Should my quilt be judged?

I am the chairman of my local guild quilt show that is coming up in March.

Several of our members have expressed reluctance to have their quilts judged prior to the show…

This is what I wrote to them……

Many people are nervous about having their quilts judged. They may be worried that their work is not “good enough” or they may not be happy having someone else tell them what is wrong with their piece. Although these are completely understandable, I would like to encourage you to enter your quilts in the upcoming show AND to have them undergo the judging process!

When a judge looks at a quilt, she is an independent, un-biased individual who is looking at your quilt with the idea of ranking your quilt against the others in the category, but also with the idea of giving helpful comments that can move you further along in your quilting career.

In almost every case, the judge’s first comment is about something good in your quilt. It may be your design, your choice of colors, or the subject matter of the quilt.

She will then start looking at more detail, assessing the skill level that you have brought to your creation. Yes, she may say something that you do not like or agree with, but in most cases, she will give feedback that you can use to make a better quilt the next time.

In my own case, I have normally had a pretty good idea of what a judge was going to like about my quilt or what she was going to say needed improvement!!

My suggestion to each of you is that you make the very best quilt that you can make (knowing that your skill is slowly improving) and submit them proudly for judging. Remember that we all started out slow…even the judge!

If you are still on the fence about having your quilt judged, I love this flowchart from Jenny Lyon that wonderfully describes how we should feel about the process…..

How do you feel about having your quilt’s judged??

Here comes the judge!!

I was excited to be once again asked to judge the quilts at the Georgia National Fair. This was my second year of judging and I loved every minute of it!!

When we arrived, we were greeted with 3 stacks of quilts….or as I called it, “stacks of fun”…..

The quilts had been organized the night before and the tables were ready for us to start….

As usual, there were amazing quilts and it was fun to judge the technical aspects of the quilts, while at the same time, finding ways to encourage the makers!

I loved seeing the Juvenile quilts, especially the one that was hand quilted. I hope that he/she keeps up the good work!!

There were a few things that stood out to me…..

I love the quilting on this one….

….and these diamonds caught my attention…..

And of course, this bargello using gradation fabrics garnered my interest…..

After two full days of judging, we all got together to pick the Awards of Excellence…..

…and it was so fun to see the ribbons on the quilts…..

We did a final photo of the judges….

Since we were flanking the “Best of Show” quilt, I had to do some cropping to get the photo!!!

Finally, I traveled with my friend Deb and we enjoyed 4 hours in the car, talking about our creative endeavors……does it get any better than that??

I can’t wait until next year!!!

On the other side of the table!!

As I mentioned on the weekend, I spent 2 days helping to judge the quilts at the Georgia National Fair.

There were 6 judges…..

…and it quickly became obvious that we had our work cut out for us!!!

We first judged a practice quilt and were put into teams based on the scores that we came up with. This was one of the hardest things to do because we three new judges really had no idea what we were doing!!!

I was teamed with my friend Deb which was just fine with me!! I knew that she and I would work well together!! Each team was sent to their table which held approximately 85 quilts that we were to judge!!

It was a slow start, but I finally got the hang of how to judge the quilt and assign the score. After that happened, I started to enjoy myself!!!

It was fun to see the quilts “up close and personal” and to see the amazing creativity that exists in the quilting world.

It was also eye-opening to view the quilts from the “other side of the table”…..ie from the judge’s viewpoint, and I learned SO many things that I need to watch for in my quilts!!

First of all, when I sew those long lines of blocks together or attach them to a sashing, it is so important that the seam be straight!! This can be done with accurate piecing and especially with a good ironing technique.

Next, I am bad about piecing with whatever thread is on my machine but it makes a huge difference if the thread matches the fabrics (or at least splits the difference with two contrasting fabrics). Note to self…..change the thread!!!

I also need to watch for dark fabrics shadowing thru light fabrics and showing on the top. This was particularly distracting!!

The one thing that was hard for me was to see the number of quilts that were quilted with an all-over pattern that didn’t particularly enhance the piecing. It re-invigorated my desire to encourage others to do their own custom quilting!!

I also realized how important good tension is when machine quilting. I tend to “not worry about it”, but that is going to change now!!

Finally, I realize that it is important to apply the binding straight so that the sides of the quilt don’t wave!!

Once we had all finished, it was time to select the superlative awards for the show…..

This was the first time that we had seen many of the quilts and it was fun to listen to why each team had awarded their particular score. A consensus was quickly attained and it was time to attach the ribbons…..

I did find a minute to snap a photo or two along the way…..

And the quilting on this one was amazing…..

A big SHOUT OUT needs to be given to the volunteers who helped during this entire process. They were taking in quilts and laying them out until 10pm the night before, but were back and smiling happily at 9:00am on the next two days. When we finished, we left the building and headed home but they were all still working hard getting all of the quilts stored until the hanging days.

It was an amazing experience and I hope that I get to go back again!!!

Now I can head to the studio to go make BETTER quilts!!!!

A New Adventure…..

Today I am off on a new adventure to help judge the quilts for the Georgia National Fair!!!

I am super excited and pretty nervous too!!

They use a checksheet scoring which should make it a bit easier and, hopefully, after the first 10 or so quilts, I will feel more comfortable with it!!

I have a long history with fairs!!

In Abilene, Texas (where I grew up), my favorite part of fall was the West Texas Fair. We would be released from school early on the first Tuesday of the fair and given free tickets so that we could attend!!

It was such fun to walk thru all of the pavillions, pick up free goodies from the advertisers, stroll thru the homemaking tent where the crafts and bake goods were housed, and then finally visit the barns. My Dad LOVED the barns so we spent an inordinate amount of time there….but it was fun to smell the farm fragrances and see the beautiful animals.

And then there were the rides!!! It is sad how much faith we put into rides that were hastily built and seldom repaired, but it is fun to remember the screams of joy as we whirled thru the air. Since I was an only child, Mom and Dad would often let me bring a friend, but if I was there by myself, I could always count on my Dad to climb on the ride with me!!

Back in 1971, I knitted a pair of houseshoes for a Girl Scout project and entered them in the fair. Naturally, my Mom kept all of the documentation and apparently, I won a Second Place ribbon…..

When my Mom returned to quilting in 1976, she immediately started winning ribbons at the West Texas Fair and she was SO proud of them.

In later years, she even helped to judge the entries…I guess that nut didn’t fall far from the tree!!

Her last entry in the fair was a quilt that she and I had made together…..

She had hand appliqued all of the amazing flower blocks and was just going to put some borders on it and call it done. I asked her if I could finish up the quilt and she happily acquiesced!!

She was SOOO excited that it won first place that year in the Applique division and I even have the ribbon that I purloined from her house…..

So Fairs seem to run in my blood.

I’ll let you know how this weekend turns out!!!

WARNING….Judge in training (maybe)

From the first time that I helped in the show judging room I was enamored with the process and wondered if I would enjoy being a judge. The judge at our guild show told me about a two day seminar that was designed to give you basic information about judging and about the certification process. When I heard that it was being held in Atlanta (just over an hour away) I knew that this was my opportunity!!!

The seminar was held in conjunction with the East Cobb Quilt Guild show, “Georgia Celebrates Quilts”. Since I had to be at the venue early on Sunday morning to deliver the quilts that I had entered, I contacted the person in charge of receiving and judging and asked if I could help during the morning. She jumped at the prospect of having another volunteer so I happily joined the throng of women receiving the quilts and preparing them for judging. It was interesting to see the process that they used and see how it differed from the one that our guild uses.

I was also excited to be allowed to remain in the judging rooms as an observer. This show is half again as large as our show and was being judged by TWO judges which made things even more interesting.

The two judges were Scott Murkin and Cindy Erickson. I had seen them both judge our show over the years but it was fun to see them work together…..

In the categories with fewer quilts, they judged separately but the larger categories were split and each judged half of the entries, holding out the quilts that they deemed to be the best. Then they convened and selected the ribbon winners from the ones that had been held. I had never seen this process and found it extremely interesting to see how they worked together as a team.

Then, on Monday and Tuesday, I attended the initial Judge Training seminar. It was a VERY interesting two days as we discussed various aspects of the judging process….from preparation of contracts to handling special situations that arise in the judging room.

When we first started looking at the quilts and making judgements on them, it was hard to think about what you might say about each quilt but as we looked at more and more quilts, it became easier to see and verbalize what you were seeing. Much of the discussion centered around ways to make constructive, helpful comments rather than comments that would just discourage the quilt maker.

IF I go ahead with the process it will take 3 to 4 years to complete the training. The jury is still out on that right now (pun NOT intended but it works anyway!!!)……

So, how do I look in black????