Holy Camoly folks, I entered my first quilt in a judged quilt show. You know the kind that give cash prizes. So I decided to enter Nomadic Triangles.
I entered last minute and almost didn’t. It’s so hard to put yourself out there and be judged by others. It’s one of the hardest things I have done creatively.
Indiana Heritage Quilt Show opened a Modern Category for the first time this year so I wanted to enter and represent IMQG. One of the things I noticed from pictures shared of winning quilts was this show really puts emphasis on quilting. That’s not a bad thing, I just know that for future reference. You can see the pictures of the winners here.
The box arrived right after the show with my feedback. Of course I ripped right into it then sat and reflected. Here is their feedback on my quilt:
- Combination of directional pieced blocks and quilting pattern effectively creates movement.
- Piecing is generally well done.
- Long straight quilting lines should be straight and equidistant. Strive for consistent stitch length. Good choice of quilting thread.
- Binding print is distracting. Cut print according to pattern rather than grain to avoid the illusion of inaccuracy. Binding should be even in width.
Here are my thoughts on the feedback, which I honestly appreciate.
- For quilting it’s done on my home machine, not a longarm with a stitch regulator. I did mark the quilting lines evenly but movement happens.
- I agree on the binding choice and this is why I like solid bindings. I really took my time with the binding to have it more even.
I’m not against those that send quilts out to be quilted, I just prefer to do them myself. I may enter again next year, not sure yet. I don’t quilt to make show quilts, I make them as a creative outlet. There are areas I know I need to improve upon. Proud of myself for taking a leap and entering.
Last Thursday when the results were posted I sent hubby a text saying I didn’t win. He sent me this. I hope you find the humor in it like I did. It’s from the State Fair sewing challenge before we walked over to the fairgrounds from our house.
Now I’m going to go take the sleeve off the back and send the quilt to it’s owner. At least I have a quilt sleeve for the future.