Hello, it's me again. Thank you all for reading my post and taking time to give me your thoughts.
I am not unhappy with my quilts. I think they are great and I wouldn't change anything. I know there are tighter pantographs available, but I am not a fan of the tightly quilted pieces. I like my quilts to be soft and not stiff. The quilting was within the requirements of the batting and the stitches were even (stitch regulated). I was surprised that in the category of "pantograph quilting" that the density was more important than the actual quilting.
I spoke with the quilt show committee, and I agree with myself (I was the quilt show chairperson). l have been quilting over 20 years, have entered numerous local quilt shows, and am a respected quilt teacher in my area. I even won several ribbons at the show. As the committee chair, I saw the evacuation sheets for all the quilts, and all the quilts in this category had the same comment.
I just found it offputting that the judge used criteria for a category other than the category the quilt was entered in. The judge did offer positive comments on the piecework and the binding, so all is not bad. The quilt show committee divided the categories by quilting methods to allow the quality of the quilting and the piecework to be the focus of the comparisons. The three main categories were: quilted by domestic machine, pantograph, and custom.
I realize the judge is only human and that personal opinions weigh a lot. I was concerned not only for myself but for the others who entered the pantograph category and received the same comments. This judge caused other problems and we will not be using her again.
I was looking for the opinions of others, and I got it. Many thanks.