Soft toys anyone?

There were piles of them sitting there waiting to be judged. 

I spent yesterday at the state's showground. It was part of my duties as a steward in the Handicrafts section. The entries are delivered this week and then judged before being put in the display cabinets. 

I take a particular interest in the knitting and crochet of course but I am also interested in the soft toys which are entered and then passed on to the Women's and Children's Hospital. The work that some people put in to something they are then giving away is extraordinary. There were over forty entries in this class this year. 

As they came in the stewards on duty were going "Oooh" and "Look at this one!" The entries were being carefully lined up with laughing comments about, "Make sure they can see what is going on" and "Behave yourselves" when they were put down.

Other entries came in too, entries for other classes. Some of the embroidery came in. There was the millinery and the dressmaking too. Smocking came in for special attention from an expert judge. (I would have no idea about the finer points of that class but I recognised some beautiful work.)

All entries now need to be in by 10am. Judging begins at 11am. In between we rush over to the other side of the building. There the wonderful ladies from the Country Women's Association have left freshly made scones for morning tea. The urn is on. Scones and tea or coffee are consumed and regular stewards catch up on what each has been doing in the past year. 

Then, back to the judging. Will it be this one...or that one? The soft toys were varied of course. They always are but they were all good enough to pass on - even the one obviously knitted by a child. 

"How was this done?" and "I can't find the last seam...no, here it is." Yes, everything had safety eyes. There were no loose parts and nothing that was sharp or dangerous on anything. It made judging so hard. We looked at the bears, the dolls with long spindly legs (just right for being grabbed and pulled around), the red and yellow dinosaur. There was a tiny pink elephant and a lion with a curly mane.  

At last a beautifully embroidered felt cat was chosen for first and a cloth bear for second. They were followed by other items and then the name cards were attached and we put them in their special display cabinet on the end of one of the long rows. 

I think they look good there. All of them will go to new homes with very sick children who need something a bit special or children who have nothing to comfort them. To me this is something very special and very much part of what the state's annual "Show" should be about. 

Tomorrow I go back to steward for the knitting and crochet. As always I expect it to be a very enjoyable day but it won't be quite the same as seeing those toys on display.