Kathleen, Your quilts are fantastic! I love the little Sue with all her glory and detail. How do you do the sashiko stitch? I know there are machines that will do it. Or am I mistaken about that? Do you have to audition to get into the shows? I recently went to a show and we talked to a judge there that my friend knew. Interesting-she said many of the quilts which were done by longarm had tensions issues on the back, which immediately hurt their chances of winning. You can tell they put each quilt through lots of criteria before selecting the winners. I think, too, that you have to just try it and get over the fear that everything is way above your skill level. I saw a lot of variation of skill and talent, but all were very lovely quilts.