The Winter Quilt Show in West Bend was last weekend. Some friends and I went up on Saturday. It's a very nice show held at the Washington County Fair Grounds once a year. There were more than 100 quilts entered in the show, someone said 107 and someone else said 109.
And the vendors!! There were several dozen quilt shops and fabric vendors, plus some specialty vendors like a long arm machine seller and someone selling goats milk soap and honey.
Here's the web site if you're interested:
Winter Quilt Show You can look at the winning quilts from prior years, and this year's winning quilts will be posted there later. (Note: It took so long to finish this post they're probably there now.
We spent the morning hours viewing the quilts that were entered. Some of them were just spectacular. Since this is a local show, there were just a few that had me scratching my head and asking "what was the maker thinking?"
You may ask, how does a quilt like this get displayed in a quilt show? ...as I did once. The answer is that this show is not Juried.
A juried show by definition has entries submitted to a panel or jury, and the jury decided if it's in or out. There will be requirements, you must submit ahead of the show, and you may not be accepted. They tend to have minimum skill standards although sometimes the quilts entered are a maker's first effort. Usually they will ask for a photo of your entry, and sometimes they want to see it in person before they 'admit' it.
A non-juried show may have you submit an entry form, but they will not always require you to submit your quilt before the day. Beginners probably should start out with a non-juried show. You can find out a lot about how your quilt will be displayed and received. There may or may not be judges.
Winners might be selected by viewer votes or a committee depending upon the show. There may be prizes. There might be feedback from a judging panel. Any level skill might be accepted, and may or may not be put in category by skill - i.e. beginner, intermediate, expert.
The Winter Quilt Show is non-juried. The categories are advertised ahead of the show. You fill out an application, submit it, and if you're accepted (based on whatever the organizers decided, it might be space in this show) you bring it or have it there on Friday to hang it.
The quilt with the most votes was to win $100, with $50 for second place and $50 for the youth winner. Voting was to end near the end of the show and we didn't stay all day so I don't know who won. I only took a few photos, I was too busy being awed!
I cannot wait for the next couple of shows coming up this weekend! There are two very close to me in Waukesha County - at the Expo Center and in Mukwonago, and one in Green Bay that looks like a good one but it's too far to drive with the rest of the things I must do.
If you haven't been to a quilt show, you should go! You may be amazed at what you will see.
And buy...
Sew on!
