We (myself and two others) accompanied a judge at a local show to learn how to judge. I recall four things not mentioned above.

She looked at points: where they meet and were they chopped off.

Is the quilt clean meaning strings floating on top of the quilt and/or hanging out of the seams and also for animal hairs.

She checked the binding, its consistent width, and particularly the corners as well as it being full as mentioned above.

Lastly, she would fold and measure (just the best four or five remaining for ribbons) to make sure the sides are the same.

I haven't judged but have been judged.

Suzanne

I have entered some of my sewing of garments and displays for organizations, but I never had the nerve to enter one of my babies. They are to close to my heart but I sure love that you did it!

Our local guilds supply two judges along with the local extension agent. They are supposed to stick to the criteria that's listed in the book for the county fair, but I'm not sure they do that. I don't question their ability to judge, just the ability to be unbiased for a particular color, block, etc. If there is a participant from their own guild they are not allowed to judge it, so that gives a better outlook to me.

I can't wait to see your quilt, they are so much fun to look at and always an inspiration to me. Thank you for sharing and maybe next year I won't have given away everything I've done and I'll be able to enter one....

Happy Quilting,
Sharon

Yesterday I spent all day at a judging day for our guilds quilt show.It was very interesting to help I was not a scribe, but a fanner.
we had 110 quilts to judge by a AQS judge and she was very informative.
The binding seemed to be very important ,hide those knots and stitches!and make sure that the corners are well done. another big item is the points on triangles , no cut offs please. and the fabric choses have to go with the theme of the quilt. the boarders lay flat and nothing disordered. when she looks on the back it must be smooth and she doesn't want to see where the guiltings ends and starts. It seems she always like multiple boarders.
I think the most important thing is that we enter our quilts so that every one can enjoy them. and the veiwers are not going to pick them apart.
we are diffently not doing it for the prize money.I got 3 second place this year at my fair and a check for $12. oh I got a judges choice award yesterday. our show is not till next week so keep it hushed

One other thing. Quilting markings are to be very very light if done in pencil. Otherwise the marks are to be gone. I recall one quilt that must have been marked with a #2 pencil and the marks were very evident.

When I was learning I was told to Never, Never, Never use a #2 on a quilt top.

Suzanne

Thanks for the info. This quilt did not have the knots hidden. I had learned how to do this while quilting this one. I had told my family that they would probably look at that. They still insisted that I enter the quilt.