Best Use of Color (2)

The recent QuiltCon show was filled with beautifully designed and made quilts. "Best Use of Color" was not a specific entry category, but these beauties stood out - not only for design and technique, but also for their color.  (For PART 1 of this series, CLICK HERE!)

Note: Please check out our eBay shop for great bargains on jewelry, patterns, and collectibles!

Blooming Star by Daphné Parthoens (Belgium) @octopurse 

Blooming Star is made out of 6144 half-inch diamonds (!) arranged in a flower-like shape. It is beautifully machine pieced and hand quilted! Its bold and contrasting colors form a harmonious gradient and give the quilt the impression of being three-dimensional.  Daphne explains that the quilt is an ode to nature and its everlasting beauty. All the little hand quilted pieces are meant to represent seeds planted in the ground to later bloom into luxurious flowers.

 The 95 by Vicki Ruebel (Nevada) @OrchidOwlQuilts (Additional piecer: Judy Dale).  

The cool analogous color scheme provides a lovely backdrop for the expert longarm quilting on this piece. Vicki Ruebel says, "This quilt was a team effort between my mom and I.  I designed the quilt in EQ8, my mom pieced it and I quilted it.  We used vinyl to create the circles.  I explored using soft and stable as the base layer of batting with wool on top to pop the quiltng.  The intricate [longarm]quilting is my favorite part of this quilt."

The Pointy Beast by Susan Braverman (Texas) @wildpoppyquilts  

Winner of 1st Place in the Modern Traditionalism category, The Pointy Beast updates the classic New York Beauty block with large scale and striking high-contrast colors.  It says "look at me" from across the room.  Dense grid quilting anchors the design's structured form, as shown below.  A variety of thread colors were used to create nuanced value shifts throughout.

 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 QuiltCon show in Phoenix, Arizona.

QuiltCon 2022 Highlights (Finale!)

The outstanding QuiltCon show was held in Phoenix, Arizona this year! Presented by The Modern Quilt Guild, QuiltCon is the largest modern quilting show of its kind. Hundreds of modern quilts were on display, including a juried show with entries from MQG members around the world. Here are some of the remarkable quilts we enjoyed.

Also check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on quilt patterns, fabric, and vintage jewelry!
For more free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Quilt by Kim Soper @lelandavestudios (New York) and Megan Collins @megancollins_a (Texas)

Sisterhood of the Traveling Quilt is made of a combination of New York Beauty blocks (made by Kim Soper in New York) and Friendship Knots (made by Megan Collins in Texas). The large, disrupted blocks give this quilt a fantastic modern "feel"! This quilt began as an idea to keep two friends united across the miles, but it became so much more in the wake of the pandemic.  This traveling quilt journeyed across the U.S. three times in various stages of construction.  The grid quilting was done by Megan on a domestic machine.

Aunt Sophie's Chair by Susan Braverman @wildpoppyquilts (California)

Susan Braverman explains that her Aunt Sophie had a wonderful pink velvet tufted chair in her bedroom. "My childhood visits with her always included story time when I would sit in that chair and get lost in whatever book she was reading to me."  -- This quilt design incorporates negative space with paper pieced "tufting" that loosely interprets the creases of button-tufted upholstery.  The quilting inside the negative spaces adds a wonderful, dimensional effect, creating a convex appearance to the shapes.

Piercing Pyramids by Claire Victor @cvquilts (Arizona)

Piercing Pyramids is part of a series by Claire Victor, who has focused on achieving 3D effects with geometric shapes. Claire says, "I envision it as pyramids with stiff ribbon-like shapes piercing through them.  I have continued the ribbons into the background quilting design." It is English paper pieced, double batted, and free-motion quilted on a domestic Bernina. The quilted swirls within pyramid provide a delightful contrast to the geometric shapes.

Outward by Karin King @karin_quilts (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)

Outward seems to vibrate with positive energy! The original design, by Karin King, was derived from the traditional pineapple quilt block, and pieced using colors seen most often during sunset or sunrise. The quilt suggests movement from the center of the quilt, done in marigold yellow, to the outer edges, in purple. Four solid colors were used to create the gradations. This piece was quilted on a longarm machine.

Zester by Caroline Hadley @geometriquilt (East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), quilted by Valerie Cooper

Using a simple palette of just two colors, Zester plays with positive and negative space. It is a totally new and modern design, made with just two traditional shapes: the quarter-circle and half-square triangle. The blocks are offset, with a wide margin on the left hand side, while the blocks meet the right-hand edge of the quilt. The straight line quilting - done by Valerie Cooper - adds to the modern, graphic feeling of the design.

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2022 QuiltCon show.