Dee in TX (DBRADFOR3) said:

  Then I showed the quilt during show & tell.... silence. 

Well, shame on them.  Sounds like a bunch that doesn't know great art when they see it.  I never had a desire to belong to a guild because I was afraid they would stick up their noses at what I do.

Dee never second guess your workmanship and your creativity. That lady might have had a following of friends and they may just gush at anything she does. 

At a quilt show your quilt is viewed by tons of people and some will rush by your quilt and others will stay awhile and find all the beautiful details........those are your people. I have stood near my quilts thar are in a show and listen to what people say.....not all of it is good but some make you feel validated as a quilt artist.

I know, I was just expecting some reaction.  And we had just finished a program on applique.  Crickets.  The people holding it didn't even look at it.  Honestly I wonder if they thought it was panels, even though I said it was hand appliqued.  From a distance you can't really tell.  

Do not rethink the quilt show thing based on the small group you showed your quilt to this morning.

That group did not value the talent and skill that you demonstrated in making your quilt the way that quilt show attendees will value your artistry.

Perhaps they were pea green with envy and you didn't notice.

In Ohio we have a saying ... "dumber than a hoe handle". 

Maybe those ladies were a bunch of hoe handles in disguise.

Dee, your appliqué is lovely.

I took it to my local (smaller) guild last night.  They were more appreciative. Also I've talked with them more about it as I've been working on it.  Their's is the show that I'm entering.  Tho last night they said they've only gotten 20 entries (5 are mine) - yikes.  The deadline is a month away but still that's not good.  

Twenty entries?  How many members are in this guild?  What's the average age of the membership? 

Do you suppose that some members have the dwindles (like me) and are members in name only, not up to actively participating any more?

I don't really know how to judge but it seems to be a fairly active guild, 140 members and there were about 85 there last night - only slightly less than the 250 member guild in Fort Worth.  4 new members joined last night.  And not everyone is over 70 - but definitely the majority.  I think it is more an issue of people waiting until the last minute.  

On another topic, look at this wonderful butterfly fabric for my applique project.  There is a lady in the FW guild who is a self proclaimed novelty addict and as you might guess we hit it off right away (she is a couple years older than me - at least based on when she got married).  She brought me the purple and another new member brought the white - absolutely perfect!  I'm planning on appliquing the butterflies in two pieces to avoid having that tiny inside corner.  

But I'm trying to stay focused on the binding before I run down the applique rabbit hole (there's the carrot).  I actually got to 50% last night.  A lady at the meeting last night said she thought it looked like ruching, not rick rack.  I like that better.    And I had something happen I've never experienced before, I broke off the head of a needle!  I am trying to be careful and pull the thread taught using my finger, not the needle (to avoid shredding/breaking the thread).  But at one point yesterday the thread came off the needle but wasn't broken.  Odd.  So I tried threading it several times before I realized the eye of the needle was gone.  Not sure how I managed it, but it broke off.  Ok, back to work now.  

Dee,

One of the guilds I belong to has just had its quilt show.  One week prior to the entry closing date they only had 20 entries.  But the end of the closing day they had 107 entries.  Quite a few people left it to the last minute to submit their paperwork and photos.