Quilt Shows Pros and Cons
 

all quilt shows are good. some are better than others.

I feel they need a seperate atavory for hand and machine applique, pcing, and especially quilting

I agree. For me when I first walk in and see some of the gorgeous quilts I think to myself "why do I even bother?" Mine will never be as good. But a few minutes later I just enjoy seeing all the quilts and am thankful that I do quilt at all. I also enjoy buying fabrics from the vendors.

You can learn a lot about your own quilitng by observing the quilts in the show.
At least I do!
What makes the show quilts awesome?
What flaws do you see in the ones shown?
How do my skills and the quilts I make match up to those in the show?

When I go to a show, I go with a personal objective as to what I want to learn ... eg. discover new border ideas, look at patterns/designs used in machine quilting that I might be able to use, etc.


Cons? Not sure how there can be any negatives ... unless you go with a sourpuss outlook! :)

Unsure whether you are talking about entering or viewing, but either way it's all pro and no con in my book. You can only get better by what you learn from shows.

I've never been to any quilt show or fair where they weren't separate.

The only con is you can spend way too much money

Most of our smaller quilt shows have yummy home made sandwiches, slices and cakes for morning tea and lunch, and that is a definite bonus! I also like to buy 2nd hand quilt magazines (often 3 for a dollar), and other people's left over fabric pieces (the local guild usually has a fund raising table with donated material).
So you don't need to go to a major quilt show to enjoy spending a few hours, and as others have mentioned, you can often find inspiration such as a new border concept, or original colour combinations. I go to every quilt show I can.

And too, there's a 3rd dimension ...
... perhaps the query is about hosting and organizing a quilt show?