Wednesday, October 15, 2014

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!

19 comments:

  1. Wow, congratulations on your wins but also thanks for posting all this detail - it's really interesting so get an insight into the whole process.

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  2. See all your hard work, effort and ripping of that binding paid off!

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  3. Congratulations, Judy! I am a press open kind of gal, too. Thanks for sharing all you learned by entering this quilt in the show. I am grateful you passed along that information for the rest of us to learn, as well. This quilt is a winner in my books!

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  4. Only thing I can think of...regarding thread showing...tighter stitch so it doesn't pull apart? We never get perfect, HA! Enjoy your success and don't focus on the negative. It's an amazing quilt :)

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  5. Hmm, I don't know what to say about the thread. I press my seams open as well. I don't coordinate my piecing thread, but I use a medium to dark grey (depending on what I have on hand more than color matching) and have never had that issue. But maybe I also haven't quilted nearly as much as you. Was it that visible before washing / blocking or did it show up after the wash (maybe for show quilts try not to wash them?)? Congratulations again - and how cool you got complimented for the binding which you worked *so* hard to get right!

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  6. Congratulations Judy. It's a wonderful quilt and you deserved the ribbons.
    About the "different fabrics" comment: of course you used different colours of fabric, but perhaps they found that your variations in quilting created the illusion of different textures of fabric (eg satin, silk, tweed). Those would also be different fabrics. I think this is most evident in the open spaces, where the density of the spirals sets off the stars as if they were pieced.

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  7. I am so.... Happy for your Win! I am gathering my strength to enter into Quilt Con this year. I am hope "Spin" will be there and I will be the crazy one snapping photos and yelling "I KNOW HER!"-She is one of my Blog Soul Sista's!

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  8. What a great setting, and fabulous quilting!

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  9. So glad you liked the milliner needles!

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  10. Awesome! I like the additional quilting you added to the stars. And I like the milliner needles, but I Love crewel needles. They are used for hand embroidery, so they have a larger eye.

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  11. Vera finally came to your post and saw the quilting, lol. It looks better for sure! What they meant by the comment? Well you created different textures on the same color fabrics so it looks like you used more fabrics than you actually did. Got it? :) Congrats once again!

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  12. A Very Famous Quilter gave a workshop for our guild. She said that the little, little details (like "piecing thread shows") make the difference because when it gets down to "which of these magnificent quilts gets first prize," it's the little details that gain or lose points. Congratulations on your win!

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  13. Congrats on your wins! And thanks for sharing what it's like to go through the judging process.

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  14. This is a lovely quilt! I will have to try using milliner's needles for something other than millinery! I tend to press seams open for clothing (to reduce bulk), and press seams to the side when quilting to reduce the likelihood any batting will work its way out over time.

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  15. What a fun post! Congratulations! That is a spectacular win! I love hearing your thoughts on shows and to enter or not to enter. I put a quilt of mine in a little bitty local show a while back( 1year ago? 2?), just cuz I am kind of a show off and it was the only opportunity I had ever had. My quilt won Viewers Choice! How gratifying :) Congratulations again!

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  16. I LOVE the quilting on this! Just breathtaking! Little wonder it won! Well done!

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  17. So many things struck me in this post, not the least of which is your beautiful swirl quilting. Thread for piecing: I will NEVER forget (I'm kinda scarred, actually) my 12th grade Home Ec teacher saying, "Select your thread a little darker; you want a seam and not a marker," in a singsong kind of way. Did not enjoy her style of teaching at all, or her personality, but that has stuck, in a not always pleasant way, lol. Pressing to the side, definitely would help; I was taught to do this in quilt classes, open for dressmaking. Woot woot on the binding, and a big fat hug; I recall our emails!! Size 11 Milliner needles are now on my shopping list. I'm now subscribed to Sharon Schamber. "Perfection isn't necessary to enter..." duly noted, as is the link to Leanne's post...phew, so much great info shared here, thank you! Soooo happy for you!

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  18. Wonderful!!! (How did I miss this post??? I've been away/busy, but stillllll...) I want to jump up and down in delight for your success!!! Yay!!!

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