Though some time has passed since QuiltCon Together, we continue to be inspired by the artwork that hung in the virtual show. The way color is used in our quilts has a huge impact on the overall appeal of a design. The following quilts are a few we love for how they use color. Thank you to all the makers for providing photos of their quilts so that we could share them with you here.

Zebracolada by Kamie Grangroth @kamiegrangroth

Machine Quilted by Jess Zeigler of Threaded Quilting Studio @threadedquilting

We love how striking this quilt is from a distance. The movement created by the saturated colors is enough to stop you in your tracks. Antique pineapple quilts have been a favorite of Grangroth for a long time. She used every grey solid fabric she could find in her stash to make this quilt. The varied hues of grey provide a perfect background to offset the vibrant color combinations in the corners of each block. The pineapples were paper foundation pieced. Over 2000 paper segments had to be removed before the quilt was fully sewn together.  

Diversity by Barbara Danzi @barbbikes

This study of wedges was created in a workshop taught by Nancy Crow. The pops of color keep the eye moving across the quilt.Diversity illustrates well how despite the different directions and paths each of our lives is moving in, good energy and harmony can be found as a whole. 

Tumbling Down by Claire Victor @cvquilts

Victor likes exploring different layouts while trying to create a 3D effect and created the design for this quilt using PowerPoint. The orange background is an interesting choice that helps showcase the tumbling blocks, making them look as though they are truly in motion. The machine quilting that mimics the tumbling block shapes in the negative space of the quilt is fantastic. 

Stay in Your Log Cabin by Kelly Spell @kellyspell

“This quilt is an exploration of home as a safe haven.” Construction on the tiny improvisational log cabin blocks began on March 16, 2020, a few days after most of the United States went into Covid-19 lockdown. Though she wasn’t feeling very creative at the time, making these tiny log cabin blocks helped Spell exert a small measure of control over the chaos happening around her and she found comfort in working within the framework of a traditional quilt pattern. 

Stay in Your Log Cabin was built with more than 2,600 ‘logs.’ Each block is two inches square. Spell says about the quilt, “The dots on the pink fabric represent people isolating at home—or not. The white-on-white prints, which I initially intended to represent spaces outside of home, now symbolize faded memories of all the people and activities I miss from before the pandemic. When I finished this piece at the end june the celebratory feeling I usually feel when I finish a quilt was absent. Instead I reacted with an anticlimactic shrug. Perhaps this is because while my quilt is done, the pandemic is far from over.” We love the way the pink creates a fractured feeling in this quilt. 

One Block by Silvia Glaubach @surori_textiles

Glaubach made this quilt during a 100-day project. She designed one block that would give her the flexibility to maintain a daily practice for over 100 days. The block is inspired by both the traditional Log Cabin and Courthouse Step patterns. 

One block won 1st Place in the Modern Traditionalism category at QuiltCon Together. We love the limited color palette Glaubach selected for this quilt and the way the colors sometimes clump together to add depth and interest to the design. 

Please visit us at our Instagram @curatedquilts to view the interviews we conducted with some of the incredible makers in our community over the week of QuiltCon. 

By Brittany Bowen Burton