For those just joining us, this is the story of how I got roped into running (setting it all up, getting entries, etc.) at the Collura Cottage at the Pasco County (FL) Fairgrounds in Feb. 2022.

It took about 5 hours for the judges to get everything all judged. They did admirably well, despite the fact that I had no clue what I was doing.

The final thing was for them to choose the two big awards. One of those was the Vera Cox Award, which went to a prolific quilter who did a lot by hand, and the other was the Joe Collura Award, for the most creative exhibit in the building. I had to explain what it was for, and point them to the “choices,” as they had to choose between only blue ribbons for these entries.

All in all, I feel like it was a beautiful building, when we were done. It was lovely having everything decorated in blue, red or yellow ribbons. (By the way, we had told people we’d have white, but lo and behold, when we opened the boxes, they were yellow ribbons for third place!)

Come with me on the visual tour of what we showed to the world at the 2022 Pasco County Fair.

This was the entrance way. When you first walked into the building, this was before entering. Below is when you walk in and turn right. That was considered the dining area.

Right across the brown floor was the kitchen, where all the sweet treats and canned goods were. We also put the Joe Collura Award winner, to keep those beautiful painted gourds out of harm’s way.

Then, on the right, we went to the living room and “show” area, along with the central floor space before the last place were the two bedrooms, which were stuffed with quilts. We had to put quilts everywhere since we had so many! But first enjoy the living room!

Here is the little bedroom, which we dubbed the children’s room. We put the clothing articles in there.

Below is the huge bedroom, where the majority of the quilts found homes. Enjoy the views!

I just cannot even explain how happy I was to be doing this. The beauty of the work that everyone created was unexplainable. The joy of watching someone enter something into the fair and then WIN.. well, that was indescribable.

None of my own entries won anything other than a second place, but that’s ok. I had a grand time watching everyone else.. and you bet, we’ll be back, next year, encouraging people to do it again! In the fourth part I’ll spell out each category and show the winners themselves.

All in all, it was a great deal of fun. I learned a lot about a lot. I didn’t even know what I was supposed to know, but didn’t know to ask! But it was beautiful!

Part 4 will show the winners in each category.

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Thanks again, Rachael, for this beautiful gallery of photos!

Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store here!

Here’s one of the beauties we have!