Contest Quilts and a Binding Tip

I hope many of you got to see all the wonderful quilts at the Crazy Quilter’s show! The ones I saw I really enjoyed, but I was a bit disappointed the quilts were not all hung by the time I left because I knew I wasn’t able to return that weekend. The crew was doing a great job of hanging them, but after judging I was too tired to stay until the last quilt was hung. I did take photos of some of my favorites that were up – and they will give you just a small taste of the show. This first one was awarded my Judges Choice ribbon. Congratulations to Vicky Krause for American Quilter Quilt.

I have a soft spot in my heart for samplers. I also love America, so I fell in love with this beautiful quilt. I also really enjoyed this next sampler quilt with blocks in the trees. Both of these sampler quilts are so clever (sadly, I wasn’t able to read the maker’s name on the label from my photo of the tree quilt. If you are the maker or know who she/he is, please share their name in the comments).

I’m always intrigued by “Stack and Whack” style quilts in which the original fabric is cut into pieces and put back together in a kaleidoscope fashion. They really appeal to me. Rotating Flowers by Mary Pfeiffer is a pure delight! What a great use of that border print!

A little farther down the row I found my friend Debbie Hawver’s hydrangea quilt. It’s a One Block Wonder quilt made from panels, and she did a lovely job.

“Panels” was the show theme. So many of the interesting quilts entered were made from preprinted panels. It was fun to see the clever ways they were used. Endearing by Amy Stowlowski was bordered in a very appealing way. And don’t miss the scene printed in the back of the large dear.

Elephant Walk is a delightful crib quilt made up of reproduction fabrics (I must apologize to the maker once again as my photograph wasn’t clear enough to read the name). This sweet quilt made me smile.

Red and White All Over is a lovely two color quilt by Mary Thuillez. All aspects of it are done well, and it’s just so pretty.

Then I must admit that I marveled over both of these tree skirts for quite a while. I’m amazed at the beautiful designs which can be made on embroidery machines. Both of these talented ladies did a great job! The top one is Snowflakes Glisten by Kelley Draves. The second is Tree Skirt by Betty Butenhoff.

There were also a number of special exhibits in the hallways outside of the main show. The Crazy Quilters did a monochromatic group challenge this year in which the quilt could only be made from different values of their chosen color (no black, white or gray could be added). They were very well done.

It was an interesting contrast to the ThreadBender’s Achromatic challenge which was also hanging there. Our quilts could have no color, and here they are from both directions. Thanks for putting up our display Maryjo and Vicky!

As I stated ~ it was a wonderful show!

So, last week I did a bit of an essay on what quilt judges look for (in my opinion). While writing it a few things popped into my head. The final comment on each form at the Crazy Quilters show was labeled “Needs Improvement”. Years ago it was usually pretty easy to come up with a comment to place there. The past few years I’ve judged many quilts in which I struggle to find something that could have been done better. The makers accomplished what they set out to do! This is a good thing! But then the question arises ~ “why didn’t it get a ribbon”. That answer is often quite simple ~ The category had 30 quilts (for example) and only 4 ribbons could be awarded. That’s why I stated last week ~ enter your quilts so that others can see and enjoy them ~ not to win a ribbon 😁.

Also, I’m a teacher at heart. So when I make a “Needs Improvement” comment, there’s a part of me that often wants to suggest to the maker a tip or technique to make it better. Of course that’s not possible on the form, but I can’t resist including one short lesson in this post.

A common comment I’ve heard and used over the years is “binding should be full”. Do some of you wonder what that means? When a binding doesn’t have batt filling it to the edge, it can get a bit sloppy overtime and after multiple washings. Usually these bindings aren’t full because the maker stitched the binding to one side of the quilt and then wrapped it to the other side for the second stitching, lining up the folded edge of the binding with the previous stitching. If the binding strip wasn’t cut the correct width there will be a portion that is “empty”. The solution is to either cut the binding strip narrower, or fold it past the previous stitching even if it’s visually a little wider than the other side.

In this example I’ve cut my binding strip 3″ wide, and I’m sewing it to the front of the quilt and folding it around to the back. I’ve folded the binding strip in half to use as a double binding and I’ve stitched it to my sample quilt with a 3/8″ seam on the left, and a 1/2″ seam on the right (this view is of the back of the sample).

When the binding strip is folded over the edge of the quilt on the front, this is how it looks on the back. On the side with a 3/8″ seam there is more binding left to fold over the previous seam. The portion sewn on with a 1/2″ seam is just about equal.

In the samples below, the top shows the one sewn on with the 1/2″ seam. It folds tightly around the edge of the quilt and just covers the previous seam, leaving the binding full.

The bottom sample has to be folded beyond the previous stitching to fill the binding. This will make the binding wider on the back than on the front. The good news is that there is no reason why the binding has to be the same width front and back 😊 ~ so it’s an easy fix.

I hope this was helpful!