QuiltCon Trends in 2026: 12 Quilts Mixing Black & White with Bold Color

Since QuiltCon 2026 ended, I have been sifting through quilt photographs, looking for trends and must-see quilts. 

Today, I am sharing the first in a series of posts on trending design elements at QuiltCon 2026, focusing on one of the strongest trends: mixing black and white with bold colors. In 2022, I shared a post about neutral quilts trending at the show, including many designs featuring black and white with limited or no additional colors. This year, there were a few terrific black-and-white designs, but most incorporated many different colors, and those are what I’m showing you below.

How I Choose Which Quilts to Share

I do a series of posts following every QuiltCon I attend, looking at trends and key quilts from the show. Every show has some quilts, usually the award-winning pieces that get a lot of attention online, but there are literally hundreds of quilts that don’t win awards, and we all should have a chance to see them and think about how they fit into the landscape of modern quilting.

Selecting Quilts For “Trending” Posts

This is the first in a series of posts that I will share with trends I noticed during the show. Here is how I select the quilts to share:

At the Show:

• Walk the show floor relatively quickly to get an overview of the show and start identifying trends.
• Move through each section more carefully, actually looking for quilts that fit into what I saw as a trend. Sometimes there are a lot more or fewer quilts that fit into what I thought was a trend, and I may amend my list based on this walk-through.
• Take photographs of quilts, including the full quilt, one or more detail images, and the information tag for the quilt.

After the Show:

• I sort the photos and select the quilts that fit into each subject area I want to write about.
• Next, I eliminate quilts that won awards or received significant social media attention. Ideally, at least some of the quilts in this post are quilts you haven’t seen before, unless you were at the show.
• Whenever applicable, I try to select quilts that embrace a variety of techniques or styles that align with the overarching trend. For instance, today’s post on quilts in black and white with bold color includes everything from structured, block-based quilts to improvisational quilts to representational pieces.

QuiltCon Went Viral in 2026

Upon returning home, I was delighted to learn that QuiltCon had gone viral on social media, and people who had never heard of quilting, at least the modern form, were drawn into the artform. This attention from quilters and non-quilters alike was primarily due to the resistance quilts, which focused on cultural, political, and personal issues expressed through textile art. Here are just a few posts sharing some of these quilts: 

(Many of these links include topics and language that may make some people uncomfortable. If you are easily offended, please skip these links and continue reading about the design trends I noticed at QuiltCon this year.)

Quilts Mixing Black and White with Bold Colors

Pairing multiple bold colors with black and white (or dark grey and extremely pale reads-as-white pastels) was one of the strongest trends at QuiltCon this year, and the color theme ran through most categories and embraced a wide range of techniques. There were so many quilts using this general color scheme that I had trouble narrowing it down to just a dozen.

As you look through the following quilts, notice how we first see quilts using color in one area and black and white in another. Next, the colors begin to mix into the black-and-white elements in a block-based way. Then the blocks move into improvisational piecing, and we end up looking at quilts embracing abstract representation.

Chroma

By Corinne Sovey

Three

By Elizabeth Ray

Hue’s to Say

By Erin Kroeker

Big Slice

By Tara Faughnan

It Started With Circles

By Ann Marston

ItsyBitsy

By Susan Lapham

Memphis Madness (Who Threw the Christmas Tree Down the Stairs?)

Group Quilt by Ellyn Zinsmeister

Jazz Quilting

By Hannah Parks

Way Out

By Lenny VanEijk

Swan Song

By Annie Hudnut

Visitor

By Sharon Carrier

Lighting the Way

By Robert Lowe

Do You Want To See More Quilts?

Next week, I’ll share another trend I noticed at QuiltCon, but until then:

• The winning QuiltCon quilts are available for everyone to see online.
• If you are a member of the Modern Quilt Guild, images of the entire show are available online until the end of March. Check the weekly MQG email for details.
• Search for QuiltCon on your favorite social media platform.