[QUOTE=Boston1954;5973273]I'd love the recognition, but I am self taught, and I've been to a lot of shows, and the stuff that wins, it seems to me, is nearly always machine quilted. And that is not even the main reason. My sister convinced me about 3 years ago, to put a couple into a show being done by a group she is in. I worried all weekend that they would be stolen.
How do you get over your fear of public display of your work?[/QUOTE
If I understand correctly it is not the fear of exhibiting, but rather the fear of your quilt being lost that is stopping you from entering. Nothing in the world is absolute, so neither is the security of your quilt. Most major shows insure the quilts to up to $1000 without the appraisal. If you want you can have your quilt appraised and if the value is higher you can include the appraisal with your application and request higher insurance. Different shows have different limits of how far they will go in insuring the quilts while in their possession. Think of the big name quilters' work such as Sharon Schambers amazing quilts or Sherry Reynolds' America, Let it Shine quilt. They had to fold those quilts and stuff them in the box and mail them off to many shows. If you are mailing your quilt, always, ALWAYS mail it with a tracking number - USPS, UPS, FedEx all do it. Or, you can participate strictly in local shows put on by your guild in which you hand deliver you quilt at designated time and place and then pick it up after the show. I do not know if this is important to you, but every ribbon, every achievement in a competition does bring up the appraised value of your quilt. My quilts are important to me, but since I decided to go down the road of competitive quilting I accepted the fact that accidents are possible. I know that this not the equivalent, but I use to stress about putting my son on the school bus (what if he misses the bus from school, what if he takes the wrong bus, what if...) and I got over it and he is way more important than all the quilts in this world. Good luck in your endeavors and I hope to see your quilts in the shows all over the world in no time. Happy quilting!