Alice Woodhull picks up a blue and white floral quilt from a folding table. She feels the fabric between her fingers and examines the stitching before flipping a corner over to examine the underside.

“I like a binding that is sewed on and then taken to the back and stitched down. With this, they have just taken the quilt top and turned it back, then stitched it down. They didn’t get it filled in places,” she said.

Woodhull has been quilting for 30 years. She’s been coming from Greensburg to judge the quilts in the Brown County Fair Open Class for several of those years.

It’s easy for her to tell when a quilt has been hand-stitched or machine-quilted. Machine stitches are consistent and the same throughout the quilt, while the spacing for stitches on a hand-made quilt may vary.

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“It’s a lost art,” Woodhull said of quilting.

“When it started out, people did it was a necessity to have covers on the bed. My grandmother had five kids, and she had to make a quilt a winter to have enough. The kids would all wear them out.”

Dirty, smelly or animal hair-covered quilts count against quilt entries. But this one? It will get a blue ribbon.

“I don’t like to discourage people. I like to encourage them, so I will probably give it a blue ribbon. I’ll put some criticism down here and some good words, tell them to work a little bit on their binding,” she said.

A few tables over, Wade Bell is sorting through a pile of photographs.

The Crawford County resident has been judging Open Class entries for at least 10 years in Brown County. He knows what to look for; he’s been a photographer for 28 years.

“I love looking at pictures. It’s what I do at home pretty much,” he said.

Bell considers the composition — how the photographer sets the photo up. He looks at the contrast, and how sharp the picture is. But sometimes a photo that’s a bit blurry doesn’t necessarily count against the exhibitor.

“There are some that I’ve seen that emotion just pours out of it,” he said.

Those usually involve small children or are have a photojournalistic element. Bell is also a freelance newspaper photographer.

“It’s what you’re shooting, how you frame it, (and) if it’s good and sharp. There’s a lot of technical things that go with it, but at the same time, if you can draw that feeling out of it, that makes all of the difference in the world.”

In front of him is a photo of a man in a kayak on a lake. “I wish I was on the lake with him,” Bell said.

“The composition is good, because he put him out of center. I love how he has the reflection in it. The highlights are hitting in the right spots. The dark background actually brings him out the way he should be.”

The photo gets a blue ribbon and a star. The stars help him keep track of his champion ribbon contenders.

He often includes technical points in his comments, too. “A lot of times I will tell them to get closer to their subject,” he said.

“I also tell them to keep at it, because the only way you can get better is to just keep shooting.”

At the next table, Quinton Anderson and Janet Slevin were entering flowers and plants to be judged.

It was Anderson’s second year exhibiting and Slevin’s fifth year. The two started a “friendly competition” on who can get the most ribbons.

Last year, Anderson submitted one plant. This year he submitted three — succulents and a “toothache plant,” which is a flowering herb.

For Slevin, entering floral arrangements is like a continuation of her time in 4-H as a child. Last year, she earned Best of Show, Reserve Champion and Grand Champion ribbons.

“It gives me something to brag about,” she said.

“When I get old, I am going to make a quilt out of all my ribbons.”

For Anderson, a single father of twin 7-year-old boys, gardening is peace and tranquility.

“(I enjoy) the time I put in with it. I go home, I sit on the deck, water the plants and listen to music, get my serenity,” he said.

Julie Huff dropped off armfuls of entries to be judged: sunflowers, zinnias, marigolds, hydrangeas and gladiolas, and mixed bouquets in an old Japanese tea pot, plastic rain boots and a Mason jar.

Purdue Extension Homemakers volunteers Olivia Toler and Linda Raichel set to work measuring the blooms and placing registration tags.

Flower gardening has been a part of Huff’s family heritage since 1899, starting with her great-great-grandmother in eastern Kentucky, she said.

This was her second year exhibiting at the fair. “It pushes me to try new things every year,” she said.

“Except for my glasses, I get a great suntan. I get exercise. I have young children. … We weed and we grow things together. It’s a family experience. My husband builds the flower beds out of logs that fall down in our woods.”

“I’m happy with however I finish,” she said.

“It really is learning and kind of seeing new things. I’ve seen really spectacular things come in that aren’t mine, either, and that’s neat.”

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Open Class and 4-H contest results are being gathered now and will be printed in a special Brown County Fair souvenir booklet. It’s scheduled to insert in the Aug. 30 paper.

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