You can see detailed shots and the previous comments on the quilt at http://downthewell.blogspot.com/2011/04/mothers-of-orphans-into-light.html. (sorry about the non-embedded link but blogger is not embedding tonight!! It was shown at Trentham and I was delighted when one of the traders said it was 'the kind of quilt which they asipre to make.'. What a lovely comment!It arrived back home tonight with the Judging comments. I am posting them openly because I would be very interested indeed in all your reactions to and comments on the comments - whatever they are. Do you argee/ disagree? Can you add some specificity to them for me? etc etc.I will post my thoughts when I have had chance to consider yours, if I may! I am looking for constructve criticism of my work here and assistance in understanding the results so feel free to say what you will.
The possible marks are Excellent, Very Good, Good, Satisfactory or Needs Attention. In the following categories I scored:
Visual impact. Interpretaion of chosen theme: Satisfactory
Originality/ Content: Good
Design, Composition, Colour: Satisfactory
Choice and suitablity of materials and techniques: Good
Surface design and embellishment not applicable
Quality of piecing Satisfactory
Quality of applique satisfactory
use of chosen materials Good
Quality of execution of quilting - satisfactory
Edge treatment, finishing, hanging - satisfactory
The only comment in the large box for Judges comments is' A brave try at some very difficult piecing. I like' vibrant'"
10 comments:
Well, phooey. The judge had no clue about what you were doing. "Difficult piecing?" There was NO piecing. My score? Judging: Unsatisfactory.
I agree with Diane.
What's the purpose of having judges' comments? Is it to assist you develop your work? I can't see any value in these sorts of 'tick the box' gradings. They are fairly meaningless to me.
Aw nuts, I’m having to type this all over again because Blogger chewed up the first one I tried to post. Right, here I go again – first off I like this quilt a lot. I love these bold and full on colours.
I have no idea how far the judges in these shows make their marking relative to the other quilts, so maybe that would explain some of the ‘satisfactory’ marks. However, the comments probably do make sense to a degree. If you look at the close ups in the earlier post there are seams where the stitches show and the pieces are strained, while in other places pieces have become a little wrinkled in the process of getting everything to fit together. I say this in the mode of an onlooker only as I have never tried to randomly piece like this and I am sure it is a challenge and needs lots of practice to do it ‘sans wrinkles etc’.
Some of the criticism you’ve identified yourself before it was submitted, so you know there are things you’d do differently if you could rewind and do parts again - “cobbled together on the hoof with no original plan”. Also for me some of the fabric/colour choices do not work in the right hand column of blocks – some just seem a little out of place. Can’t tell about the edges at all as there are no close ups.
Hope that helps, but I still like it anyway. I’d hang it on my wall, but that is a different category of judgement from the judges technical inspection.
As I said when you first posted a pic of this quilt, I though the visual impact was 'wow' so I would rate that as 'excellent'.
Where orig. is concerned I'd say 'satis'. The reason I'd say that is you say yourself it is someone else's technique and though you did not follow her workshop layout I've seen similar to the one you do have(ie what I’d describe as an offset patch of bright or pale then moving out round it with explosions along the way) in quite a few quilts.
I’d have said ‘v good’ for next one.
I cannot say anything about quality of piecing and appliqué without seeing it properly. I don’t agree with an earlier comment on your blog about the quality of piecing judgement. On the judging form this is the only place where a comment on how the bits are put tog could be made. I don’t think it signifies they had mistakenly thought you hade joined the bits tog with quarter inch seams. (How did you join them????)
Quality of execution of quilting is where I think you came unstuck and deserved the ‘satis’. You said in your blog that you made it uneven deliberately. Where the judges given that info? Even if they were, they might not have thought it a good decision so marked you down due to that. Alternatively, if I may say so, it does look a bit scrappy, even allowing for your intention. If you look at some of the top quilters who do free hand quilting to enhance their work you can see that though they are clearly not trying to mimic a sewing machine their free stitching would still be judged ‘excellent’. Pat Archibald and Barbara Weeks are two that I partic have in mind. I’ve been to workshops by both of them and really studied some of their quilts v closely. They seem to achieve high quality unevenness, if you see what I mean. Of course they have had a lot of practice.
Edge treatment etc – again, can’t really judge from pic.
Well there is my twopenny worth. You did ask! Please do not take offence and demand your scraps back. They are in blocks now!!!
Best
Joyce F
I would add a comment about the edge treatment. I suspect the evualation comes because the edges aren't straight. I had a quilt where I also left the edges wobbly. I tried to kid myself it was intentional, but it was really laziness. I eventually took off the binding, squared up the quilt properly and reattached the binding. I felt much happier with it then.
Elizabeth Barton has commented somewhere (not sure now whether on her blog or in one of her classes that I took) that she doesn't think uneven edges are acceptable except if they are an integral part of the design and actually add something of value to the design and the overall effectiveness of the piece. I agree with her. In the case of your piece imho the unevenness adds nothing of value to the design.
So that's my addition to the comments added so far. I agree with the two longer comments who I felt were giving honest and valuable feedback.
I have no knowledge or experience of this so I can't speak with any authority, but I do know that when you posted the picture of it earlier I thought "I really like that one, reminds me of the Masai Mara pictures I have in my lounge".
I would consider the judges comments like Ofsted and assume "satisfactory" means "brilliant"!
Well, I am not overly interested in technically perfect quilts, nor am I offended by a bubble or bump in the surface, I see them as enhancing the overall look and texture. And I liked that you did not square the slightly wonky binding.
I like the slightly randomness and unexpectedness of this quilt. I love all the colours and the hand quilting. I would have given this quilt a prize!
But maybe this was not the right competition for your approach. I have no plan to ever enter a quilt in a competition, you are brave to have tried and please do not let it stop you from this kind of wonderful work.
I don't like judges but I think I should be one because I would judge the quilts right by saying everyone deserves a ribbon just for trying
thanks a lot for the psot!
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