I am interested in following your experience. Did you get to see your quilt hanging in the show? Did someone send you a picture of it hanging in the show? I'd love to see a picture of your quilt. What have you learned from the experience?

Thank you Janet!! Yes - this is part of my motivation - I love the whole idea and concept of shows. I first fell in love with quilting after visiting a local quilt show about ten years ago - Lake Farmpark Quilts in Kirtland, Ohio. At the time I had only known quilts in the way most people who don't follow the quilting world know quilts - big poofy blue 1980's mauve quilts with blue geese on them!!! Well - you know I loved those quilts when they were "in" - but when I went to Farmpark I started to see this artform in a new light. So I'm thrilled and excited to finally be a part of one myself!! (...and I intend to enter something in that local show this coming winter!)

Congratulations for just entering a show! So many quilters are afraid to enter their work, but if we didn't enter, there would be no quilt shows! ....and the anticipation is the best part!

Thank you Nancy!

There's nothing to be stressed about in the actual judging. The judge's comments are just for your eyes and usually accompany your quilt when it is returned. At least that's how they did it in the one show that I've entered so far and I can't imagine how else they would do it. The judges will try to give you the best constructive criticism and complements that they can in the short amount of time that they have to look at the quilt. Some comments will be useful, some might not be, just depending on that judge's/show's slant. What you get from the judges are their educated opinions of your work, but these opinions will be different that what you would get from other judges because of the objective nature of what we do. The feedback is very useful to help you improve your work, but nothing to get embarrassed about. And if your work isn't appreciated in this show, that's no reason to not put it in another show. They are all different and each show will have a different collection of quilts in it. Even people like Sharon Schamber will have quilts that win best of show in one show, but no prizes at all in other shows.

Thank you!! I am not holding my breath for any phone calls but I sure am curious as to what the judges will say!!! I can't say I'm not a little stressed...I've never put my work out for judging so I'm almost a little embarassed because I know some of the other quilts in my category that are OVER THE MOON fantastic. But I am excited still to know that my quilt will be there!!!

Hi there. It's a little different per show, but in general it takes place a few days before the show. You won't know the results until the first day of the show, but should you win a ribbon, you may get a phone call from the curator, who will probably not tell you what ribbon you won. It helps, if you can't go yourself, to have a friend going to the show who can go and hunt down your quilt to take pics and report back on ribbons. Try not to be stressed about it. Just having it in the show is enjoyable.

For those of you who have entered in the past - or are just very experienced with shows...when does the judging usually take place? I cannot find anything online - maybe I am searching in the wrong places. Tomorrow is the deadline for the quilts arrival...I have received the notification that my little quilt is there...and now I'm on pins and needles. I am very excited and curious about this entire process!

Thank you!