Some people just can't say anything nice...

Ok, so I signed up to be a scribe (one who writes down what a quilt judge says) for our judged quilt show.  Mainly because I wanted to see/hear her comments about my quilt and see her facial expressions.  Well, first I found out my category wasn't scheduled to be judged until today.  So yesterday I scribed with 2 different judges, and boy were they different!  The 1st one who I will refer to as Ms. Kind, made a point of making at least one positive comment on each quilt she judged.  There was one that had numerous issues with construction but she was very kind and found something genuinely positive about that particular quilt.  My experience with Ms. Kind was really great because I learned what a judge looks at and for when judging quilts.  As soon as we were done with that category we returned to the information table and I was immediately whisked off with Ms. Negatively Critical.  Her judging method was quite different and she hardly (if at all) said a kind word about any of the quilts in the category we were looking at.  I thought to myself that for sure I did NOT want her to be the one to judge my quilt.  Now I know that my quilt had some of it's own issues (nothing a non-quilter would pick up on) and that it was not "show quality", but no one wants to be given only negative feedback.  There is a difference in that and constructive criticism which I am open to, so I can improve and someday, hopefully, submit something that could get a ribbon.

This morning I walked in all ready to get started when I found out that Ms. Negatively Critical had in fact already judged the category my quilt was in, late yesterday afternoon, much to my dismay.  I rifled through the papers to find number 313 and saw what she had to say about my Zebra.  As I figured, she cut my heart out and stomped on it.  Then I found out I was not allowed to ask her why she felt she had to judge it that way.  

Later in the day I approached one of the other judges and asked her if she would be kind enough to look at my quilt and give me some feedback.  She said my Zebra had character and was well done for the most part.  She did point out some things that I could have been done differently to achieve a "neater" effect.  This is all I really wanted.  I know there are some exquisite quilts in the show that I could not compete with, but for someone to take the time to give me some ideas on how to improve so I could one day have an exquisite quilt is like being given a ribbon like the winners.   Kind word and encouragement can go a long way in a person's life.