Ethical question about quilt shows

There seems to be some confusion here (at least for me)

Sunny wrote that the quilt in question won VIEWERS CHOICE. So, why all the discussion about categories, and judges and such? It was the quilt the people attending the quilt show liked the best.

If the show allows kit quilts to be hung then of course it would be hung and eligible for the attendees to choose it as their favorite.

marcella

I'm with you Polly. I never buy kits---I'd much prefer to pick my own colors, which usually aren't close to what's in the kit. Gen

I would hope that the kit was mentioned in the description to the quilt (in order to give credit to the designer) - other than that it would depend on the rules of the show. And if the voting was "viewer's choice" - well... inexperienced quilters would be looking at very different things than an experienced judge, who would be more likely to recognize a novel design. Personally I couldn't work from a kit and preselected fabrics. Heck, I have never even been able to follow a pattern in a book exactly. But I know some people who prefer to work that way. As long as everyone gets a quilt that they are happy with remember that "there are no quilt police"!

Allis> I was admiring the gorgeous quilt that won the top prizes at this

Wow, imagine my surprise to open the NG today and see all this discussion about my question! I like all the answers. They make me think about this in a new way. I'll take back my snitty remarks (made only to my husband) and remember that worksmanship is what it is. I believe, deeply, that along with acknowledging the quilter of a piece, the piecer should acknowledge the kit, pattern, etc.

Sunny

Sunny, while our show does allow kit quilts to be entered for competition, we must enter them into the category specifically for kit quilts. I see no problem with doing that, since we all need to give credit where credit is due, whether it's for fabric and/or pattern selection or for the person who did our quilting for us.

Good point, Marcella. :)

I buy some kits when I'm particularly attracted to all its features...pattern, fabric selection etc. Then I work it up when I'm in the mood to sew "mindlessly". Sometimes I don't really want the challenge of picking out my fabrics. The actual sewing can be relaxing. I'd never enter them in a quilt show without carefully recognizing the fact it was a kit, where it came from, etc. But I DO like to have some kits on hand.

I've seen it happen in shows. sigh. I think it was just after that when the local guild show quite accepting kit quilts for judging.

Almost as bad is when there are several quilts all from the same class entered. It can be nice, but I would like to see those all grouped together and labeled as from the same class. It can be interesting to compare the different ways people interpret the same thing.

Pati, in Phx.

Sally Sw> What if two people entered identical quilts!

I've noticed that there are different ways of thinking, I think quilters like you are rarer than you might think. Almost all the quilters at my group follow patterns exactly, though a lot do choose there own fabrics, though quite often from a particular range, or closely following the colour scheme of the pattern. Recently we collected money for quilt kits for a church staff member that was retiring, the lady that organised it said something like "if you are a quilter you'll know how valued a gift like this is" and I remember thinking why on earth would anyone want that, but I'm realising now that some people like quilting for the process and the satisfaction of the finished object, I just fell out of a different mould, I'm a designer at heart, I love quilting because I've found a medium where I can exercise that coupled with a process that I enjoy and a social atmosphere that I can be part of.

Cheers Anne

Polly, I can't imagine doing a kit either. In fact even when I have done something like the Thimbleberries club where certain fabrics are suggested for different parts and so on, I do my own thing. Even change the way I make some of the blocks. And let's not talk layout...change that around too. I look at patterns as suggestions for creating something of my own. One class I took was making a quilt which was based on a vintage quilt in 2 fabrics. I not only switched the positions of the light and dark fabric, I added some random bits of a third fabric as surprise accents. That third fabric is planned to be the back... when I manage to get it quilted. Totally changed the look and "feel" of the quilt.

Pati, in Phx

Polly Esther wrote:

Marcella, the challenge of keeping us on topic has been compared to herding cats. Actually, herding cats would be heaps easier assuming, of course, that you have a nice can of tuna and the sweet music of an electric can opener. Polly

"Marcella Peek" There seems to be some confusion here (at least for me)

Howdy!

Is it a kit? Maybe. Sometimes. Or not. Who can tell for sure?

When I worked at the lqs customers often came in w/ a picture of a quilt and they wanted THAT fabric w/ THAT pattern, exactly, please! One woman was a recently-retired algebra teacher who fell in love w/ Watercolor Quilts. She came in w/ the Magaret & Slusser book of that name. She wanted her quilt to look exactly like the pic in the book, or as close as possible. She made an exact replica. Then she brought her sister into the shop, they got more of the same fabric, made an identical quilt. Then came her daughter and best friend, they had to have the same stuff. By now my boss was rolling her eyes ("no imagination, copy-copy-copy") and her partner said, "It's okay; we'll run out of the fabric pretty soon and Sandy can stop cutting the same ol' things!" ;-D They all had the SAME quilt in the SAME fabric w/ the SAME pattern. They were all happy with it. The algebra teacher entered hers in the guild show & got a ribbon; no one protested: she made it herself!

What inspires the shops to offer kits? A popular pattern or a new line of fabric or the shop's owners/designers/teachers who say, "Wouldn't this be great to share?" Cutting up the fabric & "kitting it" ahead of time saves lots more time and the effort of hunting down the bolts of fabric every time someone else wants That Quilt.

Regarding Sally's question about identical quilts: judges decide. I was in a small group one year in which most of the other quilters exchanged sampler blocks, all made from the same fabric: Paula made 12 of block 1, Arlene did 12 of block 2, etc.; they all had identical blocks, but some made prettier quilts, some Finished, & 2 of them won ribbons at the guild show. Then they started on their Dear Jane Swap, about the time I bowed out; swapping identical blocks was not my reason to be there. I have sometimes bought a kit to get the fabric inside, but I have never reproduced another quilters exact quilt; just not interested. But I have been to several quilt shows where it was obvious that the quilters either bought the same kit, went shopping together, or took the same quilt class. And I'm okay with that. They still put out the effort to make it themselves.

Give credit where due.

R/Sandy

So you're saying Marcella needs a nice box of chocolate and the sweet music of it being opened, and she'll have no trouble keeping us in line?

I wasn't thinking people were getting off topic. I was thinking people were confused and thinking that a real live accredited quilt judge was unknowingly giving ribbons to a kit quilt. Different thing entirely.

marcella are you th> Marcella, the challenge of keeping us on topic has been compared to herding

Ok, I didn't mean my original question as an indictment of kits or making a quilt from a kit. I have enjoyed thetwo small kits I've been given (each made a block or so). I also was given at one time a marvelous kit and discovered that none of the pieces were cut properly. It was just about impossible to put those little suckers together.

Kits are fine.

I like kits. I like quilters who like quilts.

My question just had to do with kit quilts in open competition shows.

And I think my question has been answered, repeatedly and in many different ways.

Thank you.

As for herding cats..... when do we start?

Sunny

That is exactly how the list of credits should be written on the quilt ID card at shows. It should also mention the specific name of the purchased pattern(s) used and if any additions or modifications were made to the patterns. If it is an original pattern it should list that.

I'm not likely to ever buy a quilt kit myself for those same reasons. Even when I use a pattern, I change things a little. Debra in VA See my quilts at

Wow! I didn't know that. Guess I'm back to being "not a real quilter" again.

I am paralyzed by fabric choices. I am color-challenged when it comes to more than 3 fabrics. If I had to wait till I made a decision, I'd never sew a stitch. And the sewing is the favorite part for me. But I do make sure people know that my little quilt sometimes come from kits. I also use coordinated charm squares for many of my mini's. Would that be considered cheating as well? What about the kits that are made up of particular fabric lines. I see lots of quilts made from only Moda or RJR collections.

I just don't get when I will be considered a real quilter. Maybe if I hand dye the fabric I've woven on a loom, made up a brand new pattern, hand pieced and hand quilted the thing, that will be good enough.

Cindy

Cindy, I never, ever meant to imply that anybody, regardless of whether or not they sewed kits, was a "real" quilter or not. I am in awe of the quilt that won the ribbons at our show. There is no way in heck that I could have put it together. The thing is technically as close to perfect as I expect to see. She did a magnificant job.

I think kits are a great way to sew. As for the coordinated charm packs, I'm definitely an addict.

You are as real a quilter as can be found anywhere. And nobody should be saying or implying otherwise.

The question was only if those entering competition should indicate that the entry was from a kit. In our show, the quilter gets separate billing every time.

Now, if I ever get rich, rich, rich, I will hire someone with intense skills to come to my house, take my fabric, look at what I want to do with it and t hen they will cut it for me. I am such a klutz. I bobble and nudge and put awful things into those poor little pieces meant to be sewn into blocks.

So, peace to all good quilters, whether ye be quilters of kits or be quilters of non kits.......sleep well tonight under thine warm quilts.

Sunny

Golly, Cindy. This question just became a whole lot more complicated than I realized. For sure, I should have stayed out of it. It seems to me that you are missing a lot of the joy of quilting if you can not choose your colors and fabrics . . . but what do I know? If someone said to me 'you can be a quilter only if you use these colors and fabrics' there's just no telling how I would react. I 'd probably get in a real huff. I might take their colors and fabrics and poke them up their nose. With that said, it just never crossed my dim old mind that there were quilters who were color/fabric challenged meaning choosing was impossible or difficult. Oh my, how I would love to take you shopping. I'll just bet that I could move you from "I can't choose" to "How many can we get in your car?". Polly (my car will hold at least a bathtub full)