Do You Want to Hear What the Quilt Show Judges had to Say?

A sense of relief washes over me each time a quilt returns from a show. It’s exciting to send a quilt off into the world for thousands of people to see, but it’s also a little scary to have it traveling, especially when it’s in the hands of a shipping service.

This year, I shipped my 100 Days of Apple Cores Quilt to Road to California in December, and they shipped the quilt on to join the AQS shows in Daytona, New England, and Paducah. Paducah was this quilt’s final AQS show, so I was able to pick it up in person and bring it home. I’m hopeful that I can find another couple of shows to enter before this piece ages out of the show circuit.

Whether you pick up a quilt in person or have it shipped back to your home, one of the most anticipated items in the box (apart from the quilt) is a sheet containing the judges’ comments.

If you are new to entering quilt shows or if you have never entered a particular show, I think it’s helpful to see how judges respond in each show. Some shows have a checklist of possible quilt features, some just list comments, and many do a mix of the two. 

One of my big goals in the quilting world is to demystify the process that goes into entering a quilt show, and to that end, today, I’m sharing the exact judging comments I received on the quilt I had in the recent American Quilters Society (AQS) Show in Paducah, Kentucky.

The Quilt Entry

This year, I was lucky to sell a few quilts, but it also meant I could enter only one quilt in the Paducah show. Since this is the most competitive of the AQS events, I wasn’t even entirely sure it would be accepted into the show, and was thrilled when it was.

Submission Information

100 Days of Apple Cores

• Size: 52” x 61’’
• Category: Modern Quilts
• Techniques: machine piecing, improvisational piecing, machine walking foot quilting
• Description: This 100-day quilt features the 2024 Pantone Color of the Year, Peach Fuzz. I cut pieced improv rectangles into apple core shapes using an Accuquilt. The piecing within each block enhances the unexpected diagonal gradient that moves across the quilt.
• Completion Time: 105 Days
• Fun fact: I had to buy lots of “ugly” fabrics to create the gradient featured in this design!
• Inspired by: Original interpretation of a traditional apple core quilt block

For the jurying process, you submit two images of your quilt, one with the full quilt and a detail image for the second.

What’s in the Box?

When the quilt gets returned to you from an AQS show or shows, you will have a show book and printed quilt label for each show it was in since you shipped it to them. 

If one of these shows took place in Paducah, you would also receive written judging comments. (The other AQS shows do not provide written comments.)

If you are really lucky, a ribbon is in the box too! I was so excited for 100 Days of Apple Cores to win Honorable Mention in the Modern category at QuiltWeek this year! The ribbons in Paducah are particularly special, crowned with a Dogwood Blossom.

More Judging Comments

100 Days of Apple Cores has also received judging comments at QuiltCon 2025 , so if you would like to see how the comments for the same quilt compare from show to show, check out this QuiltCon Judging Post.