Judging Day!

I was one of three quilt judges at the Iowa State Fair on Monday.  What a day!  I've been lucky enough to have been asked to do this for several years now and I really look forward to it.  It's a privilege to be allowed to judge these works of love and art.  I don't know how many pieces we judged this year but I do know that my poor brain had turned to mush by the end of the day.  We started at 8 a.m. and I staggered out the door to head home at 8:30 p.m.   It was a very long day but there were lots of rewards that made it worthwhile.  The quilts were beautiful, interesting, unique, astonishing and there were even a couple of surprises during the day.  An added bonus was getting to spend time with some wonderful and dedicated women (and a few men too!) who make everything happen once the quilt(s) are entered in the State Fair.  On top of all that -- the salad lunch was WONDERFUL -- but then, it always is! 

We took a few photos at the beginning of the day as things were getting started.  Quite frankly, by the end of the day I never even thought about taking more photos because I was just too darned tired!  Here's what I have:

I know this all looks pretty chaotic -- but it's actually very well organized.  All of the items have been sorted into their individual categories and put in numerical order according to their category and division.

All of the pieces are handled carefully and respectfully as they're transferred from their category "pile" and laid out on the table to be judged.  Once judged, they're immediately folded, hangers are clipped on them and they're ready to be hung.

Almost ready to to go! 

Off we go!

I love this job!