Modern Quilt Month: Torque!

Today's featured quilt was a response to a Mavericks art quilt theme: Four Shades Make Beautiful Quilt. Four shades of commercial teal cotton fabrics were used to create the spiral. The geometric shapes were then finished by free-motion quilting. 

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Torque, made and quilted by Lynnita Knoch.  

Lynnita Knoch says the design was inspired by Polygon Grid Art seen on Pinterest. "As an engineer, torque — a rotational force — interests me as it is the "oomph" to get things going.  Torque is used in many engineering projects, like motors, as well as in simpler applications, like opening jars."  

The beautiful quilting was done by hand-guided free-motion quilting.  

 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2026 Quilt Arizona show.

Modern Quilt Month: Puget Sound!

This original design quilt captures the complexity of one of the most famous waterways on the West Coast: Puget Sound, on the northwest coast of Washington state. Its striking scenery is beloved by sailors, residents, and visitors alike. This piece was finished by hand guided quilting on a stationary machine. 

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Puget Sound, made and quilted by Mary Hill.  

Winner of a Third Place (yellow) ribbon in the Art-Innovative category, Mary Hill explains: My sister requested I make her a quilt, as I had never done so.  I asked what type of quilt she wanted.  (Note to self:  never ask a non-quilter an open-ended question like that!)  She requested a map of Puget Sound, [so] I took the challenge on." The waterways were beautifully outlined by couching in white cord, shown below. 

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 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2026 Arizona Quilters Guild show. 

Modern Quilt Month: What's That Block?

What's that block, you may ask? This fascinating quilt explores aperiodic tiling - a mathematical concept where shapes cover a surface without gaps and without the layout ever repeating. We love the way in which the blocks "fade" into the gray background on the edges of the design. 

English Paper Piecing was used to create this quirky geometric challenge.  Read on for details and a FREE pattern link!

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What's That Block? by Beth Norris, quilted by Jessica Dickinson.  

The “Einstein Tile” is a thirteen-sided shape, discovered in 2022 by David Smith, as a shape that covers a plane using only itself, with no gaps, and no repeats in the placement. It is called an Einstein Tile, not after Albert Einstein, but a play on “ein stein” in German, meaning “one stone”.  

 

Can you see the 13-sided shape in magenta, in the closeup photo below?  NOTE: The FREE Einstein Tile Design can be found at PaperPieces.com !

 

 

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2026 Arizona Quilters Guild show.
 

Modern Quilt Month: Joy

This original art quilt by Karen McCarty captured our attention with its flowing lines and beautiful color scheme.  Karen says, "I wanted this piece to be uplifting and express a joyful feeling".  Joy was quilted on a stationary machine with a different quilted design in each of the colorful strips.

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Joy, made and quilted by Karen McCarty  

Originally from Fairbanks, Alaska, Karen McCarty now splits her time between Arizona and Oregon. She has been quilting about 40 years. She started before rotary cutters and mats, using machine piecing and hand quilting. Over the years she has delved into raw edge and turned applique, paper piecing, playing with hexies, landscapes, painting on fabric, and free motion quilting. 

 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2026 Arizona Quilters Guild show.

 

Modern Quilt Month: Spiral Galaxy

A black-and-white spiral spins through the cosmos in this dynamic wall quilt. An array of beautiful fabrics were chosen to create the rainbow spokes. Some impressive piecing can be seen in the spiral!

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Kathryn's Spiral Galaxy, made and quilted by Kathryn Wald.  

Kathryn Wald explains that this quilt began in a "Cosmic Spirals" workshop taught by Barbara Olson in 2013.  "The black and white spiral and colored spokes inside it were finished then.  I finally finished by adding the black and white inner border, extending the spokes and quilting it."  

We admire the teensy pieced triangles that make up the center of the spiral, disappearing into infinity! 

 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2026 Tucson Quilters Guild show.

Modern Quilt Month: Paradox!

See how many blocks you can name in this fun modern sampler! We love the bright solid fabrics which contrast nicely with the pure white background. The negative space gives this design an open, airy feel.

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Paradox, made and quilted by Kimberly Zody.  

Kimberly Zody won a second place ribbon for this fun modern sampler quilt! She says, "For my first foray into modern quilting, I took an online Quilt Maker Academy class by Brigitte Heitland. The fabrics I selected were curated to follow the guidelines of incorporating solids with the use of negative space. I drew my inspiration from a pattern by Zen Chic Designs and modified it to fit my vision for this quilt."

 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2026 Tucson Quilters Guild show.

Modern Quilt Month: Daybreak!

This original design is a beautiful modern representation of the sun rising over water. It is done all in solid colors with quilting following the curves of the water and sun.  Daybreak won the 1st Place award in the Modern Quilt category at the 2026 Tucson (Arizona) Quilters Guild show.

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Daybreak, made and quilted by Rachel Radspinner 

The artist, Rachel Radspinner, says that the design was inspired by a New Year's resolution to master curves. "This rising sun recalls mornings spent walking with my husband and dog along the Delaware Shore.  I thank my parents, brother and husband for their thoughtful input."

 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2026 Tucson Quilters Guild show.

Modern Quilt Month: Orange Blast!

July is Modern Quilt Month! We admire the many talented artists making their names in the modern quilt movement! Émilie Trahan is a textile artist and quilter living in Joliette, Québec, Canada. Fascinating curves, colors and shadows distinguish her Orange Blast. 

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Orange Blast, 78 x 82", by Émilie Trahan (Joliette, Quebec, Canada) @mili.tra  

Winner of a 1st Place ribbon in the Piecing category at the 2025 QuiltCon show, this was the first of a series of quilts by Emilie Trahan exploring the relationship of the color red with every other color. This quilt focuses on red and orange. Remarkably, this quilt was made entirely with upcycled fabrics (mainly bed linens) along with upcycled flannel sheets for the batting. 

Emilie says, "In this particular quilt, I was envying painters for their abilities to mix colors and make new ones.  So I attempted to make my own new colors with fabrics by combining stripes of fabric together."  Orange Blast was improvisationally pieced and machine quilted without a frame on a domestic machine.  

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

 

Beautiful Color: Deciphering Color with AI

In this stunning quilt by Jo Wollschaeger, every circle is pieced, starting with darker, target circles and ending with the very lightest and smallest circles. The mood is vibrant, modern, playful, and surprisingly balanced. It turns out that AI is really good at deciphering this color scheme; read on for details!. 

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Surfacing by Jo Wollschlaeger (Portland, Oregon) @jowoquilts  

This is a split-complementary color scheme (with a strong emphasis on the yellow side). The quilt artist (Jo Wollschlaeger) used the split-complementary structure very effectively here — it’s bold without being chaotic.

Note that the quilting design is a grid that contrasts with the more organic layout of the circles. The lightest, smallest circles are less densely quilted; they come forward to create more dimension and texture.

It turns out that AI is really good at analyzing color schemes.  Here's what Grok.com has to say:

Split complements: Instead of using yellow’s direct complement (violet/purple), the design uses the two colors on either side of violet: Teal/ turquoise (blue-green side) and deep maroon/burgundy (red-magenta side).  This creates the classic “split” — you get strong contrast and visual pop without the harsher vibration that a straight yellow-purple pairing can sometimes produce.

Why it feels so harmonious yet energetic: The yellow + teal pairing gives a fresh, tropical, high-energy vibe. The maroon anchors it, adding depth and preventing the scheme from feeling too “sweet” or juvenile. The overlapping circles and the dark teal/navy background further unify everything by letting the three main hues breathe while maintaining excellent contrast. 

It’s triadic in a loose sense (three main hues roughly 120° apart), but the yellow is so dominant that split-complementary is the most accurate label. Analogous undertones exist within the teal-to-lime range, which softens the overall effect.

Would you like hex code approximations for the main colors?  It turns out Grok can do this as well!

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

Improvisational piecing: Round Trip!

Today's featured quilt was inspired by the quarter circle or drunkard's path shapes. Seen another way, these resemble three-quarters Dresden wheels.  We love the complimentary colors and improvisational piecing! Also scroll down for two FREE patterns for Dresden wheel quilts.

Round Trip by Mary Landon (Florida) @addictedtofabric 

Mary Landon says she began piecing these blocks improvisationally, but then switched to newspaper foundations. She says, [I'm] "still trying to use up scraps, this time green, pink and blue."   The background was improvisationally pieced as well.The techniques used include machine piecing, improvisational piecing, and machine quilting on a longarm. 

Photos of Round Trip by Mary Landon were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 QuiltCon show.  For similar (but conventionally-pieced) designs, check out the FREE patterns below!

Four Eyes quilt, free pattern by Tamara Kate for Michael Miller Fabrics  (CLICK for PDF download!) 

Round Robin quilt, free pattern by Natalie Crabtree for Michael Miller Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download!) 

 

Modern Solids

Modern quilting often starts with solid color fabrics! These clean, unfussy designs emphasize line and shape rather than texture.  Here's a fun quilt that echoes modern designs from the 1960s.

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Psychedelic by Kate Henderson @katehendersonquilts (Bridgetown, Western Australia) 

Kate Henderson says, "I was originally going to make this quilt with just two colors.  I gradually added colors as I played arund with the design and ended up making it with 12 solid fabrics. It was straight line quilted on my domestic machine.  I love the way all the triangles come together to create a psychedelic effect."  It was foundation paper pieced and machine quilted without a frame.  

 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 QuiltCon show.

A View from Above

Today's featured quilt illustrates the magic of optical illusions combined with solid color fabrics. This is modern quilting at its best!

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Sky Top 3 by Nancy Lambert (Greensboro, Georgia)

Various circular shapes are fit into the landscape to depict the environment and have an optical illusion of a sphere.  Both variations of color intensity and hue are used to creat the illusion.  Sky Top 2 is machine pieced and machine quilted without a frame.

 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 QuiltCon show.

Transparency Quilts: 5 FREE patterns!

 Here are 5 of our favorite FREE patterns for transparency quilts! The fabric selection gives the illusion of seeing through a sheer curtain to the design beyond.  Download your favorite patterns today!

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De Novo quilt, 60 x 75", free pattern by Stephanie Sheridan for Benartex (CLICK for PDF download)

Color Wash Transparency quilt, 40 x 60", free pattern by Modern Quilt Studio for Benartex (CLICK for PDF download)

 

 Waves quilt, 56 x 68", free pattern at Robert Kaufman Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

 

Woven Radiance quilt, 77 x 95", free pattern at Free Spirit Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download) 

Transparency Crossing quilt, 50" square, free pattern at Robert Kaufman Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download) 

 

FREE pattern: Spinning Top!

Here's a FREE pattern from Tilda's World that looks bold and modern but is really easy and quick to sew. It is made up of wide strips of bright solid colors against two paler background colors in warm or cool shades. The quilting really dresses up the design!  Download the PDF today.

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Spinning Top quilt, ~64 x 82", free pattern at Tilda's World  (CLICK for PDF - cool) -or- (CLICK for PDF - warm) 

 

 

An asymmetrical look is produced by rotating one-half of the design 180 degrees vertically, to create the illusion of the much-loved spinning top children’s toy (see how the teal color strip, for example, appears in the lower right on the right hand side, and in the upper left on the left hand side? Very clever!)

 

 

Voyage: FREE pattern!

"Kona Quarterlies" refers to the free quarterly quilt patterns released by Robert Kaufman Fabrics for their popular Kona® Cotton Solids line.  If you love blue, this FREE pattern may be for you! 

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Voyage, 57 x 66", FREE pattern at Robert Kaufman Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

"Voyage" uses 16 different Kona cottons (including white) and a simple layout that gives a wonderful optical effect, like moving from the deep blue ocean into the light.  For complete instructions, DOWNLOAD the PDF today!

 

 

Highlights of Quilt Arizona! (3)

The annual Quilt Arizona show is a highlight of spring!  Here are some great quilts from this year's show (part three of 4)!

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Here Comes the Night Shift, made and quilted by Gabrielle Ryan  

A female Thorn Moth awakens and says, "Here comes the night shift!" Gabrielle Ryan says, "Moths are overlooked as pollinators because they are nocturnal.  But their contribution to pollination is critical - they are excellent pollinators.  They outnumber butterflies ten to one and travel long distances, unlike butterflies." 

Winner of an Award of Merit for Outstanding Achievement in Quiltmaking by NACQJ, plus 2nd Place in the Pictorial - Small category, this art quilt was based on a photo by Ukrainian photographer Oleksii Kriachko (used with permission.)  

detail, Here Comes the Night Shift

Freedom Cactus, made and quilted by Kim James  

The word FREEDOM is quilted above the cactus in this miniature quilt, reflecting the quilt show theme, Let Freedom Ring! Kim James says, "My daughter inspired this piece as she has a cactus theme in her home and her pursuit of education has afforded her FREEDOM and independence... this quilt is a tribute to her journey and the vibrant life she has built."  This dynamic little quilt was based on the Cactus Specimen pattern by Swan Sheridan. 

Making Memories Road Trip Quilt, made and quilted by Francine Taylor  

Based on a Capturing Memories Road Trip design by Pride & Joy Quilting, Francine Taylor says this quilt was taught in a Sewtopia Retreat class in 2025 in San Antonio, Texas.  "Veruschka Zarate makes excellent patterns and this is no exception. I love the Arizona landscape. The colors adequately and beautifully depict the desert landscape."

Windows Into Color by Judy Locke, quilted by Penny Boese  

This stunning modern quilt was inspired by a paper pieced block used in The Bachelor pattern in Paper Pieced Modern by Amy Garro (2015).  Judy Locke utilized her own setting and five different color groups for the blocks, one color group per block. The background fabric is used again in each of the five blocks to separate the colors; this also added dimensionality to the quilt.  The outstanding quilting by Penny Boese is done in different colors and designs, shown below.

detail, Windows Into Color

 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2026 Quilt Arizona show.

Checks Mix quilt (FREE pattern!)

Check out this easy modern quilt by Jaclyn Salem! We love the bold colors and the clever transparency effect. The PDF download even includes a coloring sheet for you to experiment with your own palette. And scroll down for 30 more FREE patterns for easy modern quilts!

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Checks Mix quilt, 39″ x 48, by Jaclyn Salem for We All Sew (CLICK for PDF download)

For dozens of Easy Modern quilt patterns, check out our Free Pattern Days (CLICK HERE FOR PART 1 and CLICK HERE FOR PART 2!)

 

 

 

Image credits and links:  The photo of Checks Mix quilt is by Jaclyn Salem / Bernina. Please respect any restrictions placed on the use of the pattern as outlined in the download.  The montages of free patterns are by Quilt Inspiration.  If any links are broken, let us know; email us at quiltinspiration {at} gmail {dot} com.
 

 

Shock Wave

Colorful shapes zig zag around this dynamic quilt! Linda Engstrom included so many fun prints, including the black and white background fabrics and the bright warm hues. We spotted some Kaffe Fassett classics in some of the blocks.

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Shock Wave by Linda Engstrom, quilted by Jessica Dickinson.  

This colorful quilt is based in a published design, titled Fracture, which can be found in the book titled Making Quilts with Kathy Doughty.  Linda Engstrom says, "Playing with color and fabric pattern provided the inspiration for using this dynamic design." This design offers nearly infinite possibilities!

 Here's the original Fractured design by Kathy Doughty:

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Image credits: Photos of Shock Wave were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 Quilt Arizona show.

Intertwine Ocean (FREE pattern!)

We love the clean look of solid color quilts!  Robert Kaufman offers Kona Cottons in hundreds of colors, supporting the modern quilt revolution. Here is a 3-color "rail fence" variation in which some of the "rails" are omitted, creating areas of negative space.

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Intertwine Ocean, made and quilted by Pat Morris  

Pat Morris says that she wanted to make a modern quilt with lots of negative space.  "I used Kona Cotton solid fabrics which is a 'first' for me."  She machine quilted it on her Bernina domestic machine, using wavy lines and circles to complement the "Ocean" theme. 

 If you are interested in this design, you can download a FREE pattern by Elise Lea, including fabric requirements for different color combinations (CLICK for PDF download)!

 Image credits: Photos of Intertwine Ocean by Pat Morris were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 Tucson Quilters Guild show.