I have a long history with Road, having rarely missed in the last many years. This year was the second year I had quilts showing at Road, two, in fact. Having your creations displayed well at a show is like having your kid in a brand new shirt doing his thing in the school program, making you nervous and proud at the same time. While I'm working on my piece I'm up close and personal, even though it's hanging on the design wall. It isn't until it's all done, finally inspected and sent off to compete that I detach a bit from it.
Having said that, I don't think I'll be going to Road next year. I may submit a quilt or two but I probably won't be attending. Unfortunately, I think the number of quilts being displayed seems to be diminishing and the number of vendors increasing and there are other shows that I have found to be inspirational. Given that my resources of time and money are not unlimited, there are choices to be made.
The time I spent with my quilting girls going over and while at Road was, of course, great fun and no regrets there. (Linda and DD giggling below)
Second consideration: Judging. How about all those painted and digitally printed quilts which are then layered and stitched? As a kind of collagist slash charm quilter slash art quilter, I have to say that method has to be about one quarter of the work of using fabric as your medium (as opposed to paint). I'm debating whether or not to send a letter to the Road personnel requesting that the two types of art quilts be put in different categories.
On the other hand, if it's an art quilt shouldn't you have the freedom to use whatever medium you want? I'm still mulling it over. When I got back to my current project up on the design wall, suffice it to say I was not tempted to apply paint to it. That is not to say that I never use fabric paint. I have and I do sometimes for detail but 99% of my pieces are fabric. I LOVE FABRIC! It's one of the reasons I began quilting in the first place.
What do you think?