Originally Posted by BellaBoo
I do the quilt entries for our local fair and of course the judges are out of county. They (apology) are very elderly and very set in their quilt ways. No machine quilted quilt will win if there is a decent hand quilt entered. No matter how great the machine quilted quilt is in color, design or workmanship, the hand quilted one will win. It's to the point of the only quilts turned in to the exhibit are not the best. According to the fair supt. unless other people volunteer to judge out of their county quilts, the same judges are all we have. :evil: Please check with your local fair Supt and ask if they need volunteer judges in other counties. It's not hard, the judging criteria is simple and easy to follow.
Good suggestion - ask the local fair about being a judge, if there are different categories with prizes awarded in EACH category. I entered a small quilt show once just to get my feet wet and, knowing it was a small, small town, knew, as an 'outsider' I would not win - I did get third place! - that I would come away with something learned that would not have been otherwise... Small county fairs/town birthday celebrations, etc. would be way different than say - a Paducah/Houston show... I did it to have fun... my family was wonderful - my boys said, "They just don't know a good quilt when they see one." THEY made my day - not the third place ribbon I took away from it.
I am not an 'older generation' quilter, but I do much prefer traditional quilting... I will never do an art quilt but when I go to shows I do make sure to keep on open mind when I view the quilts. I LOVE to pass my passion for quilting on to the younger people coming up behind me - - they can choose to quilt the way the want to... their choices of materials/patterns do not hinder me from teaching the art of quilting. Generalizing is not a good thing ever...
Maybe county/small fairs could be left for entering for those who do it for fun and a bigger quilt show is for those who want more competition, etc.