Feline Fanatic - we had a situation with my local quilt guild's show several years ago where the long arm quilter won a ribbon for her quilting and the quilt maker didn't even get recognized. She was not a happy person to say the least. The ribbon came from the local long arm group which, to me, made it worse. At the very least the quilt owner should have received some sort of recognition - a great quilt can be made even better with the quilting, but also can be made worse (I've seen that myself). On the other hand a nice but not spectacular quilt can be made mind-bogglingly beautiful with the right kind of quilting. As someone already said, it is a collaboration between the quilt owner and the person who quilted it and both need recognition, especially when a ribbon is involved. This is a subject that has so many aspects and all opinions are worthy. The big shows though should be smart about the whole collaboration. All my own opinions of course.
Sandy in Mooresville, NC