Boo! The scariest day of the year is the QuiltCon contest entry deadline (which also happens to be Halloween)!
QuiltCon, run by the Modern Quilt Guild (MQG), is the only major quilt show that exclusively features Modern quilt designs, and the competition to get a quilt accepted is fierce. I’ve been lucky enough to have many quilts accepted, but no one is ever guaranteed even one acceptance, especially with style preferences that keep evolving.
I finished up two quilts earlier this week, and I am currently working on my final entry for this year. All I need is for the post office to deliver the thread that was supposed to arrive yesterday. In the meantime, I put together and submitted my first three entries, so at least I know those are taken care of. Would you like to see them?
I’ll share more about the design process for each of these quilts in the coming weeks, so today I’m sharing the same information that I included in the official submission:
- Quilt Title
- Category
- Size
- Techniques
- Materials
- Description
QuiltCon requires three photos for the jurying process:
- Full quilt photo
- Detail image
- Detail of the completed quilt edge
Butterfly
I started this quilt for the Modern Quilt Guild Pollinator Challenge a few years ago, but I just finished it this week. I’m excited to have it off of my design wall!
- Title: Butterfly
- Category: Appliqué
- Size: 37” x 37”
- Techniques: Hand appliqué, Machine quilted without a frame (domestic), walking foot quilting
- Materials: Cotton fabric, Cotton thread, Cotton/wool batting
- Description: A captured moment of stillness in the chaos of a busy conservatory butterfly exhibit brings together the rapid flutter of gossamer wings and the gentle sway of a vibrant bloom. Each shape in the image stands alone, surrounded by an ombréd background of swirling blue revealed through hand-needle-turn appliqué. Simple, gridded quilting gently reminds us that we view most of the natural world through a barrier like a screen or glass.
Serendipitous Canopy
This piece came about from a random piece of ice-dyed fabric I made in the Summer of 2025.
- Title: Serendipitous Canopy
- Category: Handwork
- Size: 28” x 42”
- Techniques: Facing/faced binding, Hand dyed fabric by maker, Hand quilted, Whole cloth
- Materials: Cotton fabric, Cotton thread, Silk batting
- Description: Ice dyeing a fabric remnant with two different green dyes serendipitously split the colors, rendering a scene reminiscent of looking up into a canopy of trees. To enhance the tree-like effect, I hand-stitched tiny, organically shaped pin-tucks to resemble branches, then added decorative stitching and large-stitch hand quilting to evoke the gentle rustling of leaves and the dappled colors that appear as sunshine filters through the canopy above.
Stretching the Limits
A challenge in one of my local quilting groups inspired this design. Read more about this design here.
- Title: Stretching the Limits
- Category: Small Quilts
- Size: 17” x 12”
- Techniques: Facing/faced binding, Hand applique, Machine quilted without a frame (domestic), Walking foot quilting
- Materials: Cotton fabric, Cotton thread, Cotton/wool batting
- Description: When I was challenged to incorporate several colors I consider ugly into a single cohesive design, I decided to push my design limits in multiple ways. While considering things and concepts that are literally or figuratively stretched, I started watching videos of candy pulling, which ultimately inspired the design of “Stretching the Limits,” which embraces the visual of stripes stretching both within the quilt and in its overall shape.
Enter Your Quilt
Are you inspired to enter a quilt in the show? Read the rules and enter a quilt here.
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