Tiffany

I feel the same about consignment shops. Honestly, I don't think a quilt store should charge the 30% or higher consignment prices they do. Having gorgeous quilts hanging up in their shop only encourages business and people will buy more fabric and more kits depending on what they see on the walls. It's a great way for a quilt shop to get a lot of quilts hung up without having to do so much work themselves. I've never been a fan of putting my stuff out there on consignment simply because of the high consignment fees. To me, that's money right out of my own pocket! :P

As for judges and fairs, it really depends on where you are and the individuals who are judging. It is always hoped for that you will get a judge who can view the quilts dispassionately, and by that I mean without imposing their views onto the quilt. If a judge hates brights, they should be able to look past a quilt made out of brights and still judge it by its merits, not knock it down because they don't like the colors. Now, you'll note I said 'should'. Unfortunately not all judges are able to be impartial. It helps to remember that when putting a quilt into a judged event; the judges can be very human. I know for me personally, I have gotten great benefit from judges comments and I really enjoy entering judged quilt shows. I hope this helps for those who are considering entering a quilt into a local fair but are concerned about the judging portion of it. It really isn't that scary but you do need to approach it knowing that you may get comments from the judges you don't like, as well as those you do. Read the judges comments. Use what you can and throw out the rest. :wink:
~Tiffany

Flying_V_Goddess

The judging kind of scares me 'cause...well, I'm not exactly conservative when it comes to quilt designs. And at last year's fair the ones I remember that got first place ribbons were either ones with very traditional blocks with very earthy/subdued colors or t-shirt quilts...I like to be a little bolder than that. Same goes for the art competition...a friend of mine has been setting up a booth for body art and entering a lot of artwork at the fair for the past couple of year. Creates beautiful artwork, but some of its not exactly the judges cup of tea. She got ribbons for all of them, but the ones we thought were the best ones got 3rd/4th place ribbons.

Flying_V_Goddess

That got me thinking...Cran Fest. About 15 minutes where I live is a little town called Warrens and every year they have the Cranberry Festival. There's probably only 1000 people living in this town and when they have this festival about 100,000 or some crazy number of people flock to this little speck of a town. I've never actually went, but from what I hear its like one big crazy gigantic flea market. I wonder if people sell quilts there.

Cathe

Find out who organizes the Cranberry Festival and call them. Ask about sales opportunities. Then, if you can sell things, make quilts that fit the occasion - northwoodsy things, probably. Is it in September? You can do things with a winter theme (maybe autumn, if there isn't already snow on the ground. I have LIVED in northern WI!)

Tiffany

There are often times the quilts we like the best at shows or fairs aren't the ones that win the highest ribbons. Why? Sometimes it simply comes down to the judges and what they like best (it isn't supposed to work this way but sometimes it does), but often times it comes down to things like construction or even evenness of stitches. Frequently something as simple as binding will knock a beautiful quilt down in marks and it will look like a quilt that wasn't as good won. Interestingly enough, I have learned from several of my friends who are experts at entering shows, that if your quilt doesn't win at one show it often will at another. The key really is to have a bit of thick skin where the judges are concerned, especially since the judging part can be so intimidating. Most of them out there are wonderful and would like to help promote quilting, but there are those few out there who seem to be spiteful and opinionated. Don't let them scare you off from what can be a fun part of the quilting process. Throw anything from those judges out and try again with a different show is my motto with them!

Cathe - I am learning a lot from you. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us. I'm just starting to get into the area of selling my quilts and I know this is an area where I have a lot to learn. I have a question that has been bugging me. When you go to places like a craft fair or cranberry festival, about how many quilts and quilted items would you suggest bringing?
~Tiffany

triciasquilts

Flying V, As most everyone on this board knows, I sell my quilt items. As far as what kink of quilts sell, you just never know what will appeal from one person to the next.
As far as where to sell, I started at our local farmers market. Then I started doing other weekend type shows and festivals. Now besides selling my stuff, I actually run the farmers market and helped organize a crafters market where crafters can set up every weekend in our local mall. (I also got voted to run this market too this year).
Festivals are great, they are usually 2-3 day events, but a lot of long hours go into those. And they are usually more expensive to set up at these, but these are my most lucrative shows to do because they usually draw thousands of people from across the country instead of just the locals.
I am so well followed now just in southwest Montana, that people are calling me to find out where I'll be set up next!! But it takes alot and I mean alot of work.

barnbum

I have often wondered that! I want to stock pile pieces for a one day craft show around the holidays, and I know one rule for these types of events is to have enough for the whole day. Well, if nothing sells I'd have enough for the whole day. :lol: But, how would one know how many to have ready?

jbsstrawberry

You should be able to get information on carnivals/fairs from that towns area Chamber of Commerce. They should also be able to put you in touch with the coordinater of the events. Or at least guide you in their directions.

triciasquilts

If you look at my avator, you can see basically what my set up for shows looks like. I actually started with one table and now have 4 tables and some display items that I use. Here's another pic too. This is how I set up inside, my outdoor set up is different as I use a tent.

Cathe

As many as you can get done!!! You want to make people come in and browse. If you don't have enough, they just look from a distance, assuming they can see it all from the aisle.

If you do a series of festivals in the summer/fall, you need to be working hard the rest of the year so you don't run out of products!

This is a picture from one art show I did about ten years ago: