It Was A Learning Experience...

Judge Mary examining Shirley's winning garments.

 Yesterday, Karen G. asked me whether or not I'd be sharing some of the

things I learned while scribing for our judge earlier this week. I decided

 to write a post about my experience while it's still fresh in my mind.

While I might tell you about my experience as a scribe, I think

 what you really want to know is the criteria our judge used to 

choose which would be the winning show quilts within each category.

Judge Mary waiting for category winners setup for Best In Show selection.

 Our judge was exceptional, beginning every critique with positive

feedback comments to the creators of the quilts. She then decided

whether or not the quilter should receive specific recognition for the

best features of the quilt:

1) piecing/applique' technique well-executed

2) effective color placement

3) quilting motifs well-chosen

She may or may not have instructed the scribes to check one or all of

those three criteria. If #1 was chosen, it may have had just one of the

techniques circled (perhaps only one technique was used in the quilt).

The second part of the critique sheet focused on "Areas that might benefit

from improvement":

4) More accuracy needed in piecing/applique' (circled as appropriate)

5) Long straight lines should be straight (very important!)

6) Strive for a consistent stitch length in quilting (the longarm or finish quilting)

7) Starts and stops in quilting should be less visible

8) Ditch quilting should remain in the ditch

9) Tension problems noted

10) Corners should be 90 degrees

(at this point, the judge ran her fingers down the length of the binding to see

 if there were lumps, unevenness or too much fabric at the mitered corners)

11) Binding should be full to the edge

12) Binding stitched should be smaller, tighter, and closer together.

(We were often instructed to cross out "smaller, tighter and closer together" and

 asked to write in "invisible" instead. Thread needs to match color of binding

fabric. Binding should be stitched front and back at the mitered corner, too!)

These items are part of the judging criteria because these, executed improperly, will

not only detract from the appearance of the quilt, but will wear more quickly, too.

Judging the Track Mounted Machine Quilting entries for First Place

 While I watched as all 132 quilts were scrutinized by our judge, I

found myself thinking about which categories I might enter next time.

I also learned that attention needs to be paid to the tiniest of details.

I'll just bet that there won't be a single unstitched binding corner on

any of our guild's future quilts. (It was the most noted default, second

only to "stacking corners in the wrong direction" which created bulk.)

I'm sure I'll think of more constructive criticism I witnessed, but for now,

 I'll just tend to my own sheets and strive to create even more technical

 quilts. Whether they're for personal or family use, or my original goal

 is to enter them in a competition, I really want to do things the right way.

Today, all our guild members will be assembling in Punta Gorda.

It's Setup Day for our bi-annual quilt show!

It's going to be a long day, culminating with Handsome playing a concert in 

North Port tonight. Tag will spend the day with him while I'm away, and then

 I'll be sure to give him some personal attention until I have to get ready 

to go over to the Performing Arts Center to listen to wonderful music. 

I'm not getting in trouble for neglecting the Corgi again. No way!!!

Gotta run!