I used to enter apparel just to get a free fair pass. With 5 children, it was worth it to able to come and go without paying. I always won enough to buy at least one pair of school shoes. Over time the judges got more picky - I was marked down for serging an inside seam in a shade of green thread that wasn't the same as the rest. It was very similar and didn't show, for Heaven's sake.

I'll have to stop out the fair to see what's being entered.

You should enter!! Our fair doesn't have quilt categories, just livestock I believe...

I had cousins who were in the 4H and FFA. They worked hard all year long on their projects from needlework and cooking and quilts to animal husbandry and woodwork. They displayed a lot of projects. Some of their displays either came up missing or damaged and they also lost a couple of animals. One breeding rabbit ended up dead along with a couple of her babies. They had a hunch on who was committing these vicious acts but could never prove it. Then one year one of the kids had an electronics display. It was a surveillance that he said it wasn't working right. So no one messed with it. No ribbon or honorable mention. Well he lied! His camera caught the culprit on tape. It was a couple of judges who were related to a couple of the winners. These were prominent people who were banned from all competition for 5 years and their relatives including in-laws. I'm told by my cousins wife that all quilts have a very large area of their own. A separate room that can be locked and with a guard posted at all entrances to the fairgrounds. nothing has come up missing or damaged for the last 15 years. This is in Indiana.