I am a new quilter and am not experienced enough to enter anything I do in a contest. I do however allow the quilting club I am in to tell me what I need to work on, be it binding etc. Because I don't have a quilting machine and have to do do everything quilting by hand I don't enter contests. I attended a quilt show in the Northwest last year and they did not have one hand quilted item in the expo. So I know I just love doing my story quilts and enjoy seeing other quilters encourage and that is enough for me. Just enjoy doing what you do. One day someone will ogle over your quilts.