I have been quilting for decades, but it took me becoming actively involved in my local guild before I would even consider entering my work in an exhibition.
The first “exhibition” I entered in was for the completed Down the Rabbit Hole quilt top, with Sarah Fielke. At the end of each year Sarah runs an online gallery-style exhibition for her completed block of the month quilts and quilt tops (from any year). I had managed to keep up with the block of the month journey (2017 must have been a quiet twelve months), so I entered the completed top in the online exhibition – and it won a fat quarter bundle (well done team). It took me forever to hand quilt the thing, so it made it into my guild show last year in 2022. And it won a “highly commended” for hand quilting (well done me).
We enter guild shows and exhibitions for a myriad of reasons. Some aim to win prizes, others just want to participate, but this year (following a call from guild member Jenny Bowker), there were also a number of people who entered the exhibition with the intent of showing their work, regardless of the “quality” or the “complexity” of what they had done.
Some (of my) highlights:
