pumpkinpatchquilter

I went last weekend to a local quilt show and I have a question for those of you experienced with quilt competitions. The show is one of the best in this area, I believe they accept up to 400 quilts ranging from contemporary art quilts to very traditional hand pieced and hand quilted pieces.

There was an amazing quilt that had been entered in the show, it was under "Pictorial Quilts". The quilt was of a lighthouse with a shining light that lead to a mariners compass. The lighthouse sat on a break wall and below was water. There was a lot of white background, but it was intricately quilted, and I should add the quilting was PHENOMINAL. Quilted into the white background were anchors, boats, shells, and various other nautical elements intertwined with feathers, vining, intricate diamond cross hatched shapes...there were even tiny quilted swirls and shapes in the blue part of the quilt to look like waves and fish under the water. The top was likely paper pieced and probably not terribly hard to replicate, but the quilting was truly beyond the majority of what was displayed at the show.

To my shock, the quilt didn't win even an honorable mention.

I would really like to enter this show next year, it would be my first ever competition, but after this years show I am baffled as to what they must be judging on. Did this quilt possibly not win anything because it should have been entered into the competition under the quilting category rather than the pictorial category? From what I could tell it was very well made from top to bottom. But again I'm new to shows and there has to be something I'm missing. If it was entered as a pictorial quilt then it had to have been judged, and not just a show quilt.

So to make a long question longer, what should I focus on when creating a quilt that I'd like to enter into a show? LOL* Have you seen quilts in shows that you were surprised to see didn't get any recognition?

Hinterland

My first question would be, what did the other quilts in the pictorial category look like? The quilt wasn't being judged against all the quilts in the show, just the quilts in that category.

Not every quilt can win. There are usually some fantastic quilts that don't do well in one show, but win in others. The best example I can think of is Sandra Leichner's "Tea with Miss D." It won absolutely nothing at Paducah last year, but went on to win a major prize at Houston, and prizes at every other show it's entered.

As for what you should focus on, just make the best quilt that you can, that makes you happy. If the judges happen to like, so much the better. When you get it back from the show, look at the comments - hopefully they'll show you some way to make your next quilt better, and tell you what you've done right.

Janet

ghostrider

Many times, show organizers will give you the judging criteria if you ask them for it. Just tell them you are thinking of entering next year and you would like some idea of what your work will be judged on. Find out if you choose the category or if the committee does, whether the judges are local or certified, that kind of thing.

LindaR

thats very frustrating...sometimes it really makes you wonder if its just a judge's personal taste...

fabric_fancy

if you want to enter a show and get a ribbon its best to study the winning quilts of that show.

ribbons are based on what judges like - these are subjective for each show and area of the country.

where i live modern quilts done by machine with lots of quilting win. if you drive 3-4 hours to the rural area of my state traditional hand pieced and hand quilted wins.

then on top of the judges and whats popular in your area you have to know your competition.

i live in an artistic community and some of the best quilt artists in the country live here so the competition is extremely tough to beat.

Hinterland

I've entered a lot of quilt shows. I've never felt that it was the judge's personal taste, but that the other quilts were simply better.

Janet

AlwaysQuilting

When Simply Quilts was still on the air I heard Alex Anderson mention that she'd entered one of her quilts in a show and it didn't win anything.
Then she entered the same quilt in a different quilt show and it won.
So it's very subjective.

ghostrider

MTS

Really, you can't do more than that.

Sharon Schamber, she of a gazillion Best of Show ribbons, made a really interesting comment on one of her videos (binding?).
She said that at the big shows - like Houston/Paducah/Japan - the top quilts are all pretty much equal - especially from an artistic/visual perspective, and that the winner is sometimes then decided on something like the binding or the back.

I don't know what show you're talking about, or what the competition was, but it's really possible that as fantastic as that quilt was, maybe the binding sucked...or the back wasn't as clean as the judges thought it should be, even though you thought it was the best quilt there.

If your local guild has an annual show, you should volunteer to help with the judging. It was one of my most interesting quilt experiences when I did it for my guild years ago. All I was doing was holding the quilts for the judges to inspect, standing with my mouth zipped shut, but ears wide open. And it was fascinating to hear the comments they made.

And the same thing happened - fabulous looking quilt, but the binding wasn't great, nor was the quilt perfectly square.

So even though most don't make quilts for a show, myself included, I have to say that was an influence on really learning to do a great binding, making sure my quilts were square and making sure the back is pristine.

kathdavis

In our quilt shows around here, the visitors usually vote on the quilts. I entered five and one placed. Many of the other ones I entered were a lot more work and more inventive, but they did not place. You just never know what people are going to like. Below is the one that placed. I was thrilled because it was my first time to enter a quilt.