Glassnquilts, Thanks for sharing your heartfelt emotions on the less than favorable side of a show. This mnoth was the first time I even attended any shows. Two in the "big town, and our own guild show in the little town. I worked at our show, before, during and after, but chose not to enter anything, although I had been asked to enter at least one particular quilt. Others, I was advised to enter under the display only category. The person who recommended this reasoned that the judges could be harsh. By having it on display only, critiques could still be had, by experienced quilters and admirers, but without hard feelings. Further reasoning was for experience on my part of show procedures. My first reason for not entering was that I didn't want to bother putting sleeves and extra labels on the quilts. Most were already finished, they are bed quilts, and I don't want to remove the sleeves.
As it turns out, this was also County Fair time. I volunteered to help the coordinator fill up space, by displaying some vintage machines. I was also asked to display machines at the quilt show. There was an Oops, as I didn't realize that the two overlapped. (see my post at
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-43881-1694.htm#4470024 ) I put most of my available quilts in what turned out to be a one man booth at the fair. The coordinator of the exhibits is the Extension FCS/4-H agent. (FCS degreeded, 4-H by default.) She is also a quilter. She admired and praised my workmanship, so I felt "judged." The biggest complement was when she studied my quilting, then asked if I had a (gesturing with her hands - long arm). I admitted the fact, but explained that I hadn't had it long, and didn't yet consider myself a long arm quilter, and no, I didn't do work for other people. After studying my quilts, and further discussion, she talked me into working a queen size for her. Now that was the highest complement I could get.
Our next show isn't for another couple of years. Perhaps I'll have the fortitude to enter the show, thanks to the vote from the Extension Agent and comments such as I've read on this post. Perhaps there will be many posts on judging criteria by the time show season is over. We could all learn and grow from such treads.