N. C. Mountain State Fair, 2026

It's been a very long time since I have had entries for the Mountain State Fair.  This past year has been sufficiently filled with tatting to have several entities.  It is hard to choose from the tatting that I have created over the past 18 months or so.  Nevertheless I found a few pieces that I am particularly proud of and placed them into the competition.

Basically any resident of the state can put an entry into any of the regional fairs.  The largest and most prestigeous is the State Fair in our state capitol, Raleigh, NC.  There are about 5 regional competitions that incorporate several counties in addition to the individual counties of which there are about 100.  Our region is served by the NC Mountain State Fair held in September in Asheville, NC, the largest town in our 16 county area.  Tatting is considered a Heritage Craft.  As such it is not as common as it once was - particularly in the years from about 1890 through 1950.   One of my collegues, who regularly volunteers at this event, urged me and anyone I know that is a tatter to enter the competition this year especially to keep this catagory viable for the future.  My entries included: 

3 copies of this tatted cardinal (our state bird) attached to a white, satin wrapped hanging ornament;

this tree-top angel from Tatsy tatting patterns, circa 1980;

and this pendant which is a creation of my own tatted with silver Lizbeth metallic thread, a crystal teardrop finding and some glass 11/0 black beads.  This one netted me a blue ribbon, the first I have ever won at a fair.  

But the biggest surprise was winning "Judge's Choice" for a Yule ornament that I almost did not enter.

The pattern is an adaptation of Frau Eleanor Endrucks' Pattern number 19 in her 1920 tatting pattern work written in German and the basis for the Endrucks 1920 Project in which I and others have been participating for several years.  The thread is Lizbeth gold metallic with gold bugle beads between the motifs and with a circular motif around the hanger and another one at the base that are threaded to the center tatting.  

My biggest take away from all this is that modern judges seem to be looking for more unusual applications for tatting and very likely any crafting presented.  "Out with the Old and In with the New!"