I am a new quilter and am not experienced enough to enter anything I do in a contest. I do however allow the quilting club I am in to tell me what I need to work on, be it binding etc. Because I don't have a quilting machine and have to do do everything quilting by hand I don't enter contests. I attended a quilt show in the Northwest last year and they did not have one hand quilted item in the expo. So I know I just love doing my story quilts and enjoy seeing other quilters encourage and that is enough for me. Just enjoy doing what you do. One day someone will ogle over your quilts.

Have a look to see if the criticism is correct and see if you can learn anything from it. One of the best improvements I made was when a prominent judge made criticism of my work and took me aside to talk to me about what I should have done. It has been easier to do and more attractive to look at ever since. Take it as a learning curve and not a put - down. All the best for your future efforts.

I am a quilter and I also judge both 4-H and open class at county and state fair here in oregon. One of things that has been stresses to the judge is to make two positive remarks for every negative one. Sometimes it is hard to do, but mostly it is very easy to do and softens the criticism. Just wish it was stressed more everywhere.

It's hard to take criticism. I'm sure they said what they did so you could improve. If they didn't say anything and you didn't win anything you might wonder why and you wouldn't be able to work on improving. With their comments you can work to improve upon what was commented on if you are trying to attain "perfection" in your quilting. If you were just wanting others to see your work I'm sure lots admired your work and might have even wondered why yours didn't win. I've thought that before of some I thought were prettier than the one that won when looking at all the quilts at the fair. Have a good cry if it will make you feel better then tomorrow look at the comments and ask yourself what you can do to improve for next time if you want to enter again. If all they found fault with was the binding that's really pretty good. Are there books you haven't read or videos you haven't watched? Is there a class to take? What do all these and the comments have in common and how can you attain it? Try not to take it too personally. Remember you at least had the guts to enter one and I doubt if very many if any ever win their first time entering.

I have found that alot of small town quilt shows want to be big time. The judging is all the opinion of who is judging. I got upset once about a remark made about my quilt and I was informed it was a "learning" experience.. I learned one thing. The judge thought her quilting was suprerior to everyone else's. I do agree that you do learn something every time you have a quilt judged, but I think it should be done in a nice way. The small town that I was referring to is having a hard time getting enough quilts in the show because the judgeing was so critical. Some small town judges think they are judging in Paducah or Houston... LOL IMO

Sharon Shamber has a excellent video on u tube on how to apply binding. She glues it, but it looks perfect when she is done.

When I was a teenager, I rode horses in competition, hunter/jumper. When I grew up, I competed in conformation and obedience with my dogs.

I learned a lot from competing. One thing I learned is that there is no way for a competitor to complain about the judging without making themselves look worse than the judge.

Another thing I learned is that it is not my personality or my personal worth being judged. The judge's opinion is based on one brief look at a tiny slice of my life, so how can their opinion possibly represent any sort of general judgment on me? The judge's opinion represents one person's opinion on what I presented, no more, no less.

If I start to feel defensive, that's my clue that in some way I am mentally going off track and I need to figure out what it is and fix it. It might be my ego (which I have to go in with a chair and bullwhip to fight back sometimes!). It might be my general stress level (I tend to react to stress with denial and piling on more stress because if I'm not stressed, then surely I can take more stress!).

Whatever it is, for the good of all the people who love me and have to live with me, I have to fix it ASAP.

Thank you. I like how you look at it. I am going to take this grain of salt for my own.

Judges can say some pretty idiotic things at times too. I entered a wall hanging in a county fair and one of the judges mark downs was because you could see the background thru one of the fabrics. It really irritated me because I had hunted and hunted for a fabric that had the right sheen and was thin enough you COULD see the background thru it since it was the glass chimney of an oil lamp. Duh, you're supposed to see thru it!!

I can understand how you feel. My girlfriends put their quilts in the county fair one year and ended up terribly upset. They had comments about their bindings and even one of their quilt was told that it really wasn't a quilt. (It was a ragtime quilt). The judges pinned the comments on their quilts and everyone who viewed the quilts could see the comments.

Don't let the judges' comments stop you from showing. Do it proudly. Us quilters, our family and friends think they are great!!!!