6 Exciting, Can’t-Miss Quilts From QuiltCon 2026

What stands out to you at a quilt show? Trend spotting is one of my favorite quilt show activities, but not every quilt fits neatly into one of these categories. After a month of looking at design trends, I’m thrilled to share six quilts from QuiltCon that stood out to me all on their own.

How Did I Select the Quilts?

That’s an easy question this time- I avoided award-winning quilts, but otherwise, I chose quilts that I liked so much, I stopped to look at them multiple times.

The Quilts

Ouch, it’s pokey!

By Sarah Schreiner

What drew me in:

• Strong use of value that shifts around the focal shape
• Black outlines give the design a graphic novel-like quality.
• Cactus spines create a circular effect as they angle around the plant’s central point. 
• Linear quilting within the cactus shifts in angle and density to enhance the shape’s dimensionality.

Beautiful & Perfect & White

By Carolyn Murphy

What drew me in:

• Simple shapes clearly reference the image the maker is trying to evoke.
• Carefully placed seamlines define the line from which the sheet shapes are visually suspended.
• Shadows are created with a muted color rather than a neutral one.

Cocksure and Featherheaded

By Timna Tarr

What drew me in:

• Beautiful merger of traditional and pictorial quilting
• Many medium- and high-contrast prints blend to create a textured design with a gradient background.
• Individual appliqué blocks focus on value, but come together to form a recognizable image.
• Composition gives the feeling of a painted portrait.

Wash Away the Blues

By Tania Tanti

What drew me in:

• Longer lines are often created with a series of tightly spaced perpendicular lines.
• Mixing machine quilting with several styles of hand quilting develops varied textures.
• Contrasting threads infuse the composition with color.

Second Sight

By Tara Evans

What drew me in:

• Modern wholecloth quilt
• Couching adds tremendous texture.
• Central hand-dyed motif sets the tone for the couching and quilting.

Connect #2

By Julie Reuben

What drew me in:

• Modern wholecloth quilt
• Color shifts are created entirely with thread.
• Quilting lines change color mid-line to achieve distinct color shifts.
• Hand quilting offers a distinctive texture.

Do You Want To See More Quilts?

This is the final post for QuiltCon 2026, but there are lots of places to see more quilts!

• The winning QuiltCon quilts are available for everyone to see online.
• A couple of weeks ago, I shared quilts featuring a color scheme of Black & White with Bold Colors
• Then, I shared quilts using yellow as a key color in the design and block-based quilts at the show
• Last week, I wrote about humans appearing in the quilts using various techniques..
• Search for QuiltCon on your favorite social media platform.