Altho I've never entered a quilt show, I bought a copy of The Judge's Task by Patricia J Morris. It's available for about $7 used and I thought she was pretty good, but again I've never entered a show and probably won't.:)

I would like to hear from more judges about their personal judging criteria.

Also, I would expect that hand and machine quilting would be in different categories. As I do my own machine quilting on a domestic home sewing machine (not a long arm, nor do I send out to a long armer), I wonder if there are different categories of machine quilting?

I entered a quilt in the County Fair and got a best of show in the category in entered. A friend entered a wonderful quilt and according to an 'insider' all judges except one (who was un-named) thought her's was the best. However, the one judge gave her a ZERO for color because she said green and purple don't 'go together' so it bumped her down to third place. Hello??? Has she ever seen grapes, pansies or a color wheel?

I entered the State Fair and got a Blue Ribbon in the first time quilter's category. However, at that time (1990's) EVERY MACHINE QUILTED quilt got put in the same lump sum category (except first time quilter). I think I counted about 15 different categories for hand quilted quilts. Talk about prejudice! And, once I won a Blue Ribbon I was no longer considered an amateur and could no longer enter. Hello, it was my first quilt! How could I NOT be an amateur after only one quilt?

I heard a third-hand story about a difficult woman who entered several items (not quilts) in the local fair, carefully distributing them between various categories so she would win more ribbons. She INSISTED (loudly) that a copy of the magazine article that had featured one of her items be displayed with the item. The judge saw the magazine article, declared that the woman was no longer an amateur, disqualified all her items from the non-professional categories, and moved all of them to the SINGLE professional category. Just goes to show, pride goeth before a fall.

I have been in a few BIG quilt shows on the west coast and usually you know who is judging. But if it is a local quilt show or fair, you may never know who judges your quilt. Usually, the first things that judges will judge you on is your binding, especially the corners should be square. Don't be surprised if they leave comments on you entry card. Don't take it personal. They don't know who you are. I have always reviewed what they have written and learned from my mistakes. GOOD LUCK !!

I am not too familiar with quilt judges but in car shows there are sheets that they have to judge with BUT know one knows who they are as it is less of a hassel that way

I find it helpful to go to a quilt show and look at the winners. Look to see what they have in common. You will not be able to figure out how all the quilts were judged, but it is a guide.

I recently entered the first two quilts I have made and won ablue ribbon on each of them. I didn't think they would win anything. I was certainly surprised. I never knew who the judges were.