embroidery Both Hand and Machine, and handwork will always win over machine work. The hand embroidered entries were fabulous, so I can easily see why they won.
In the Senior Crafts Household Accessories category, my produce bags won a first place. These will be for sale at the Fiber Fair in October.
I entered a set of five folded fabric stars in Senior Crafts Holiday Ornaments and got a first place! I’ve now made 45 of these little guys for our car club holiday party. If you love these, just do a search for Folded Fabric Stars to find lots of tutorials.
In Senior Paper Crafts, my sewing themed cards won a first place. This category was a guaranteed ribbon, though, as there were only two entries.
The apron I made with the pithy sentiment won a third place in Senior Crafts Wearable Accessories. This will be for sale as well.
Friday night was the cooking contest sponsored by the North Carolina Tomato Growers Assn. I made a red and yellow Roma tomato pizza with Italian sausage and both mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. It was delicious! But it didn’t place. I had alternated the tomato colors, overlapping them in circles around the edge and working toward the center. My Sweet Babboo pointed out that the effort on placement of the colors couldn’t be seen very well with the other toppings. So, I should have left off the sausage, and put the emphasis more on the tomatoes. The winner just quartered a couple of tomatoes and put a marinade on them. Very simple, no real effort, in my opinion. But, the total focus of her dish was the tomatoes and nothing else, a lesson to take to heart for next time.
Monday’s contest was sponsored by the North Carolina Pork Council called Passpork To Flavor. The rules stated the dish must have an international inspiration. I really thought I had a contender with my Greek Pork Tenderloin. But alas, not to be. It is delicious though, with a marinade of lemon juice and oregano, garnished with feta and served with tzatziki. I hate cucumbers, though, so I’d leave that off my serving. Start by mixing the marinade together in a plastic bag, add the tenderloin and refrigerate for several hours.
Bake at 350º for about 40 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 150º, then let rest for the temperature to rise to 155º for medium. If you like your pork well done, bake to 160º. Garnish with feta and cover while the pork rests. Serve with tomatoes, and tzatziki if you like. Download the Recipe pdf – Greek Pork Tenderloin
More cooking contests are coming this week, and next time I’ll show you the other categories I entered. I’ll also be taking my good camera to get some better photos of the overall exhibits as well as some shots that might be entries into next year’s fair.
What’s on your agenda this week?
From My Carolina Home 
Congratulations Carole, and thank you for the pics. It was great to see your entries in the fair.
Congratulations on all your winnings, Carole. All are well deserved with all the hard work you put into them.
Beverly
Well, I knew the Koi Pond HAD to be a first and I’m glad it was! And boy, didn’t it feel good, after all that ripping out and redoing, for Lemon Twist to be a winner too? Made it worthwhile! All your wins are exciting and well deserved, Carole! Well done and congratulations. Can’t wait to see more!
Congratulations Carole!! Great photos!
What marvelous creations you showed! That’s wonderful that you won so many prizes.
Your Koi Pond was spectacular- happy to hear the judges agreed! Lemon Twist – you really made lemonade out of a troublesome experience. I think there needs to be separate categories for hand & machine embroidery. Hand work should always be rewarded, but there are elements of style in machine work that can’t be overlooked.
congratulations, Carole! Well done! I could not imagine anything but first place for the koi. It was beautiful without the embellishments but they made it stunning! Glad you kept at it on Lemon Twist. Despite the initial frustration with the quilting it is beautiful-and another ribbon! You had another year at the fair with a LOT of ribbons! Thanks for sharing all the pictures.
Congratulations, Carole! Your creativity and dedication shines!
Congratulations! You must be so excited with your ribbon wins. I’m excited for you. I think the Koi Pond is my favorite, and I know you put so much work into it. And I am fascinated with the Produce bags. So cute and practical. Always needed at the Farmers’ Market. Your amazing talent stands out in all of your entries.
It’s really fun to get to live vicariously through you. Congratulations on all your well deserved recognition this year!
Congratulations, Carole! Your food entries look and sound great too…especially the pizza.
Carole, congratulations! Your hard work has paid off, and I’m so happy for you to have received a first place for the koi!
Big Congratulations~ on all of your entries and wins! Koi pond is over the top fabulous! Loved reading about the entries and process. I am working on Fall projects for our senior fall festival in Oct!
Well done all around!!! Congratulations on all your ribbons! It sounds like you filled the categories and had fun with each entry. We know how hard you worked embellishing your Koi Pond wall hanging, and your Lemon Twist was a real test of patience!!
Carole, congratulations on all your wins and I am so happy for you. It takes a lot of skill and time! The Koi Pond and the Lemon Twist are both fabulous!
Congratulations Carole! Wow! You are so creative, talented, and hard-working. I’m so impressed with you. Kathy
Congratulations on your first place ribbon for Koi Pond – that one is a beauty! I think your pizza looks delicious with the fresh tomatoes on top. I’m going to try that next time I make a pizza. Looking forward to Fall Fortnite, too!
Congratulations on your winnings!
What accomplishments! Great job!!!
Congratulations on your wins. All of your projects are great but Koi Pond is amazing. My week is not as fun. I have a couple of doctors appointments and lots of errands. I am also doing fall cleaning. I have finished the bird afghan for my mother and have started another afghan for her with cardinals using the mosaic crochet method. I hope everyone has a wonderful week.
How wonderful to check out your Stare Fair entries and see ribbons! Many congratulations indeed.
WELL DONE!! 👏🏽👏🏽 You must be feeling pleased and excited with all those lovely ribbons. Thumbs up to hubby for helping get the tangles out of Lemon Twist – it worked out well in the end with a ribbon!!
Your Pizza looked super but I guess the Tomato growers wanted the emphasis on the product but I would have liked to sink my teeth into your offering. Also your marinated Pork must have been really luscious.
What a lovely Fair you’ve had 🎉🍅🥇🍾👏🏽
Mary :))
You are just amazing, I think you can do it all! Congratulations on your ribbons.
Congratulations on 4 quilting ribbons! Glad the judges appreciated the Koi fish wallhanging! Also glad that Lemon Twist placed after all the time spent on it!
I always like to read the judge’s comments for areas where I can improve.
Your fair entries have me day dreaming of delectable entrees! Hope you are able to bring them home and enjoy them!
Jo Anne
Congratulations, Carole! Beautiful photos! Warm greetings from Montreal, Canada.
Congratulations on all your ribbons! Can’t believe you sewed 400 little beads! Everything looked great. You should have gotten a first place for that yummy looking pizza! I searched for the folded stars and watched the video. Will definitely have to watch it as I do it. Today we are going to an apple farm down in Georgia (not far from Murphy, NC), then on to lunch in Dawsonville with a stop afterwards at the Bath and Bodyworks Outlet. This is a true outlet, only a couple in the country. You never know what they might have, but sometimes they have B&BW hand soap for $1.25!! I can’t wait for Fall Fortnight! Later, Mary Anne
Congratulations on your wins. I enjoyed your posts on making the Koi Pond and I’m glad it was a winner.
Carole, your State Fair post is always a favorite of mine. It’s been a long time since I have entered a fair.
Although most people focus on the color of ribbon and the number of ribbons they receive, to me the most important part is the discovery of how my entries did. It’s fun to see entries that did well and also to ponder why some entries didn’t. It’s all up to the judges and what they like.
Thank you for supporting your local fair, as both a competitor and working behind the scenes. Without people like you, our fairs would not survive.
Congratulations, Carole!! All beautiful work!!
You had a very successful fair in the quilting and crafting items, which is not a surprise with all the hard work you put into them. Congratulations!
Woohoo. Congratulations. So glad to see the koi took a blue ribbon. There was so much work in that one.
Thanks, Mary! For some reason, my email to you was blocked. I hope you see this message!
I did receive it, Carole. I have a problem with your site and one other who uses the same format. I often cannot comment on your blog, or hers. Please know that I do read them and enjoy hem
The problem is AOL. This happens with almost all my AOL readers.
I would agree, but I changed to Gmail for a while and it was the same thing. I finally went back to AOL.
Great to see your state fair going strong, and well done on your success with your entries.
Congratulations on all of your ribbons!
Congrats, Carole!!! I wish I could see your Koi in person–your description is fabulous! That pizza looks so delicious though!!!