Local quilt show: observations

"Dr. Zachary Smith" wrote in message
...
On Aug 17, 6:28 pm, "teleflora" wrote:

Hi Cindy,

In a local show here, you can enter any quilt, and there's a box on
the entry form. If you check the box, your quilt is eligible to win,
but it will be judged. No judging - no prizes, but you can still show
it off, get comments/feedback (from viewers) and exposure.

*************

Yes, that is exactly what I wanted to do. But "they" won't let me.

Cindy

I've always wished that quilt shows had a special section just for sharing.
It could include mistakes (though you wouldn't want to encourage a lot of
that), a surprise color melody, a radical use of an old block pattern, easy
crib quilts, special hugs for the military and so on. Not competitive
level - just for sharing and display. I'm easy. I am delighted to see the
beginners in the 4-H club show. I guess there may be a good reason not to
have a 'display only' category but it sounds great to me. Polly

I'm confused, someone wrote
In a local show here, you can enter any quilt, and there's a box on
the entry form. If you check the box, your quilt is eligible to win,
but it will be judged. No judging - no prizes, but you can still show
it off, get comments/feedback (from viewers) and exposure.

*************

Yes, that is exactly what I wanted to do. But "they" won't let me.

John, you say you're a traditionalist, but the Baptist Fan is about as
traditional as you can get. Ditto the Clamshell. And neither of those
respected piecing seams. Take a look at the sites that result when you
search quilt history in Google books. Lots of books with illustrations
of handquilted quilts.

--Heidi

http://community.webshots.com/user/rabbit2b

You crack me up, Polly, from your screen name to your pithy post. And I
agree with you.

This thread has got me thinking, and I'm trying to postpone doing something
else right now, so I'll chime in. When I first bought my first quilt book
and, some time later, started cussing over my first patchwork design, my SO
and I went to get my tires rotated at the local tire shop and discovered
that the wife-half of the couple that owns the tire store had taken up
quilting.

Now, the couple that owns the local tire store are old friends of my family.
Their daddy was a friend of my daddy. If Daddy was missing from our house,
he was probably at the tire store gossiping. It's just that kind of town.
And I think the world of these people. I love going to the tire store to see
them. They generally have children and grandchildren behind the counter and
new pictures of the patriarch's hunting and fishing trophies. Rita and her
daughter are generally working on painting scary faces on dozens of pumpkins
or decorating Christmas trees made out of foam core or whatever, depending
on the season. The whole family is wild about local high school and
semi-professional sports. I'm telling you, they know how to enjoy life.

Now, Rita's quilts at the tire store were made out of the cheapest
conceivable material based on the simplest possible patterns, with appliques
of ducks and deer and baby motifs. Rita could probably churn out at least
two of these quilts a day, because Rita is reeeeal good with a sewing
machine. And I guarantee that Rita's friends are very glad to get them as
gifts. Heck, *I'd* be glad to get one as a gift, because I'd just be glad
to see Rita and get ANY gift from her. (I was thinking about this when I
read the thread about the Wal-Mart quilt the other day. If I love a person
who gives me a tacky gift and if I believe they just don't know any better,
then I'm grateful. On the other hand, I wouldn't appreciate a diamond ring
from my sister, to whom I have not spoken in years, because she's evil.
There's a big difference.)

My SO asked me as we left the tire store, "So why don't you get together
with Rita to quilt?" My SO doesn't know anything about quilting. I just
said, "We do different kinds of quilting," and that was the end of that.

Now, if there was a local quilt show with a category for the most prolific
or most beloved quilter, Rita would probably win in both categories. If
there were no subcategories in the show, I doubt Rita would win -- I doubt
Rita would *enter* because Rita is pretty astute about life in general, but
if she did show her quilt, I would hope nobody would dis it in her hearing.

If I don't like the criteria for accepting entries to or judging a given
quilt show, then I feel I would have a couple of choices: either get on the
jury or keep my mouth shut at least until I get home. If I do get on the
jury or whatever group makes the decisions about the shows, and the other
members don't agree with my opinions, then, hey, I lose, and I might as well
keep my mouth shut and live to argue on another day. And if somebody enters
lame-o quilts, who am I to call them lame? Far better to say, "Way to go!"
If they ask my opinion about their quilt, I hope I have enough tact to say
something to the effect of, "I'm a fan of traditional quilting, with all the
complicated piecework and the ornate hand-quilting. Like that one over
there. But good for you for completing this project! Glad you're here.
There's room for all kinds!"

Henry James said, "Three things in human life are important. The first is
to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind."

Edna Pearl


"Polly Esther" wrote in message
...
Thank you so much, John and all who've joined in. This discussion
certainly opens my eyes and heart to quilting situations that hadn't
crossed my little mind.
Of course there are quilters who FM or have it done that are doing the
best they can, or maybe not, or maybe just all they can afford, or have
access to. ( That may be the worst sentence I ever wrote.)
So some quilting could be better executed at a mattress pad factory.
So what?
We can still salute their courage to enter a quilt show. We can still
enjoy their choices or at least learn from them.
Do we really need all of the quilts in a show or in our linen closet to
be exquisite?
I find myself guilty of seeing some and imagining I could have done so
much better. Even some where I thought the quilter should take up bean
counting or raise worms.
Years ago, when I saw quilt after quilt that were nearly identical, I
didn't groan but I did wonder why anyone would do that. Never crossed my
uppity mind that some are truly not able to choose colors, fabrics,
patterns. Even so, they enjoy quilting. Good for them.
So. I've grown by this and our other quilt show discussions. Let's
enjoy the next quilt show and be happy for every quilter. Even if we have
to don dark glasses and ear plugs. Polly

Glad you like my online name - for obvious reasons I need to cloak my
identity. I enjoyed your thoughtful post, even if you were procrastinating.
Procrastination is good; one day the thing that Must be Done will go away.
It could happen.
As to being kind, my sister signs her posts with:

'Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind
of battle.'

Every time I see it, I'm glad for the reminder. Polly



"Edna Pearl" wrote...
You crack me up, Polly, from your screen name to your pithy post. And I
agree with you.

This thread has got me thinking, and I'm trying to postpone doing
something else right now, so I'll chime in. When I first bought my first
quilt book and, some time later, started cussing over my first patchwork
design, my SO and I went to get my tires rotated at the local tire shop
and discovered that the wife-half of the couple that owns the tire store
had taken up quilting.

Now, the couple that owns the local tire store are old friends of my
family. Their daddy was a friend of my daddy. If Daddy was missing from
our house, he was probably at the tire store gossiping. It's just that
kind of town. And I think the world of these people. I love going to the
tire store to see them. They generally have children and grandchildren
behind the counter and new pictures of the patriarch's hunting and fishing
trophies. Rita and her daughter are generally working on painting scary
faces on dozens of pumpkins or decorating Christmas trees made out of foam
core or whatever, depending on the season. The whole family is wild about
local high school and semi-professional sports. I'm telling you, they
know how to enjoy life.

Now, Rita's quilts at the tire store were made out of the cheapest
conceivable material based on the simplest possible patterns, with
appliques of ducks and deer and baby motifs. Rita could probably churn
out at least two of these quilts a day, because Rita is reeeeal good with
a sewing machine. And I guarantee that Rita's friends are very glad to
get them as gifts. Heck, *I'd* be glad to get one as a gift, because I'd
just be glad to see Rita and get ANY gift from her. (I was thinking about
this when I read the thread about the Wal-Mart quilt the other day. If I
love a person who gives me a tacky gift and if I believe they just don't
know any better, then I'm grateful. On the other hand, I wouldn't
appreciate a diamond ring from my sister, to whom I have not spoken in
years, because she's evil. There's a big difference.)

My SO asked me as we left the tire store, "So why don't you get together
with Rita to quilt?" My SO doesn't know anything about quilting. I just
said, "We do different kinds of quilting," and that was the end of that.

Now, if there was a local quilt show with a category for the most prolific
or most beloved quilter, Rita would probably win in both categories. If
there were no subcategories in the show, I doubt Rita would win -- I doubt
Rita would *enter* because Rita is pretty astute about life in general,
but if she did show her quilt, I would hope nobody would dis it in her
hearing.

If I don't like the criteria for accepting entries to or judging a given
quilt show, then I feel I would have a couple of choices: either get on
the jury or keep my mouth shut at least until I get home. If I do get on
the jury or whatever group makes the decisions about the shows, and the
other members don't agree with my opinions, then, hey, I lose, and I might
as well keep my mouth shut and live to argue on another day. And if
somebody enters lame-o quilts, who am I to call them lame? Far better to
say, "Way to go!" If they ask my opinion about their quilt, I hope I have
enough tact to say something to the effect of, "I'm a fan of traditional
quilting, with all the complicated piecework and the ornate hand-quilting.
Like that one over there. But good for you for completing this project!
Glad you're here. There's room for all kinds!"

Henry James said, "Three things in human life are important. The first is
to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind."

Edna Pearl


"Polly Esther" wrote, in part So. I've grown by this and our other
quilt show discussions. Let's enjoy the next quilt show and be happy for
every quilter. Even if we have to don dark glasses and ear plugs. Polly

John wrote:
On Aug 18, 5:44 pm, "Polly Esther" wrote:
We haven't had a K-mart in lots of years. One of my favorite memories at
shopping there was the dear old lady that for a decade or so announced the
specials. When she said, "Attention, K-mart shoppers" over the p.a. system
in a thin, weary, quavering voice in what sounded like it could be her very
last breath, we were always tickled. Her "I'm not going to survive this
announcement" tone even made the toddlers smile. Wonder if she was for
real? Polly

"Julia in MN" I haven't seen a blue light at K-mart for a long time, and I
shop there

with some regularity.

Is K-mart going the way of Woolworths? Maybe it was to hard to compete
with Wally's World, and it is a shell of it's former self.

John
The K-mart here seems to be doing okay. I hope they're able to keep it
open, as the other discount stores are farther from the core of
downtown. I refuse to shop at Wal-mart if I have any other choices. We
also have Target and ShopKo (a similar regional chain). I buy most OTC
meds and other general stuff at K-mart because it's convenient and the
prices are as good as or better than other places. They have very nice
garden plants in spring. It's a decent store and the cashiers are always
pleasant.

Julia in MN

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Our local quilt show is only for display -- no judging at all, except
for the viewers' choice awards. Our entry forms do ask for the name of
the quilter as well as the name of the person who made the top.

Julia in MN

Polly Esther wrote:
I've always wished that quilt shows had a special section just for
sharing. It could include mistakes (though you wouldn't want to
encourage a lot of that), a surprise color melody, a radical use of an
old block pattern, easy crib quilts, special hugs for the military and
so on. Not competitive level - just for sharing and display. I'm
easy. I am delighted to see the beginners in the 4-H club show. I
guess there may be a good reason not to have a 'display only' category
but it sounds great to me. Polly

I'm confused, someone wrote
In a local show here, you can enter any quilt, and there's a box on
the entry form. If you check the box, your quilt is eligible to win,
but it will be judged. No judging - no prizes, but you can still show
it off, get comments/feedback (from viewers) and exposure.

*************

Yes, that is exactly what I wanted to do. But "they" won't let me.



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This message has been scanned for viruses by Norton Anti-Virus
http://webpages.charter.net/jaccola/default
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In article ,
"Polly Esther" wrote:

I've always wished that quilt shows had a special section just for sharing.
It could include mistakes (though you wouldn't want to encourage a lot of
that), a surprise color melody, a radical use of an old block pattern, easy
crib quilts, special hugs for the military and so on. Not competitive
level - just for sharing and display. I'm easy. I am delighted to see the
beginners in the 4-H club show. I guess there may be a good reason not to
have a 'display only' category but it sounds great to me. Polly


Our show does allow quilts to be entered without being judged, as well
as those that will be judged. We also have a kids' quilts section (all
of the entries win a ribbon) and a section for first quilts. I'm really
glad we have all of those options.

--
Sandy in Henderson, near Las Vegas
sw.foster1 (at) gmail (dot) com (remove/change the obvious)
http://www.sandymike.net

On Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:18:00 -0700 (PDT), John
wrote:

Is K-mart going the way of Woolworths? Maybe it was to hard to compete
with Wally's World, and it is a shell of it's former self.

Woolworths became Walmart just as the Jupiter and Kresky(sp?) stores became
K-mart. The old 'dime store' companies bought one another out and reemerged as
'discount department' stores. This happened due to many factors like the old
dime stores being located in dieing downtown areas and active business moving to
the then new by-passes, the old stores just did not have the floor space needed
to house the levels of inventory needed, lack of easy parking in the old
downtown shopping areas (of course customers now probably walk further through
the hugh lots now in use and wear themselves out walking around several acres of
store to accomplish a simple shopping trip). I am sure there are lots more
reasons for the changes in the type stores being offered. This is just the bit
of history I remember.

K Mart bought Sears (I think) a couple of years ago. Both now sell
the same brands. After or just before the buyout, a lot of K Mart
stores closed their doors.
Anna Belle in Palm Bay where we have the sole K Mart store remaining
in Brevard County.



On Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:44:01 -0500, "Polly Esther"
wrote:

We haven't had a K-mart in lots of years. One of my favorite memories at
shopping there was the dear old lady that for a decade or so announced the
specials. When she said, "Attention, K-mart shoppers" over the p.a. system
in a thin, weary, quavering voice in what sounded like it could be her very
last breath, we were always tickled. Her "I'm not going to survive this
announcement" tone even made the toddlers smile. Wonder if she was for
real? Polly


"Julia in MN" I haven't seen a blue light at K-mart for a long time, and I
shop there
with some regularity.