It is with a heavy heart that I have made a decision to no longer enter any Quilt Show and especially any local shows. I am well known in the local Guilds for being out spoken and opinionated, AND for only showing quilts that are of Show quality! My reputation as one who questions the Judges selections appears to have followed me within the local Judges Circle (Political Party). I enter the shows to challenge myself to make a quilt as perfect as I can and be able to compete with other quilters. But no more. In fact, I have pulled my quilts from the San Antonio Show because of the Judges that they will be using in September. One of them is NOT a Certified NQA or NACQJ Judge! She must have judged my Stonefields as she did not sign her name. If the NQA judge did the judging – she was derelict in not signing the Critique Sheet.
I did receive a 3rd place with the annotation “that it would do better in a Mixed Category”.
Note that if a quilter enters a quilt in a show and selects a category that the show committee feels it belongs in another category they have the option to change categories. That was not done. No Judge signed the Critique Sheet Again I was given Outstanding for Visual, Piecing and Borders and Sashing. (I did not take a good picture of this quilt)
This show reminded me of the 33 years I spent working for the Government – ALL POLITICAL!
Irish Mist received Outstanding Marks in all areas of the Critique Sheet and I was awarded an Honorable Mention! Blow smoke somewhere else Judge!
Blue Medallion Surprise did not receive an award, with the following statement, “minor variance noted in straightness of long lines”. Not sure what that meant. (I did not get a good picture of the quilt in this picture – I was too angry and did not pay attention) This quilt was perfectly square!
There was an issue with Brinton Hall that I did when I made the top and did not catch it until it was quilted. IN FACT, THE JUDGE GAVE ME AN EXCELLENT IN THE AREA OF THE PROLEM! I was not expecting much from a Judge, but I was given an Outstanding for Visual, Piecing, Borders and Sashing so not sure what they did not like about the quilt as the Critique Sheets were not marked as to what they did not like!
As most of the quilters who follow my blog know I am a 100% traditional quilter (I do not judge how others chose to make their quilts) but for me I prefer to not use glue, paper piecing, nor do I use an Accu Cutter to cut out my pieces when making a quilt. I quilt my utility quilts and if I know a quilt is one that I feel the public would like and it meets the criteria set out by the Hosting Guild along with the Judges (?) Critique Sheet, I send it to a Professional (Rebecca)Longarm Quilter.
When we dropped off my quilts Tuesday I walked around the area and there was a Judy Niemeyer quilt! I told Clay – well I won’t win many ribbons this week-end as the queen of Paper Piecing (no thinking to make this quilt) quilt will come out with the Best of Show – AND THAT QUILT DID! San Antonio has a Judy Niemeyer quilt entered in the September show and this was another reason I pulled my quilts. Why waste the time and effort required to get the quilts ready!
When I started making quilts, there were important things to pay attention to. For instance binding – the Judges will immediately feel the binding to make sure that it is full of batting! (I used to Scribe for Judges). Binding had to be 1/4″ on the front and back of the quilt – ABSOLUTELY NO MACHINE BINDING. Points could not be cut off if it was a pieced quilt and applique was to be perfect. Borders were to be straight, and color was very important. The Judge would want “movement” in the quilt (not just a 2 color quilt). Then they started judging the fabric on the back of the quilt – no more muslin backings.
Then changes really began to take hold with the machine embroidery, (forget that one had hand stitched the embroidery on a quilt) long arm quilting became more important than the technique and precision used in making the quilt top. The Modern Quilt has now taken over and fast and easy is the trend – forget detail work! Colors no longer matter – just put the fabric in a bag and go from there! The younger quilters have no idea how to actually make a quilt – they purchase kits because they do not understand the Color Wheel – they machine sew the bindings because they finish a quilt faster. I could go on and on, but by now I have probably stepped on too many toes!
This all started around 2003 when the Artisans began to come into the quilting world, then the fabrics changed, and in 2012 the Modern quilters arrived which also supports my decision to not participate in quilts shows anymore.
After this week-end I realize now that the quilting world has been turned over to Judge’s that do not appreciate perfection or the difficult work it takes to make that ‘perfect quilt’. I realize that Quilt Shows are politically run and paper piecing is used to make quilts where the quilter has difficult times making a block without cutting off the points. So I accept the changes and will no long participate. There will be a day (long after I am gone) when the quilting world realizes they have made an error by ignoring the Traditional Quilter!!!
I personally know the Judge who judged my quilts and her Critique Sheets do not support honest judging of my work. A Judge is not supposed to know who the quilter is, but I now believe that the Judges do know who the quilter is! Just like our lovely Government – it sucks!
I am not a “sore” loser, I just have to realize that it is not worth the money, time, or effort that it takes to prepare a quilt for show to continue on with this game of politics and having Judges judge on personal opinions. I had hoped to be able to finally get back to showing, but I will now find another avenue to devote my skills to and it will not be to support Guilds. They have become WOKE!
I did not take any pictures of other quilts as we only stayed about 90 minutes after realizing what had just happened to me! This post is mostly meant to document the reason I will never show and a way for me to put this experience behind me and move on to fun things again in my life!
Have a wonderful week – enjoy quilting!
Hugs,
Nanette
© Nanette Chopin Cook at Doitrightquilter.com 2022. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nanette Chopin Cook and Doitrightquilter.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Linking To: My Quilt Infatuation; Confessions of a Fabric Addict; Finished or Not Friday ; Em’s Scrap Bag; BOM’s Away; Sew Fresh Quilts; Crazy Mom Quilts; Oh Scrap; Scrap Happy Saturday; Slow Sunday Stitching Quilt Fabrication Mid Week Makers; Peacock Party; Design Wall Monday, Scrap Happy Days, Quilting Patch Linky Party, To Do Tuesdays
Chopin - A Passionate Quilter From Texas 