Judging!!!!

On Thursday and Friday I was part of the judging process for our local guild show, which happens at the end of this week.  Since I am the Co-Chair for the show, I am REALLY looking forward to it…..and to it being over!!

Our judge was an NQA (National Quilting Association) certified judge named Mary Walter.  She was personable, wonderful to work with and a font of information!!

The judging process went this way…..

All quilts for an individual category are laid out on top of one another on a huge table.  They are then folded back  in half so that the backs are showing.

Once the judge has read the description for the category, the quilts are “fanned” by unfolding each one quickly back onto the table. 

This process gives the judge a quick view of all of the items that she will be judging in that category.

She then looks at each quilt individually, starting out by looking at the quilt as a whole,  commenting on the design, including fabric selection, color coordination etc. 

She also studies the quilt up close and comments on the technical aspects of each quilt, including quality of piecing, applique, quilting, etc.

As she comments, the scribes write down what she says.  These results sheets are given to the quilter at the end of the show….

After she finishes with a quilt, she will do one of three things……

  –  release the quilt which means that it is not in the running for a ribbon

  –  hold the quilt for the category which means that it “might” get a ribbon

  –  hold the quilt for one of the special awards (Best Quilting, Judges Choice, etc).

Now comes the fun part…..  after she goes thru all of the quilts in the category, the “holds” are returned to the table, and as you can see, EVERYBODY in the room gathers around to hear her choices. At this point, she may release additional quilts until she has narrowed it down to the number of ribbons, or she may just immediately select 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.

As you can see, it is not always an easy choice!!!!!

Bottom line, it was an exciting 2 days!!!!