Ah, the luxury of handwovens for the home.

Betsy Abrams entered a couple of table runners in the fair this year.  The one below has a blue ribbon peeking out from under her entry card.  Congratulations, Betsy!  I haven't seen this particular piece, but it looks like Summer and Winter.  We will have to ask her at the next meeting.

This next table runner is also woven by Betsy and looks like overshot to me.  Hopefully if I am wrong, Betsy will fill me in on the details.

Then, there were towels - and some nice ones too.  Carol Phillips received a second prize for some natural colored cotton towels.  The cottons were from Sally Fox and  the colors in the picture are hard to pick out because they are subtle.  There are browns and greens in addition to the white cotton.

Ingrid received a third place ribbon for her towel, also woven with Sally Fox cottons.  Here you can see the different shades of brown. 

Very colorful and interesting entries from Marcy Elliott are pictured below.

And here is a lovely towel from Dee. I love how the structure hides the weave pattern in the dark areas and lets it pop in the white stripes.

 Sue Habegger's towel entry is an interesting plaid.

And, last but not least these great placemats woven by Gus Young that received a second place ribbon.

All in all, it looks like our group did themselves proud at our latest county fair.  I want to congratulate all the winners for their ribbons, but also for entering their items.  Making the public aware that handwoven is something special and beautiful may give us an edge in the marketplace when we are selling our wares this autumn and winter.

Exhibitors and their handwoven entries.

I thought that followers of our blog might like to see a few of our smiling faces.  Ingrid shared these photos with me, all taken at the Nevada County Fair. 

This is Sue Habegger along with her handwoven top.

Here's Gus Young showing off her handspun/handwoven silk top.

Marcy Elliott with one of her great towels.  I just love the pattern in this one.

And Ingrid Knox, with a white on white towel from her loom.

Nevada County Fair 2010 - Blue Ribbon Winners

The Not 2 Square Weavers did themselves proud at the Nevada County Fair.  Ingrid took lots of photos and tried to identify all of them so that I could give credit where it is due.  There were lots of blue ribbons and I'm not going to get all of them into one post, but I'll start with some of the big winners.

Dee Jones Best of Show vest.  Handwoven with a hand painted lining.  Just gorgeous, and obviously the judge thought so as well.

Ingrid's handwoven linen runner (canvas weave) won a blue ribbon in the bast fibers category.  Her mother cross stitched the Egyptian figures on the runner.  A stunning piece.

Betsy Abrams won a first place on her overshot wall hanging.  Glorious design work.

Sue Habegger won a blue ribbon for her colorful top. What fun this would be to wear. 

Gus got a first on this decorator pillow - deflected double weave face and plain weave back. 

Sue Robertson's first prize art skein.  Hand dyed soy silk and sewing thread.  I wouldn't mind having this skein in my stash!

Gus has another blue ribbon on the handwoven shawl in the foreground.  The weft is handspun mohair.

Many more pictures to come.