LadyAg

Hi Pagzz,

There were many very lovely (and quite fantastic!) quilts at the show. When I said I didn't find inspiration there, it is strictly a personal preference issue. I love reproduction applique quilts from the 1840-1880s. I did not go to the show expecting to see anything in this regard, as it is such a small niche, but I had hoped to see some grid work or channel quilting.

There were many equivalent quilting motifs from this early time period that can now be quilted free motion- feathers, wreaths, etc. Like I mentioned earlier, my quilting is "new", but my body is not, so I don't know whether I will have the physical capacity in my hands by the time I am ready to free motion.

I had hoped, however, to see some grid work, or channel quilting, or something similar that I could put into use at this stage of my ability. There were a few quilts that I saw that were walking foot quilted, but the ones I saw were very simply done. I may have missed some great ones, though!

Therefore, the heavily quilted free motion quilts did not "inspire me". I certainly don't begrudge anyone this amazing talent, but that was 95% of what was shown. This is the reason I do not plan to return in the future.

Happy threads!

feline fanatic

I can't speak for local venues as it varies so much but pretty much all the national shows have separate categories and awards for machine quilted vs hand quilted, which is only right IMHO, they are two completely different art forms and I know, as I used to hand quilt and now I longarm quilt. Make no mistake, when it comes to longarm quilting for many of us the machine is not doing anything more than your domestic sewing machine, which is move the machine needle up and down to form a stitch. There are plenty of hand guided machine quilters (both stationary and movable) that don't use any computer to create the quilting, it is all the skill and talent of the person doing the quilting and many of them don't even have a stitch regulator or quilt without turning it on. I am not one of them, I always quilt in stitch regulated mode. All the stitch regulator does is time the needle up and down movement with the speed of the operator's movement.
AQS further segregates between stationary machine quilted (in a table and the quilter moves the fabric) or movable (aka rack mounted) machine quilted. Unfortunately some shows don't distinguish between hand guided and computer guided and I feel that is wrong, there should be separate categories for computer guided quilting in the interest of complete disclosure for people viewing the quilts. I can recall how when I first started and go to shows and see CG quilting (not knowing it was CG) and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how they got every motif exactly the same. Now I can usually tell the difference between CG and HG quilting from sight. But many can't. I was once standing by one of my quilts at a show and two ladies were commenting that it must be computer guided and I piped up and said, no it is all hand guided.

tuckyquilter

I agree. But to me if a quilt (blanket) can't be used as quilts were intended, it should be in another category of it's own, maybe in the Arts section, not quilting. Around here the only ones that win anything anymore are the art quilts. So now we are getting fewer real quilts every year. This year the fair was literally begging for quilts, with little results. Like you say,"Why Bother" as traditional quilters never win. I'm not in favor of any "Participation" anything. Either you win or you don't. We have on guild with almost 300 members, and two other guilds within 20 miles of the fairgrounds. Plus tons of guilds in cities/towns very close and do enter as well. Yet because of the failure of the Fair Board to separate, and judging, they are just not getting entries. I expect the "quilt"section to be eliminated in a couple of years at the rate they are going. About 10 yrs ago they filled an entire bldg, now, barely 1/4 of that same bldg.

quiltingshorttimer

several have mentioned disappointment regarding the number of bed size quilts showing up in local shows/fairs. I have a thought on this as it's happening at my local guild show too. When discussed, we hear that more quilters who have been quilting for awhile have already made enough bed size quilts to cover all the beds they plan to cover. And with the expense of fabrics (and paying for quilting as many do), making more bed size quilts for the sake of bed size quilts isn't practical--that instead lap quilts, wallhanging, and art quilts allow the quilter to continue to stretch their creativity and quilt.

cindi

I agree. That’s pretty much all I make. I want them to be used, not just looked at!

Quilt30

I believe it is unfair for a quilter to enter more than one quilt in a category. If allowed, I believe those involved in the program should petition the organizers to change the policy.

Krisb

The only show in which any of my quilts have been entered is a our LQS fundraiser for the food bank. There is no judging; viewers cast votes with donations. There are First Quilt and Viewers Choice categories, but mostly people vote for friends and relatives. It is all for a good cause, so who really cares? Judged shows raise any number if questions to me. Just a few:

Should quilts completed totally by the maker be judged jointly with those professionally quilted?
How is true free motion quilting distinguished from computer governed “free motion quilting”?
What about computer directed embroidery?
What about digital files for custom quilting particular patterns such as Amazon Star?

The bottom line—at what point are we realistically rewarding not the expertise of the individual quilter but the monetary resources at their disposal?

rryder

I use a domestic sewing machine or my mid-arm Sweet Sixteen to free motion quilt my quilts. It takes a lot of skill to do this, the machine is simply making the needle go up and down-- I control the speed of the machine, the speed at which I move the quilt through it (which controls the stitch size) and I control the designs as well. I'm not sure why you are equating machine quilting with lack of skill unless you are of the mistaken opinion that fmq is done by computer.

rob

cashs_mom

I"m totally not in the trophy for everyone camp! If you give everyone a trophy, then they become meaningless. I agree with SBG. Competing with those who are better than you are gives you something to strive for. I know this because I started out showing cars about 15 years ago without a clue. I made friends with some people who had a lot of experience at it and learned from them. Now, when I win (and beat out some of the big boys) I'm very proud of my trophies because they show how far I've come.

You said that you had 18 categories and are taking in 45 - 50 quilts. That means each category averages less than 3 quilts. If you want to give more people a ribbon, you could give 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each category.