Hinterland

I think everyone feels the same way, particularly in the beginning.

Think about it: in a show with 200 quilts, if the the judges spend 3 minutes each with a quilt, that's 10 hours of work. No way can they find all my mistakes in 3 minutes, LOL.

I have learned that I'm my own most critical judge. There are some comments I take with a grain of salt, but mostly I agree with the judges comments on my work. I'm thin skinned, but I've never felt like the judge nit-picked me or hurt my feelings.

And, I truly enjoy looking at my quilts hanging in a show. I like listening to what other people say about them. If I don't win, I like looking at the winners to see what I can do better next time.

Janet

pumpkinpatchquilter

Thumbelina and luvstitches - I am glad I was not the only one! I didn't want to post pictures of the quilt without the makers permission, and also I don't want to discount in any way the judges or their judging because I just don't know enough about it to critisize.

That being said I was really surprised this quilt didn't get any recognition - and the more I read through comments I am lead to believe that the pictorial element of the quilt was what the judges must have been focused on solely, because it was entered into that category. I bet if the quilt were entered under the quilting category it would have recieved something. I wouldn't be surprised if this quilt wins Best of Show this year because it truly was stunning, the most impressive quilting I have seen before anyhow! I believe the past few years winners of the viewers best of show didn't initially win any ribbons from the judges either did they?

If I've learned anything at all so far, I think one of the most important things I can take away from this thread is to be careful what category I enter my quilt into! ;)

SewCute

I find all of the comments on this thread very interesting. I have entered lots of contests and the very same quilt will do well at one show and not get anything at another. But when I go back and look at the competition in the shows I agree with the judges more often then not. And I also think that when you get to the bigger, juried shows it is going to come down to what quilts have mastered the techniques they have used, originality, and then if they are all still equal, it is going to be the judges preference and every judge will have a different preference. I love having the judges comments as it has improved my quilting skills tremendously. And I have to say that I sew different when I know I am going to enter a quilt in a show. I am much more precise and particular about seams matching, etc. In fact I am my own worst critique!!! If I am going make a quilt to cover up to watch tv with or to give to my grandchildren, it doesn't matter if it is not "perfect" so I often don't take the extra time that it takes to sew to "show".

I love to show my quilts at shows too. It is so cool to see your quilt hanging at a show and to listen to the viewers comments and talk to you about your quilt. But quite honestly, it you are happy with your quilt, it really doesn't matter what everyone else thinks.

Lobster

I did read once somewhere that judges have a list of set criteria, and they will award considerable weight to something we may not have even considered.

Tell you the quilt that puzzled me. It was for a specific competition, there were six quilts and five prizes. (Two quilts were "withdrawn", which I reckon is due to one shop selling the wrong fabrics for this competition.) It used the challenge fabrics all right, but the design was not original. It was a copy of The Great Wave of Kanagawa. Nicely pieced, mind, but the quilting was nowhere near sufficient. There was a large cream area to the top right of the quilt, above the wave, which was left almost entirely unquilted (this was a 39" square quilt), and even in a thumbnail photo you could see the fabric hanging loosely there. I think it won either third prize or was one of the two runners up. A lovely quilt of a peacock in front of the Taj Mahal, original in design as far as I could tell, didn't win anything.

libber

Wow, it sounds like a gorgeous quilt. How do we find who the quilter is and how can we have a picture of this beautiful quilt on our newsletter for all of us whose curiosity is running rampant to see it?

Katiequiltsalot

I don't enter my quilts,I make them the way I want too.I give them to whom ever I want too,that way I know they will be used and loved.But I'm not into competition.

mpspeedy

We would not be human if we didn't let personal taste influence our judging of not only our own work but other people's as well.
I have a friend who is a certifided judge by the NQA. She judges at most of the county fairs etc. within 100 or so miles of our area. I hate to show her my work because she nit picks it to death. Her personal taste in quilting runs to Thimble Berry, browns, dark reds etc. For many years she was a professional hand and machine quilter before the longarmers priced us out of the market. She once handquilted a quilt that won a big prize at a competion. The owner of the quilt failed to mention that she had paid my friend to do the quilting. While a little of the prize money would have been nice my friend was mostly interested in at least getting credit for her quilting skills, which were remarkable.
According to her training she says that judges look at the workmanship, binding, points etc. as well as the amount of quilting, embellisment etc. The color and design are secondary. I think the whole idea of judging quilting was started to improve the skills of the quilters.

Joanne9of12

I know which show to which you are referring and I've recently had this same discussion with a few of my fellow guild members. I was asked about the quilt because they knew that I had judge shows and the past and they wondered how something like this could happen. Here is what I told them, but please let me reiterate that I'm only speaking in "possible explanation" terms, since I did not judge this show.

1. Perhaps the quilt was entered into the wrong category. I had to disqualify a BEAUTIFUL quilt that had been entered into the "Mixed" category (patchwork and applique). The quilter had machine pieced and hand-quilted the project. She thought that's what "Mixed" meant. (The category description clearly stated the definition of "Mixed.") She should have entered it into the "Hand-Quilted" category, or the "Machine Pieced" category, and later admitted that she hadn't carefully read the category descriptions.
2. Perhaps the application was not complete, therefore not eligible for judging. (Be sure to fill out all the information and sign the entry!)
3. Perhaps it was a "Display Only" quilt and not meant to be judged.
4. Perhaps there was an issue about "legality." I judged a show once in which an individual listed the quilt as an original design, but it was actually made in a class taught by a somewhat local designer/quilter. Had I not taken the same class and seen this quilt before, no one would probably have known. When the individual who entered the quilt was questioned, she stated that she had forgotten that she had made this in a class. (I seriously doubt that was the case because I heard her say to her husband as they walked away: "I should have known better than to enter it in a show so close to home.")

Anyway, to make a long post even longer. You just never know the whole story. There is the "judges bias" in some cases, but certainly not all. Many shows also have the judges make comments for the quilters. It would be interesting to see if that was the case here.

jpthequilter

I had a friend who had made some quilts. They were all mixed scrap dark service quilts.
She called herself "just an ordinary country woman".
She liked to embroider, so now and then i would draw flowers or birds on squares of muslin for her to embroider.
One day I gave her five squares of muslin upon which I had drawn the outlines of tiger lillies. When she finished them I made her sew them together with four golden yellow fabric squares to make a nine block center of a top.
Despite her protests, I made her add yellow and orange borders to it to complete the top. She was amazed!
I helped her add batting and a back, and bound it for her.
She said: "I didn't know quilts had to have a plan!" and protested and grumbled while she was making it - "That don'cha know this is all too much work!" - but she quilted it! - and was delighted with it!
Anyway...I sent it off to a quilt show in another part of the state and entered it as a two person quilt with both our names on it. I took a photo of it hanging in the show, and gave it to her.
You can't imagine how tickled she was!
It made me laugh just to be around her.
Meantime she secretly made another quilt all by herself, this one of embroidered red cardinals, (that I drew for her) and chose shades of green for the squares and borders.
The sad part about this story, is that she unexpectedly and suddenly died one day. Her daughter put the the tiger lilly quilt on her casket and added the one I had never seen, her secret, her red and green and white cardinal quilt!

This story is, "Just do your best!" Put it in a show and be very very tickled about the fun of it all!

LindaM

It was a learning experience for the show committee, definitely. The guild (show committee and entrants) were all aware of the type of judging before the show. And yes, the judges came in, looked at each and every quilt in detail, and awarded 1st, 2nd, 3rd. We had more than 300 quilts at our show, they were there more than 12 hours!

And you could elect to not have your quilt judged.

The main purpose of the show was to share our work and inspire each other, not so much for competing.

But for the next show, I'm quite sure there will be "enthusiastic discussion" on what type of judging/review we want :)