QuiltCon 2022: Highlights (1)

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.

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Dreaming of a Better Future by Leo Ransom (Texas)

Here is an outstanding quilted tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., whose vision for America inspires so many of us to this day.  Leo Ransom is a master art quilter who specializes in portraiture.  He says, "This quilt was created to convey a serious message by such an important individual who was striving to make the world a better place for everyone.  His death ended too soon to finish the journey started.  So I did this peace in somber but serious colors, to try and convey what a serious person and purpose of his life's works." 

To learn more about Leo Ransom's quilts and his process, check out this interview by Urban Spools on YouTube.

High Anxiety by Heather Preggar

Heather Preggar created this improvisational quilt using cotton fabrics, which were dyed and batiked. The saturated colors and spiky points express the emotion of High Anxiety.  As Heather explains, "The past year has been one of terrifying lows and amazing highs.  The jagged triangles, and the cool blues and fiery reds of this piece, reflect that tension."

High Anxiety was machine quilted on a longarm using straight lines of orange-red thread which stand out nicely against both the dark and light pieces in the quilt.

'520' by Mickey McReynolds (Washington)

The name of this quilt, 520, was based on a view of the 520 Seattle freeway that Mickey McReynolds had in her memory. Mickey says, "It was a quilt begun in one of my first Zoom classes with Irene Roderick, called Dancing with the Wall, when the pandemic started in 2020. I began with a piece of fabric on my design wall, and then another, until it became clear this was THAT view in my memory in black and white.  I'm also a lover of architecture and found it addictive to make these structures."

Take The Stairs by Charles Cameron (North Carolina), quilted by Carrie Hauser

Take The Stairs was inspired by a black-and-white architectural poster by Bruno Morassutti and Enzo Mari, Comus 428, 1965. Although maybe not obvious at first glance, the colored stair maze starts at the top left and finishes at the bottom right. The quilt explores the undulation of dark negative space that is created by arranging squares of increasing, then decreasing size and color value into a maze of stairs. A progression of six different values of orange, green, and blue was used.

This wonderful graphic design really drew us in. About the name, Charles Cameron says: "To 'Take the Stairs' is an adage that suggests that there's no easy way of realizing one's goal.  That by focusing on the process of creating over the final product, one is more likely to question, learn, and discover."

Just Because by Lucy Engels (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Lucy Engels is a visual artist and quilter living in Edinburgh, Scotland. She says, "Sometimes you need to make a quilt 'Just Because.' This is one of those quilts.  No deep meaning behind it. I made it just because I wanted to see what a digitally manipulated image of one of my previous quilts, 'Strings', would look like in real life."

Lucy continues, "I am interested in the development of work, each stage of the process. And I enjoy revisiting past work to see where it can go." Just Because was machine pieced and quilted on a domestic machine.

Baptist Fan Redux by Hillary Goodwin (California)

This visually intriguing design was created by layering curved arcs over a log cabin framework! There's more to this quilt than meets the eye, as the 'fans' are made of multiple pieces of fabric that meet up with the log cabin squares, creating the illusion of transparency.  Hillary Goodwin says, "What do you get when you combine a log cabin quilt with a baptist fan applique motif? In my eyes you get a very modern take on traditional quilt standards."

Hillary Goodwin tied this color punch of a quilt together with a modern imperfect quilted grid. Baptist Fan Redux was machine pieced, hand appliqued, and machine quilted on a domestic machine (without a frame).

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2022 QuiltCon show in Phoenix, Arizona.