Quilt Show Wrap Up - Lessons learned

In case you missed my post on Friday, here's a recap - I entered Spin into a regional quilt show. It received two ribbons, Best Modern Quilt and Best Amateur Domestic Quilting (still pinching myself). Spin made it back home yesterday afternoon. Here are the judges comments (can't figure out how to use my scanner. . . and my tech guy is at work ;) . . . so I took a picture)

If anyone can explain, "Change in quilting thread color shows good attention to detail and creates the idea that different fabrics were used" please do - I'd love to know what that means!

The only thing that is 'negative' is the comment about the seams showing. I expected that comment. . . There are several spots in the piecing that the thread shows through. Close up so you can see (kind of...):

It's much more obvious when you are looking at the quilt. . . look across the seem both horizontal and vertical on the black center piece and you can see it. It is also showing on those grey pieces to the left and right.

Anyone know if there is a fix for this? Note to self. I admit it, I piece my tops with a light color thread and I never ever match the thread to the fabric. . . probably not a smart choice for black fabric and in a quilt that I thought might some day be entered into a show. . . Also, to reduce bulk I ironed the seams open when I sewed the blocks together. Had they been pressed to the side, those threads would not be showing. . . . I am a press my seams open kind of gal. I use a small stitch in my piecing to compensate. Judi Madsen made a plea (literally, I think the please was even italicized!) in her book "Quilting Wide Open Spaces" for seams to be pressed to the side if the quilting is going to be dense. I poo pooed that little tidbit. . . she even showed a picture - much like my picture above. I still didn't take heed (you know I have to test everything! LOL). I think this wouldn't be as much of an issue if I had used black thread to piece those blocks together. . . or even a very dark grey. . . Lesson learned.

Did you see that last comment? . . . "Excellent binding techniques" !!!!!!!  Those of you who followed through on the making of Spin know that the binding portion of making this quilt was a total cluster. . . it took THREE times and the cutting of new binding to get it to lie flat. . . I used finally Sharon Schamber's tutorial on binding and followed EVERY step. It worked. Oh, the other thing, SonJa (a  wonderful reader of my blog) recommended that I get some Size 11 Millner needles for my hand sewing of binding - OMG! I'm buying a case!! Made the process (and you all know how much I hated disliked the hand sewing of the binding) SO much easier! Thank you, SonJa!! Binding is important, especially if you have any intention of entering a quilt in a show. Lessons learned here? Size does matter with hand sewing needles too!! Perseverance can pay off in the end! Several show quilters have written (Sharon states it in her tutorial) that the binding will make or break a show quilt. I am glad I took the time to get it right! LOTS of lessons learned prior to earning an excellent rating on the binding :)

What you ask is the biggest lesson I learned in this entire process? Perfection is not necessary to enter a quilt into a show (or submit it for jury into a show). I could have named many other things that were 'wrong' with Spin that the judges didn't mention. Did they not see those things? I'm guessing they did. Part of that lesson is also this: there is no need to be so hard on myself when small mistakes are made - especially in FMQing. Did you see their comment? "Machine quilting stitch well controlled." Really? I have never thought my stitches looked 'well controlled'. . . This comment totally took me by surprise. Big.Time.

The big question, will I enter another quilt show? YES! I highly recommend! :) Others that have entered quilts in shows know, it is a thrill to see your quilt hanging on display in public :) I submitted Spin to the Road to California show. I won't know until December if it is juried into the show. I may submit Spin to other shows. I have the Michael Miller challenge quilt that I will submit to QuiltCon. Will either be accepted? My thought is, you will never know unless you try :)

And here is a better picture of Spin, her ribbons and a couple of close ups of the additional quilting I did in the stars (just for you, Vera ;) )  

I am off to quilt some more on Off Course. I worked on it yesterday, this one is going to take some time . . . Dang, look at the date on that flimsy finish post. . . July??? I'm embarrassed!! 

Linking up with Lorna for Let's Bee Social Kelly for NTT and Amanda Jean for Finish it up Friday. If you haven't been, go check them out for some pretty awesome inspiration!

Until next time, keep on quilting!! 

Adding a PS to this after I posted. . . I want to give credit to the person that inspired me to enter a show in the first place and I can't believe I forgot to add this to the original post! Leanne over at She Can Quilt had a post back in June (Consider entering a quilt show). Before I read this post, I never would have considered the possibility of entering a show. . . ever. I thought about it a lot. Then she added the page in which she lists shows and submission deadline dates. I found myself visiting that page a lot. Thinking maybe I can hit that deadline, or maybe that one. . . I missed several deadlines but when I saw the deadline for this regional show (not on Leanne's blog) I thought what a perfect way to dip my toes in the water. I sent Leanne an email this week thanking her for her post and for inspiring me to take the plunge :) Leanne has several posts about quilt shows (specifically about entering modern quilts into 'traditional' quilt shows), if you are interested just search her blog - you will find plenty to read and a LOT of inspiration. Her quilts are AMAZING!