In reply to mrs fitz......I firmly believe.....at our fair there is strict rules....but if everyone could afford a longarm we would be putting some talented people out of work....plus there is certain catagories which each quilt is judged for a certain thing and usually machine quilting is one of them so to my understanding.....my quilt is being judged for my points, color, difficulty,binding, etc......machine quilting has it's own spot.....gee our fair wouldn't have many quilts otherwise and I love seeing all the other quilts......it is the 21st century and times have changed.....it would be like who cuts with scissors and who rotary cuts.....just my view....and another can of worms.......:-)....I personally don't care.....I just love seeing the quilts....:-)

Maybe there should be a place that says....who quilted the quilt and who did the rest of the quilt.....ahhhh problem solved.....:-)

I was under the impression that there are a variety of categories and each category has their 1-2-3 winners. That's the way it is in my guild - but we are relatively small.

yes, shows have categories and then there is "Best In Show" which can be any quilt from any category and i guess the original poster has found in her area the "Best In Show" goes to more modern instead of traditional style.

also, consider that it has hardly been fifteen years that many of the fairs out here in the west were squabbling over whether a quilt that was pieced and/or quilted by machine was eligible for an award of any kind.
Shows have categories, to be sure ... I am most familiar with county fairs ... if you need to change something in that venue, go to your fair board meetings and find the supervisor of that division and engage them in a conversation .... I found that the judges owned quilt shops ... guess whose students won the prizes! That last about three years, and then got changed because interested parties petitioned the fair board and made the whole thing into a conversation ...
As times get harder ... the point/controversy may be a mute point, eh?

I love traditional quilts, but i like seeing all kinds of quilts. If it has a top, a middle and a bottom, and is joined together it IS a quilt. It doesnt have to be your type of quilt, but that certainly does not allow anyone to say that cannot even be called a quilt, i would not want us to be so narrow minded at all. Even the difference between quilting a quilt and tying a quilt, yes of course they are not equivalent in some peoples eyes, but it is in the eye of the person that makes it, and each person puts their own heart into what they make, and yes, a quilt is a quilt, and if not to your liking, that's fine too, but certainly does not merit exclusion.