20 modern quilts from QuiltCon 2019

A curated collection of twenty modern quilts from QuiltCon 2019, with descriptions from the quilters, shown in Nashville, Tennessee .

Enjoy 20 of (just some of) my favorite modern quilts from QuiltCon 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. All descriptions were written by the makers. Prepare to be inspired!

Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 — “Star Sprinkles” by Steph Skardal www.instagram.com/stephskardal Statement: “This original design was created in Photoshop. It is the first in a series of quilts taking inspiration from the blending of watercolor paint in a bright, modern color palette mixed with the hardness of geometric (linear) shapes. The modified courthouse steps form a larger diamond shape via negative space. It was machine quilted on a domestic machine using a walking foot.
“Star Sprinkles” by Steph Skardal @stephskardal
Statement: “This original design was created in Photoshop. It is the first in a series of quilts taking inspiration from the blending of watercolor paint in a bright, modern color palette mixed with the hardness of geometric (linear) shapes. The modified courthouse steps form a larger diamond shape via negative space. It was machine quilted on a domestic machine using a walking foot.
detail of “Star Sprinkles” by Steph Skardal
detail of “Star Sprinkles” by Steph Skardal
Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 — “Shades of Citrus” by Brittany Lloyd. Quilted by Jess Ziegler @loandbeholdstitchery Statement: “Shades of Citrus is a fun spin on the negative space of a classic Lafayette orange peel quilt block.”
“Shades of Citrus” by Brittany Lloyd @loandbeholdstitchery. Quilted by Jess Ziegler
Statement: “Shades of Citrus is a fun spin on the negative space of a classic Lafayette orange peel quilt block.”
detail of “Shades of Citrus” by Brittany Lloyd. Quilted by Jess Ziegler
detail of “Shades of Citrus” by Brittany Lloyd. Quilted by Jess Ziegler
Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 — “Barn Quilt” by Renee Tallman @uniquilter Statement: “I like barn quilts and I wanted to make a quilt that had the appearance of being painted. When the SBAMQG issued our Make it Modern challenge in 2017, one option was to modernize the traditional weathervane block. I pieced scraps onto muslin foundations in an improv style. I used many shades as I could to convey the idea of a painted quilt block. I added areas where it looked like the paint was peeling of in layers, appearing worn and rough, as if the barn wood might be aging or showing through the paint. Source: traditional block design, called the weathervane block.
“Barn Quilt” by Renee Tallman @uniquilter
Statement: “I like barn quilts and I wanted to make a quilt that had the appearance of being painted. When the SBAMQG issued our Make it Modern challenge in 2017, one option was to modernize the traditional weathervane block. I pieced scraps onto muslin foundations in an improv style. I used many shades as I could to convey the idea of a painted quilt block. I added areas where it looked like the paint was peeling of in layers, appearing worn and rough, as if the barn wood might be aging or showing through the paint.
Source: traditional block design, called the weathervane block.
detail of “Barn Quilt” by Renee Tallman
detail of “Barn Quilt” by Renee Tallman
Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 — “Peeling Away” by Betsy Ryan @rryan3. Quilted by Janice Roy Statement: “This quilt is an adaptation of the traditional Log Cabin quilt block, the quintessential American design. It represent log cabins on the prairie with the center squares for the hearth, light values on one side for the sunny side of the house, and dark values on the opposite side for the shady side of the house. I wanted this quilt to have a lot of negative space, to be less cluttered, to be freeing. I started out with more complete log cabin shapes and then removed more color and left more negative space.
“Peeling Away” by Betsy Ryan @rryan3. Quilted by Janice Roy
Statement: “This quilt is an adaptation of the traditional Log Cabin quilt block, the quintessential American design. It represent log cabins on the prairie with the center squares for the hearth, light values on one side for the sunny side of the house, and dark values on the opposite side for the shady side of the house. I wanted this quilt to have a lot of negative space, to be less cluttered, to be freeing. I started out with more complete log cabin shapes and then removed more color and left more negative space.
detail of Betsy Ryan, Quilted by Janice Roy
detail of Betsy Ryan, Quilted by Janice Roy
Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 — “DISCombobulated” by Mario Mulea @dzynermjm Statement: “Elongation of a traditional block to create a recognizable X-Ray image. Quilting with 2 different thread color allows quilting to show up equally on both colors.
“DISCombobulated” by Mario Mulea @dzynermjm
Statement: “Elongation of a traditional block to create a recognizable X-Ray image. Quilting with 2 different thread color allows quilting to show up equally on both colors.
detail of “DISCombobulated” by Mario Mulea
detail of “DISCombobulated” by Mario Mulea
Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 — “This Is What Four Years Looks Like.” by Scott Lunt @starfireduluth Statement: “After the 2016 election I was moved to see what four years would look like in days. I settled on the tally mark symbol to represent this. The empty blocks represent a breather in the daily news cycle. The blue hash mark represents that special day.”
“This Is What Four Years Looks Like.” by Scott Lunt @starfireduluth
Statement: “After the 2016 election I was moved to see what four years would look like in days. I settled on the tally mark symbol to represent this. The empty blocks represent a breather in the daily news cycle. The blue hash mark represents that special day.”
detail of “This Is What Four Years Looks Like.” by Scott Lunt
detail of “This Is What Four Years Looks Like.” by Scott Lunt
Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 —“Self portrait” by Melanie Tuazon @melintheattic Statement: “The result of an improv curve process that I found revelatory and exhilarating.”
“Self portrait” by Melanie Tuazon @melintheattic
Statement: “The result of an improv curve process that I found revelatory and exhilarating.”
detail of “Self portrait” by Melanie Tuazon
detail of “Self portrait” by Melanie Tuazon
Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 — “Lillium” by Heather Black @quiltachusetts Statement: “This quilt was designed for our local guild color challenge featuring Kona color of the year, Tiger Lily, curve piecing. Taking my design clue from the color I wanted to create a quilt that captured the feeling of lilies in a garden.”
“Lillium” by Heather Black @quiltachusetts
Statement: “This quilt was designed for our local guild color challenge featuring Kona color of the year, Tiger Lily, curve piecing. Taking my design clue from the color I wanted to create a quilt that captured the feeling of lilies in a garden.”
detail of “Lillium” by Heather Black
detail of “Lillium” by Heather Black
Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 —“Ribbon Candy” by Emily Parson @emilyquilts Statement: “My family loves ribbon candy! It was a special treat that my grandma had every year at Christmas. Now I buy it for my own kids and they love it as much as I did. I used bias tape applique to recreate the unique shape and festive colors of ribbon candy. Bias tape is easy to manipulate into curves and it comes in lots of great colors. It is a fun process!”
“Ribbon Candy” by Emily Parson @emilyquilts
Statement: “My family loves ribbon candy! It was a special treat that my grandma had every year at Christmas. Now I buy it for my own kids and they love it as much as I did. I used bias tape applique to recreate the unique shape and festive colors of ribbon candy. Bias tape is easy to manipulate into curves and it comes in lots of great colors. It is a fun process!”
detail of “Ribbon Candy” by Emily Parson
detail of “Ribbon Candy” by Emily Parson
Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 — “Idea” by Leanne Chahley @shecanquilt Statement: “One day I woke up with the inspiration to make idea. She is a minimalist quilt about how ideas float to the top of one’s mind, from a sea of ideas, daily thoughts, experiences, interactions. I experience only a few creative ideas when compared to the many regular thoughts, work thoughts, parenting thoughts, and all the other thoughts that get us through every day, which also bubble up from the sea of thoughts at the centre of our being.”
“Idea” by Leanne Chahley @shecanquilt
Statement: “One day I woke up with the inspiration to make idea. She is a minimalist quilt about how ideas float to the top of one’s mind, from a sea of ideas, daily thoughts, experiences, interactions. I experience only a few creative ideas when compared to the many regular thoughts, work thoughts, parenting thoughts, and all the other thoughts that get us through every day, which also bubble up from the sea of thoughts at the centre of our being.”
detail of “Idea” by Leanne Chahley
detail of “Idea” by Leanne Chahley
Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 — “Rainbow Cloud” by Sherri Lynn Wood @sherrilynnwood Statement: “Freestyle patchwork with ruler-free strip piecing and bias strip piecing on the curve, inspired by the bright colors, complexity of line, and unexpected juxtaposition in the grafitti-rich environment of industrial east Oakland, California.
“Rainbow Cloud” by Sherri Lynn Wood @sherrilynnwood
Statement: “Freestyle patchwork with ruler-free strip piecing and bias strip piecing on the curve, inspired by the bright colors, complexity of line, and unexpected juxtaposition in the grafitti-rich environment of industrial east Oakland, California.
detail of “Rainbow Cloud” by Sherri Lynn Wood
detail of “Rainbow Cloud” by Sherri Lynn Wood
Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 — “The Steadfast HST” by Cheryl Smallwood @cherylsmallwood Statement: “Inspired by the extensive collection of quilts in the book, Red and White Quilts: Infinite Variety, I was drawn to make a red and white quilt of my own, using improv curved piecing.”
“The Steadfast HST” by Cheryl Smallwood @cherylsmallwood
Statement: “Inspired by the extensive collection of quilts in the book, Red and White Quilts: Infinite Variety, I was drawn to make a red and white quilt of my own, using improv curved piecing.”
detail of “The Steadfast HST” by Cheryl Smallwood
detail of “The Steadfast HST” by Cheryl Smallwood
Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 — “Curled” by Charlie Mankin @sydneyrosedesigns Statement: “As soon as I aw the work of Franco Grignani, I knew I had to try to recreate in quilt form. Hand appliquéd bias binding on wholecloth. Machine quilted.” Design source: Franco Grignani, Detachment from the Edge (285), 1969.
“Curled” by Charlie Mankin @sydneyrosedesigns
Statement: “As soon as I aw the work of Franco Grignani, I knew I had to try to recreate in quilt form. Hand appliquéd bias binding on wholecloth. Machine quilted.”
Design source: Franco Grignani, Detachment from the Edge (285), 1969.
detail of “Curled” by Charlie Mankin
detail of “Curled” by Charlie Mankin
Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 — “Offset” by Audrey Esarey @cottonandbourbon Statement: “Offset is an original design. I wanted to explore a design based on one large circle and two high contrast fabrics. I love how the black and white wedges are perfectly offset creating segments that fit together, but do not touch each other. I omitted one wedge of each circle in different areas so the visual weight is balanced. This quilt was designed using EQ8, paper pieced, machine pieced and machine quilted. I used a facing to finish the edges of the quilt.”
“Offset” by Audrey Esarey @cottonandbourbon
Statement: “Offset is an original design. I wanted to explore a design based on one large circle and two high contrast fabrics. I love how the black and white wedges are perfectly offset creating segments that fit together, but do not touch each other. I omitted one wedge of each circle in different areas so the visual weight is balanced. This quilt was designed using EQ8, paper pieced, machine pieced and machine quilted. I used a facing to finish the edges of the quilt.”
detail of “Offset” by Audrey Esarey
detail of “Offset” by Audrey Esarey
Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 — “Transition” by Julie Reuben @b_plus_q Statement: “As I age, I find myself meditating on change. We begin as one thing and gradually become another. Pieces join together and form a path. To create this quilt, I used freezer paper to piece a number of different triangles in 6”, 4”, 3” and 2” square blocks. I arranged those blocks so the edges of the triangles would create a curving path in which the triangles shift from orange to burgundy. I quilted the path in dense uneven orange lines contrasting with the evenly spaced vertical lines of the background. Bright orange and deep burgundy intermingle but remain distinct.”
“Transition” by Julie Reuben @b_plus_q
Statement: “As I age, I find myself meditating on change. We begin as one thing and gradually become another. Pieces join together and form a path. To create this quilt, I used freezer paper to piece a number of different triangles in 6”, 4”, 3” and 2” square blocks. I arranged those blocks so the edges of the triangles would create a curving path in which the triangles shift from orange to burgundy. I quilted the path in dense uneven orange lines contrasting with the evenly spaced vertical lines of the background. Bright orange and deep burgundy intermingle but remain distinct.”
detail of “Transition” by Julie Reuben
detail of “Transition” by Julie Reuben
Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 — “100 Days of Sewing Smaller” by Kitty Wilkin @nightquilter Statement: “My personal challenge was #100daysofsewsmaller. Each of the 100 blocks in this challenge finishes at 1.25” square, and these blocks were eventually made into the mini quilt you see here. The accompanying photos highlight each individual piece, showing the process of creating each tiny block.
“100 Days of Sewing Smaller” by Kitty Wilkin @nightquilter
Statement: “My personal challenge was #100daysofsewsmaller. Each of the 100 blocks in this challenge finishes at 1.25” square, and these blocks were eventually made into the mini quilt you see here. The accompanying photos highlight each individual piece, showing the process of creating each tiny block.
detail of “100 Days of Sewing Smaller” by Kitty Wilkin
detail of “100 Days of Sewing Smaller” by Kitty Wilkin
Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 — “Purple Haze” by Daniela O’Connell @blockMquilts Statement: “This quilt was made taking part in the Pantone Quilt Challenge 2018 using Ultra Violet as a featured colour. I combined white, a bright orange and a light violet to achieve a vibrant colour combination. For the first time I used curved piecing, all curves are cut without the use of a ruler or a template. Individual blocks are turned in different directions to create an interesting overall design. The simple straight line quilting is to support the diagonal direction the design.”
“Purple Haze” by Daniela O’Connell @blockMquilts
Statement: “This quilt was made taking part in the Pantone Quilt Challenge 2018 using Ultra Violet as a featured colour. I combined white, a bright orange and a light violet to achieve a vibrant colour combination. For the first time I used curved piecing, all curves are cut without the use of a ruler or a template. Individual blocks are turned in different directions to create an interesting overall design. The simple straight line quilting is to support the diagonal direction the design.”

Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 — “Sit-In” by Frances Dowell @offkilterquilt Statement: “When I saw artist Beverly Buchanan’s drawing of a rustic chair, I was inspired by both its style and bright colors. I envisioned a quilt of similar chairs in neat rows (a la Warhol’s soup cans). But I discovered that I liked the chair in irregular groupings, as though people had pulled them here and there to sit with friends or by themselves. Ghost chairs are quilted in between the appliquéd chairs. I’m still pondering who the ghost chairs belong to and why the remain in the room.” Sources: Beverly Buchanan, Artist—only the design of the chair.
“Sit-In” by Frances Dowell @offkilterquilt
Statement: “When I saw artist Beverly Buchanan’s drawing of a rustic chair, I was inspired by both its style and bright colors. I envisioned a quilt of similar chairs in neat rows (a la Warhol’s soup cans). But I discovered that I liked the chair in irregular groupings, as though people had pulled them here and there to sit with friends or by themselves. Ghost chairs are quilted in between the appliquéd chairs. I’m still pondering who the ghost chairs belong to and why the remain in the room.”
Sources: Beverly Buchanan, Artist—only the design of the chair.
detail of “Sit-In” by Frances Dowell
detail of “Sit-In” by Frances Dowell
Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 — “Amoeba” by Heather Shields @heathersaysew Statement: “Each of the arcs were cut freehand and then hand appliquéd onto 2.5” squares, a technique I learned from Nydia Kehnle. I then improv-pieced the squares together in my own design to create a continuous loop which required partial seams in some areas. The pice is hand quilted using 12wt thread and pearl cotton.” Source: Nydia Kehnle workshop
“Amoeba” by Heather Shields @heathersayssew
Statement: “Each of the arcs were cut freehand and then hand appliquéd onto 2.5” squares, a technique I learned from Nydia Kehnle. I then improv-pieced the squares together in my own design to create a continuous loop which required partial seams in some areas. The pice is hand quilted using 12wt thread and pearl cotton.”
Source: Nydia Kehnle workshop
detail of “Amoeba” by Heather Shields
detail of “Amoeba” by Heather Shields
Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 — “Geometry Lesson” by Jayne Willis @twiggyandopal Statement: “This quilt was inspired and designed specifically for this color palette. The colors were influenced by a recent trip to ‘Lauderdale by the Sea’ with my daughter. The colors engulf you with a relaxing warmth that only a tropical setting in winter could! Getting all the parts and pieces of the geometric shapes to intermix in a cohesive design was my main focus. Showcasing the color palette was also a big factor in my design.”
“Geometry Lesson” by Jayne Willis @twiggyandopal
Statement: “This quilt was inspired and designed specifically for this color palette. The colors were influenced by a recent trip to ‘Lauderdale by the Sea’ with my daughter. The colors engulf you with a relaxing warmth that only a tropical setting in winter could! Getting all the parts and pieces of the geometric shapes to intermix in a cohesive design was my main focus. Showcasing the color palette was also a big factor in my design.”
detail of “Geometry Lesson” by Jayne Willis
detail of “Geometry Lesson” by Jayne Willis
Modern quilt featured at QuiltCon 2019 — "Big Island Sunset" by Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill. Inspiration for Big Island Sunset came from one of my most favorite places in the world—the Big Island of Hawaii. This modern interpretation of the spectacular sunsets on the west coast of Hawaii is entirely pieced from two blocks—a traditional Drunkard’s Path and an elongated Drunkard’s Path.
I enjoyed visiting and sharing my Big Island Sunset quilt at QuiltCon 2019.

Want more quilts?

Check out the 2018 Modern Quilt Showcase here.

Check out the 2018 Best of QuiltCon traveling exhibit here.

Check out 15 quilts from QuiltCon 2018 here.

Check out the 2017 Modern Quilt Showcase here.

 

Did you have a favorite quilt or category at QuiltCon 2019? I’d love to hear from you—please leave a comment below.

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5 Comments

    1. You’re welcome Daniela! It’s an awesome quilt. I love going to shows and sharing photos and descriptions of quilts for those who are unable to attend (or have a bit of ADHD when they’re at the show and can’t concentrate in the moment). –Sheri

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