Originally Posted by RST
To me, it's completely irrelevant what other people choose to do in their hobby. Their quilts are in their homes, in their washing machines or on their beds or walls, so they can do whatever they want. I'll make mine however I want (which by the way is pretty densely quilted, because I like that look).
But if it's an issue of feeling that competitions are skewed toward the long arm / heavy quilting crowd, then it seems to me that the obvious response is to get more involved in the structure of quilt showing and judging, and make sure your aesthetic gets a fair representation in competitions.
RST
Well said. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: if the only quilts entered into shows are heavily quilted, then of course it looks like judges favor heavily quilted items.
It is my feeling that judges are looking for well designed, well made quilts. Dense quilting doesn't mean that it fulfills these criteria. More doesn't mean better, and it's up to the individual quilter what the definition of "best" is.