Originally Posted by
IzzysGrammie
I hope I don't offend anyone because I think the quilts made on this forum are so beautiful and I love looking at the pictures everyday. Because my life is not my own anymore, this is my escape. With that said, my question is if you make a quilt for a fair entry, and you have a Professional Long-Arm Quilter finish it up for you, how is that YOUR quilt? What makes your entry a fair one for the people who make their quilt from start to finish? I'm just wondering because when I see these quilts posted from Quilt Shows, it is so intimidating that it has literally stopped me from doing something I enjoy. I will never be able to afford a professional quilter, nor will I ever be able to do that myself by hand or by my domestic machine so this is why I am asking. As I said earlier, I'm sorry if I have offended anyone.
Glad you posted this. Our annual Fall Fair was last weekend and some of us in our quilting club quilt on our domestic machines while others in the club send theirs to long armers. Those of us who quilt on our own machines have had the same questions and concerns when our quilts are shown in the same classes as those done by a professional- I'm referring to a long armer as a professional here, because I feel they are since many of them have long arming as a business. The domestic machine quilters in our group have finally made a difference in our local fair, by requesting that our quilts be in a separate class, this year that finally happened. All of the machines that were done by machine were listed as machine quilted 1-A by domestic machine and 1-B by long arm machines, and the quilts were judged in separate groups. I truly think this is only fair, because some of us who quilt on our domestic machines can never have some of the same beautiful stitching done on a long arm machine. I personally want to do all of my quilts myself from start to finish. We had a class for our Club Challenge quilts and everyone's quilt fell in that group no matter what kind of machine was used for the quilting, and we could handle that.
I think you just have to work on setting up specific rules. as Skitt1321 stated. I entered 3 quilts this year all done on my domestic machines, two entirely on my Bernina 930 and one on my 1937 FW, with only the quilting part done on my Bernina. Well, I'm very happy to say I rec.'d 3 ribbons, 1- 2nd place and 1- 1st place as well as Best of Show. Needless to say I was totally shocked and blown away when I saw the BOS on my quilt.The Best of Show quilt was the "Pineapple Block" quilt that I made on the FW and all done during the month of Sept. I might add. We also have separate classes for hand quilted and tied quilts, and adult and other classes, also a separate class for "baby" quilts. In my opinion I really think the classes should be this way. You just have to work on getting the rules set up that makes it fair for everyone. I list how my quilt is made, pattern name, size and I think in the future I am going to keep track of the number of hours I spend on the quilt from start to finish if I can and remember to write it down each time.
DON"T GIVE UP, who knows what you will be able to show at a quilting show in the future, you will never know if you quit now!! Good luck, hang in there.