Originally Posted by
LadyAg
This thread has good timing. 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.
Sorry, for my second follow up, but what kind of quilting do you like? you say you will never do "free motion" do you do straight lines or in the ditch? you went to a show with 300 quilts and didn't feel inspired by any of them so what do you like? and why are you sure you will never venture further?
I don't know how much experience you have with shows but the vendors around the room pay the guild to be at the show. That is one of the ways to make money, then admission charges and the raffle quilt tickets. This enables the guild to hire speakers and teachers for our meetings. We charge $30 for a year's membership. Admission to the show is free if you volunteer for 4 hours otherwise it is $10. So respectively, no it isn't "big dogs only" Our guild is made up of women and men with various levels of talent and lots of dedication to making the quilt show a success