I was asked to judge quilts at an OHIO County Fair in August.
It was such an honor and quite the challenge.
You see...there was no guidelines for judging and lots of
categories for quilted items to be judge.
I could ribbon up to 5 quilts per category.
BUT if I felt like nothing was Blue Ribbon quality,
I could ribbon whatever I felt was appropriate.
No pressure here! Really?
There were stacks ad stacks of quilts.
I think when I finished I had judged 35 quilted items.
There were antique pieced quilts, over 50 years old.
And a category for applique quilts, over 50 years old.
How does one even begin to judge these.
All antiques should be ribboned!
I found the machine quilting category to be confusing.
Both home machine and long arm machine quilting
was in the same category. How is that possible or
even a fair playing field.
I looked for even stitching, good tension and no loose threads
or birds nests on all of them.
There was a Table Topper category
with 5 entries...so everyone got a ribbon.
There were a few modern quilts in the show.
Like this pumpkin design.
and this Pumpkin Quilt
and I loved this Christmas Quilt Category
a churn dash block always catches my eye.
There was even a WIP category?
Only one entry here!
I had to choose Best of Show from all the Blue Ribbons awarded.
The quilt I selected was not one that pleased my aesthestic.
I had to keep my personal preferences out of the mix.
This one was pieced beautifully, Binding and mitres were excellent.
And the long arm quilting was a great design choice for the quilt.
This would have been "Judges Choice"
had that been an option.
I loved its cheery feel
and that matchstick quilting was incredible!
I did provide some feedback about categories,
guidelines and such.
The lady who was logging all the winners into their log book told me...
You are one of the best judges we have had.
You knew exactly what you were looking for and doing!
That was so nice.
I have been invited back for next year!
