No matter your quilting style—whether you love traditional quilting, modern quilts, or something in between—there’s always inspiration to be found every year at QuiltCon! As the largest modern quilting event of the year, QuiltCon 2024 was filled with bold designs, innovative techniques, and breathtaking quilt artistry.
In this post, I’m sharing some of my favorite modern quilts from the show, along with descriptions from the talented quilters who made them. If you’re looking for quilt inspiration, fresh quilt design ideas, or a spark for your next project, you’re in the right place. Let’s dive into the world of modern quilting.
Here are 15 of my favorite modern quilts from QuiltCon 2024. Enjoy and be inspired!
All quilt descriptions were written by the quilters/makers.
Scrappy Weather Quilt
Scrappy Weather Quilt
by Nora Bauser
Super Scrappy Quilting Challenge Category
Quilter Statement: “This quilt uses over 50 fabrics left over from an EPP fussy-cutting project. The fabric had so many holes that it looked like Swiss cheese. To e able to use as much of the leftover fabric as possible, I had to keep my pieces small. I finally settled on 1” HSTs, and the front ended up being just over 10,000 pieces.”
What the Hill? Quilt
What the Hill? modern quilt
by Erin Kroeker
Applique Category
Quilter Statement: “In October of 2019, I was diagnosed out of the blue with cervical cancer. Four months later following major surgery and a painful recover I was told I was cancer free and would require no further treatment. “What the Hill?” Is representative of this period where my world turned upside down. The period from diagnosis to recover was so short, I bely had time to process what had happened to me. I also wasn’t prepared for how complicated and challenging life after cancer would be. This quilt represents the boulders, big and small, that I’ve navigated every day since the October. I represents the hills that feel hard to climb… and the ones that are starting to feel easier. I’ve learned that physical, emotional, and spiritual healing is not linear. But I’m grateful to still be here to experience all of it — the good and the bad.”
Plinko Quilt
Plinko modern quilt
by Steph Skardal
Applique Category
Quilter Statement: “Plinko was inspired by my love for mixing order and chaos, manifesting in the form of a constant grid like layout and chaos in the form of line and color. It was quilted on a longarm first, and then circles were carefully placed and machine appliquéd. All raw bias edges were hidden under bias edges.”
Ocean Dance 2 Quilt
Ocean Dance 2 modern quilt
by Linda Steele
Windham Artisan Cotton Challenge Category
Quilter Statement: “An abstract interpretation of what I see, feels and imagine when I look under the sea.”
Glisten Quilt
Glisten Quilt
by Judy Chaffee
Windham Artisan Cotton Challenge Category
Quilter Statement: “Join in observing blobs of color glisten in the sun!”
In the Loop — Belt Loops Quilt
In the Loop — Belt Loops modern quilt
by Eliu Hernandez
Handwork Category
Quilter Statement: “Come closer. Tilt your head and listen. You can hear these belt loops speak in subtle contradictions—monochromatic and a million blues, unfaded blue jean denim adjacent to worn and torn material. You might also hear the “pops” and “scratches” of the harvested thread as it weaves its way through the coarse denim. My three year-old daughter would watch with curiosity, “The needle is going in and out, in and out. The needle is playing peek-a-boo, Dada!” I can’t think of a better way to describe the hand quilting process. In the Loop is constructed with: –Reclaimed denim belt loops –Harvested, opened and pressed the batting –Reclaimed flannel bedsheet for the backing –Reclaimed bedsheet for the batting –Reclaimed harvested thread from the same jeans for hand-quilting –Second-hand thread for the hand-stitched edging –New thread for piecing and seaming. This will be the greenest quilt you’ll see today!”
Why Knot No 2 Quilt
Why Knot No 2 modern quilt
by Simone Symonds
Handwork Category
Quilter Statement: “Created as an experiment in maximalism and a modern approach to hand tied quilt through using the volume of ties to create movement and pattern. The quilt is comprised of 12,800 ties and 25,600 knots.”
Borrowed Blue Quilt
Borrowed Blue modern quilt
by Jennifer Broemel
Handwork Category
Quilter Statement: “Some things we borrow from the past, we are present with them, we honor them, and then we make them our own. This piece, like many, is personal affirmation that gets repeated over and over again, every stitch an homage to what came before and a celebration of what is to come.”
Beginnings to See Quilt
Beginnings to See modern quilt
by Jennifer Broemel
Handwork Category
Quilter Statement: “The Beginnings, a study to SWAY. A translation of what I see in poetry that always says it better than I ever could. An idea that’s been percolating in the back of my mind is beginning to make a way to be seen.”
Asteria Quilt
Asteria modern quilt
by Nancy Goff
Piecing Category
Quilter Statement: “Asteria is a stellar goddess, beautiful and filled with feminine curves, but like all goddesses, she has thorns! Asteria was inspired by the art of British artist Gary Andrew Clarke. With his permission I have utilized the basic block from his work but modified the layout and color arrangement. Both the layout and the color arrangement were used to imply the outward, expanding entry emanating from the center and becoming even more materialized.”
Spiraling Into Control Quilt
Spiraling Into Control modern quilt
by Tighe Flangan
Piecing Category
Quilter Statement: “I translated a traditional Moroccan zellij design into a modern quilt pattern with inset seams and partial seam construction. The mosaic pattern features three transitional shapes: the almond (lozah), the coin (dirham), and the folding knife (match). I used different hand dyed fabrics for each half of the “math” shapes, emphasizing the seam that joins them down the middle. I was also aware of the weave of the black background fabric (used for the “lozah” and “dirham” shapes, as well as the border), and wanted the warp and weft to be part of the overall design and movement of the patchwork. I finished the quilt with dense, straight-line quilting. The title of the piece references the spiraling shapes undulating all over this quilt, while recognizing the precision it took me to make it all come together.”
Too Many Questions Quilt
Too Many Questions modern quilt
by Liz Kuny
Piecing Category
Quilter Statement: “I started this piece as a design exercise using the question mark as a motif. As work progressed, I realized I was really telling a story about myself. While everyone has questions, I seem to ask a lot more than most people. (My family can confirm this.) The question mark became more than just a design element.”
It’s Not Pie quilt
It’s Not Pie modern quilt
by Barb Vedder
Piecing Category
Quilter Statement: “This is a message that I think is very important given what is happening in the world right now. It was an interesting exercise for me to combine two colors per word to complete this expression. I used a lime green and a variegated thread for the quilting.”
YMCA T-Shirt Quilt
YMCA T-Shirt modern quilt
by Mac Barnes
Piecing Category
Quilter Statement: “This is my modern take on a T-Shirt Quilt. With the logo hidden inside the design, this utilizes t-shirts, masks, gaiters, and other fabrics from the Harris YMCA in Charlotte, NC. These found fabrics now tell the stories of those that wore them within the YMCA community I grew up in and has hung in their lobby as a way to spread messages of love through lived experience with others.”
Escape Room Quilt
Escape Room modern quilt
by Hillary Goodwin
Piecing Category
Quilter Statement: “ ‘Follow the leader. Strip, glue, cut. Watch the back. Tiptoe lightly. They will find their way through, stepping in your tracks.’ Both Front and Back of the quilt are made with an inset strip technique I discovered through experimentation.”
Get inspired by more modern quilts!
See more of my highlights from QuiltCon 2024 and previous QuiltCon shows here.
