Originally Posted by
LadyAg
I just went to the annual quilt show in Plano, Tx and had already decided it will be my last show to even visit. I am new to quilting, but it was extremely easy to see that every single ribbon in every single category went to a heavily quilted free motion quilt. There was even a category for "first quilt show quilt" and the top two placings went to, you guessed it, heavily quilted free motion quilts. For me, there is no "inspiration" there, as I am an older newbie and will never do free motion quilting. What I did see, however, was if you don't heavily free motion, don't bother to enter a show. The venue where the show was held was ringed by vendors selling sewing machines at $10,000 up, along with numerous long arm quilting machines.
There was no place for those without a huge budget anywhere at the this show. Far from being inspirational, it came across to me as "big dogs only".
I am sorry you feel that way LadyAg. That was my guild show and I was working admissions so I may have crossed your path.
I want to make 3 points.
First if someone wants to ribbon at a show that is one discussion. This show you reference is put on by a guild in the Dallas Metroplex area with a lot of talented quilters. This area has lots of quilters and shops...I think we had 22 different quilt shops that sold tickets to the show. That is tough competition.
Second there was another recent thread on this forum where someone pointed out all the famous free motion quilters who just use their domestic machine to quilt on...it can definitely be done.
Third I had two quilts in the show and the one in the modern category was critiqued for having "traditional" quilting which was a valid point. If I had just done straight line quilting it would have been judged higher presumably.
Perhaps there should be a thread on how to win ribbons but there is more to shows than that... lately I have seen people lamenting that heavily quilted wins...but you can also say that most best of show quilts are heavily appliqued.