It’s one thing to enter a quilt in an open exhibition, quite another to enter a judged show.

Before the San Mateo County Fair, I’d spent a couple more weeks of hand quilting. Finishing the top of the hearts, I decided the squares on point could use a little attention. I’m ambivalent about quilting another zigzag around the burgundy border; the squares will turn into diamond along the top and bottom, so maybe I’ll just leave it for later.

The tricky part is quilting the internal hanging sleeve. Luckily, I find a flat mirror from my kit that just fits and I set to work quilting the front, then flipping it over to mock-quilt (there’s no batting) the striped side. Easy peas-y!

As I turned it in for judging, the woman commented how nice it was to see so many hand-quilted entries. Then I waited for judgment.

Finally, I made it to the fair with friends on Saturday and found that my Labor of Love had taken 2nd place!

Oh, what a relief. The recognition after so many years (and miss-steps) is so satisfying.

Hmm… I wonder if they would accept it at PIQF this fall? Be brave.