This blog is primarily my customer's quilts (and maybe mine if I can ever get to them!). For family and misc. posts go to: http://www.outsideofquilting.blogspot.com/



Sunday, August 15, 2010

Quilt show gripes

I finally found some of my pictures that I wanted to include in this posting. Here's a few pictures of the quilt that I'm complaining about how it was displayed. Just wanted to prove how each block was worth being able see, and fairly close up! If you are interested in seeing more of the blocks go to my side bar and find 2009, Aug....it'll be the first posting there.










I recently participated in two quilt shows, one where I entered a quilt and one where I was a judge. Above is the quilt I entered in the local county fair. It's a very small fair, and there weren't probably more than a dozen quilts total. But....I was befuddled and a bit irritated (I admit it) at whoever it is that displays the quilts. This became an issue at the show where I judged as well, so I was quick to rise to the bait on this most recent one as well. Let me point out that my quilt is hung sideways for one, and then hidden behind another quilt display.
I realize that many times there isn't room to display all quilts at their best. But look at the other two quilts shown here on the wall - the tan one is about in the same situation as mine (but it was a whole-cloth that was tied, so no big deal), but the blue one has a much better position (which I can say about EVERY other quilt that was hung in the show - mine was in the worst place of any of them. Also, it's about 3 times farther back from the boundary rope as any of the other quilts.) I mention this, not because it's my quilt, but because of the difference in the quilts. The blue one above is a fairly simple denim quilt that was tied - pretty easy to see any details from a distance, and all parts of the quilt are pretty much the same. My quilt was INTRICATELY quilted, each block done differently (I'm still trying to find my close up pictures I took of it a year ago - not sure where they are filed on this computer!) Back where they have it stuck, you could barely see the quilting.
See what nice access each of these quilts have to people's ability to view them? Some of these quilts just got a participation ribbon, or were tied!
And here are the rest of the quilts in the show -- mine is farthest on the right.


This happened at the show that I judged as well. Someone else hung the quilts earlier, so the judges weren't involved in that.....but after we finished judging the show we went to the director of the whole thing and had the quilts rearranged. There were simple and small, nondescript quilts with full viewing, taking up whole large areas and then beautiful, detailed quilts that were folded into fourths and several quilts lapped over each other so you could only see small sections. What were the people displaying them thinking???
I did get "Best of Class" (whoopee, there were 2 of us in that division, and the other quilt was stippled!)

Perhaps I should offer to help display the quilts next year, I guess, instead of just gripe about it.