jimerickson Posted October 19, 2014 Report Share Posted October 19, 2014 Our quilt guild just held our annual quilt show. We had about 120 quilts. Awards were given in several different categories. Among them, 3 awards were given for machine quilting excellence. I was quite surprised to note that the judge awarded one of the machine quilting awards to a quilt with pantograph quilting. Of course the quilting was expertly done and the quilt looked nice with it, but it still surprised me. Is such an award common for panto quilting? It seems to me so much more goes into custom quilting that unless there aren't any fine custom quilted quilts, that a panto should not receive a machine quilting award. There were other fine custom quilts in the show that did not receive an award. While a panto can look very nice, and this one did, it does not take into consideration the piecing design. There are no stop and starts in the quilt as in custom, and it doesn't really add to the quilt design. I have seen people use pantos in a very innovative way in custom work, but that was not the case with this quilt. Is such an award common, or was this judge just unusual? Thanks for your thoughts. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oma Posted October 19, 2014 Report Share Posted October 19, 2014 I've never entered a quilt into a show. I seldom do custom work so I probably have no business commenting on this, but that's never stopped me before...lol. You make a very valid point, but the award was given for machine quilting excellence so unless they specified that it had to be custom I'd say the award was fair according to them. Remember when machine quilting was very new? Show quilter's turned their noses up and whined incessantly about how unfair and not up to proper standards it was compared to hand quilting. I still hear the comments of it being "machine quilted" at quilt shows. Like ANYBODY with a machine could make it look like that. My reply to them is usually asking them if they still piece by hand or do they use a machine. Just another view I guess. Did you take pictures? Isn't that all we ever want to know...lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlnewell Posted October 19, 2014 Report Share Posted October 19, 2014 Judges are supposed to be objective in their judging according to certain criteria, but that doesn't excuse the fact that they are "human" and therefore human preferences can get in the way of "unbiased objectivity". Just my observations from scribing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K. Szymaszek Posted October 19, 2014 Report Share Posted October 19, 2014 Seems to me there should be a separate category for All-Over quilting. I love Oma's response about hand piecing as opposed to machine piecing, priceless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmcclannan Posted October 19, 2014 Report Share Posted October 19, 2014 There are some very intricate pantos out there. I guess my take on it is - how does the quality of the quilting compliment the quilt? Sometimes a really beautiful panto is better than custom quilting. Just mho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie H Posted October 19, 2014 Report Share Posted October 19, 2014 To further break down the category, I would think that there needs to be a differentiation between computerized quilting and hand-guided, too in quilt shows. Obvious reasons, I would think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted October 19, 2014 Report Share Posted October 19, 2014 I agree with Bonnie. There may have been three categories for machine quilting technique. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimerickson Posted October 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2014 There was only one category. There were 3 awards for hand quilting as well as 3 for machine quilting. While the panto on the winning quilt looked nice, it really didn't do anything to improve the looks of the quilt. It didn't highlight anything. It was just quilting. There was no distinction made between hand guided machine quilting and computerized machine quilting. BTW, the panto was hand guided. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enchanted Quilting Posted October 19, 2014 Report Share Posted October 19, 2014 All I can say is "interesting"?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancing bear Posted October 19, 2014 Report Share Posted October 19, 2014 And what quilts won the other two 'machine quilting' awards? There are some very beautiful and well done panto's out there and just because they are a "panto" shouldn't mean that they are not worthy of an award. Most of us put a lot of ourselves in doing a panto making sure that they nest properly, that the tension is superb, and that the panto adds to the overall design element of the quilt. Let's not get snobby about a panto being 'just a panto' ... and remember that one quilt show doesn't make or break a quilter. If you didn't get an award at this show, try another ... there's more than enough out there for all of us ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zora Posted October 19, 2014 Report Share Posted October 19, 2014 I would say the prejudices of the judge played a big role. Many people feel custom quilters overquilt and that it overwhelms the quilt piecing. While I appreciate that pantos can enhance a quilt..it is not the original design of the machine quilter. Don't misunderstand. I can't do a panto with any degree of precision and it would be nice to be able to, but I agree they don't represent the same range of skills as custom. That's why custom quilting costs more to begin with. The judge likely was in the "too much quilting" camp. If the judge was not a certified judge, but just someone who has made a lot of quilts personally, you are going to get that kind of thing in a local show. Our state fair does not have certified judges. When I was asked to judge, my first question was "what makes you think I am in any way qualified? The answer was, well, your own quilts are really nice. I think that hardly qualifies me since I know virtually nothing about art quilts, for example. A person who does not machine quilt is not a fair judge of machine quilting. That's probably what happened here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaSteller Posted October 19, 2014 Report Share Posted October 19, 2014 Executing a pantograph well, especially one that's more than simple shapes and loops requires a degree of skill. Since there were three awards for machine workmanship, perhaps they chose something like one custom, one pantograph, and one free-hand overall? Not all of us can do fancy quilting. Not everyone can do a pantograph well. There are different skill sets and different levels of expertise in all aspects of quilting. I for one am glad to see excellence in any area appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busy Quilting Posted October 19, 2014 Report Share Posted October 19, 2014 Then there are those quilters that think machine quilting awards should only be for those quilting on a domestic machine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMALKB Posted October 19, 2014 Report Share Posted October 19, 2014 I noticed in the rules of some of the big shows that computerized quilting is a separate catagory from hand guided and it should be ! Last summer at our little county Open Class, the judge commented on the "interesting" quilting on one quilt and compared it to a hand guided quilt made by someone else. It was obvious the "interesting" quiliting was done by a computer, but it still got better marks than the hand guided quilted one..........THAT, I don't agree with and I for one will not compete with a computer. It's not big $$ here at our little show, but the principal of the thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenniferBernard Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 Small quilt shows, county and state fairs just have different kinds of quilt judging, especially when they are judged by knowledgeable quilters. I talked with someone who judged our Iowa state fair in the past. She had to judge quilts (she was a quilter), knitting, needle point, and even Teddy Bears! She did research the different types of work before she judged them, she told me. National quilt shows are a whole different ball game. Each show has very specific rules and categories and are usually judged by teams of 2, 3, or even 4 NQA certified judges working together. They usually do separate out hand guided and computer. Pantos are usually in a separate category and have to be hand guided. It all depends on the show. They are the ones that have the big cash awards too, so you better read the rules a million times and even then you make a mistake and get disqualified! Not fun receiving that news! But it is exciting to win a ribbon too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeidiP Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 A week ago I had the privilege of seeing two quilts that had pantos on them. They were done by an expert quilter! They were stitched to perfection, heavily quilted with exceptional curves and accuracy. Had I not known who quiltd it, I would have thought it was computer generated. The bar has definitely been raised for pantos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bliss Quilter Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 Congratulations to the winnner!!! It could be the winner did a hand guided panto, without a pattern, thus making it a custom panto; with no thread breakages, thus no starts or stops? Also, the rows may have been perfectly spaced and the design perfectly sized. I agree there is a need for different machine quilting catogories in the local shows. Maybe its time to start request and educate the local guilds on what machine quilting catagories should be offered for the shows. Giving everyone equal opportunity in their best catagory. I for one am not that good with hand guided custom, working on it, but I do fabulous computer custom. THANKS to all the Designers out there, you help my work loook sooo goood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimerickson Posted October 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 The judge was a certified judge, and she liked a lot of quilting. A good point is made about positioning of the pantos. I didn't check that out. Maybe she felt like at least one of the awards should go to a panto, I don't know. It wasn't any of my quilts that I thought should have received the award. There were several beautiful customs that were overlooked. Awards were given to a small wall hanging, a large custom, and the panto. Maybe she felt that she needed to divide them up between several categories of quilts. I guess from the comments that no one has actually seen this before. Several of you have raised issues that might explain an out come that surprised me. Thanks for your comments. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loraquilts Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 I still hear the comments of it being "machine quilted" Now when I hear "oh that was just machine quilted" it makes me sooo mad. My mom and I worked tirelessly last year piecing three quilt tops (two large queen, and one king) so that mom could give the "same quilt" to each of her girls. I of course did the quilting ... ON MY LA. Mom didn't want a panto or custom quilting. She wanted to keep it simple and do a medium all over meander over the entire top. Since they were her quilts, I did just what she wanted. They turned out quite nicely too. Well my youngest sister (who is 11 years older than me) absolutely loved it. My eldest sister (22 years older), however, made comments about how she preferred hand quilted quilts because they were "authentic" and "took real talent". [there should be an emoticon with smoke coming out of the ears -- my sister makes me so mad]. Well guess who's NEVER getting another handmade (or machine made) gift from me ever again! Okay, back on topic. (sorry for venting). I agree with those that said doing an intricate panto freehand takes skills. I've been doing them for years and still never feel like they're perfect. I guess I'm just lucky that the quilt police having stormed my house yet. I do tend to be a perfectionist, so that's why I got the IQ. I also agree that there should be different categories of quilting awards for different types of quilting methods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rippit Posted October 24, 2014 Report Share Posted October 24, 2014 Certainly a lag time between the technology and the updating of quilting criteria. Knowledge is power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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