I say WOW at just about every quilt I see. Honestly. I love the different techniques and since I am a handquilter, those make me Super Wow.

I am drawn to a quilt that makes me think "How did she do that?". I love the challenge of the puzzle.

The pattern and the color combination.

I guess BellaBoo summed it up perfectly for me.

The block layout is what attracts me most. My preference is for structure and symmetry. Next I think would be colour. To be honest I don't usually notice the actual quilting all that much at all.

Some quilts shout "WOW" from 100 feet away and some quilts hit you in the gut with a wow when you are close enough to see the stitching and the complete picture. And some quilts knock a person over with their admiration while the person next to them yawns. I think it is a lot like judging husbands. ROFL.

Probably first is the color but I also notice if the actual quilting(not the piecing) is spectacular.

I'd have to say color because it's the first thing that draws the eye, then design because if the color and design fit together that's a real pull. Much as I hate to say it, you can't really see the workmanship til you get close, but after I've said that, it's the workmanship that makes me think that what was a very beautiful, stand out quilt from a distance is in fact "a work of art".

Don't forget that over the years, color fades, patterns become over produced and a ton of people are doing their version of same patterns (almost all of which are 'Quick & Easy').

Workmanship will always be there, the number of pieces, the handwork, the quilting stitches and how even they are, the originality of the design, the overall quality of the quilt. Even after hundreds of years go by and there are only parts of the quilt left, you can look at something and say what wonderful workmanship.

All that said, someone posted a picture of an old quilt with a VERY original version of a design and it just grabbed me (I think she was asking if anyone knew what the pattern was called). The colors were ok, I couldn't tell how good the workmanship was but the design reached out and screamed 'LOOK AT ME' to a person who loves quilts.

First the colors! Then the pattern.

I say Wow! to EVERY quilt I see. I am in awe of the craft, the creator's talent, the colors, the designs...so many factors work together to make these lovely works of art. What's not to wow?