Presentation: Quilt Show

• The Quilt show needs your modern quilt.
  
• The show is not judged and the ribbons are audience vote.
  
• Submit your quilts to share your creativity, celebrate modern quilting, and educate the community about modern quilting.
  

Quilt Show Timeline

• Submissions are open Dec. 15-Jan 15
  
• Accepted quilts can be turned in at Feb 14 meeting
  
• Accepted quilts can be turned in on Feb 28 location TBD
• Show is March 14-15, 2026
  

Submission Guidelines

• Must be a current, dues-paying member to submit
  
• Quilt must be pieced by the member-another person may quilt
  
• Quilt must be completed for registration, but binding/sleeve can be done prior to the show
  
• Must fill out a registration form and provide a photo for each entry
  
• Each member may enter up to 9 quilts/items*
  
• Made within the last 5 years
  
• Not displayed at any of the STLMQG’s prior shows
  
• See Guild website for additional rules: https://stlmqg.org/Quilt-Show-Members-Resource
  

Modern Elements & Quilt Show Categories

• Bold use of Color: Strong, vibrant, and unexpected color choices that create visual impact.
  
• High Contrast & Graphic Areas of Color: Strong contrast between light and dark, or between complementary colors, often creating striking, graphic designs.
  
• Minimalism: Simplified design with pared-down elements, lots of open space, and a focus on clarity.
  
• Maximalism: The opposite of minimalism—layered, busy, and full of detail, color, and pattern.
  
• Improvisational Piecing: Creating without a set pattern, embracing spontaneity, asymmetry, and unexpected results.
  
• Expansive Negative Space: Large areas of background fabric that highlight and frame the pieced design and often become a canvas for creative quilting.
  
• Alternate Grid Work: Moving away from the traditional straight grid layout of blocks—using offset, staggered, or irregular placement.
  
• Modern Traditionalism: Reimagining traditional quilt blocks with modern elements like scale, color, or asymmetry.
  

Categories

• Applique & Handwork
  
• • Appliqué – Quilts that include either machine or hand layering of fabric where the quilt’s primary focus is appliqué.
  • Handwork – Quilts that include at least one element of handwork that is the focus of the quilt, including but not limited to hand piecing, hand quilting, embroidery, or cross stitch.
• Art quilts:  An original free-form exploration of a concept or idea, adhering to the modern aesthetic, experimenting with textile manipulation, color, texture and/or a diversity of mixed media. Art quilts quite often push quilt world boundaries.
  
• Bee Quilts: Quilts made by 3 or more people
  
• Improvisation:   The majority of piecing is improvised (i.e., without the use of a defined pattern or templates).
  
• Maximalism:  A more-is-more philosophy is embraced which includes a mix of colors, patterns, and textures that are densely utilized.Often there's very little void or open spaces. The eclectic nature means all of the elements are layered together to create interesting and filled compositions.
• Minimalist design:  Quilts whose design emphasizes extreme simplification of content and form to achieve maximum visual impact.
  
• Miscellaneous: Clothing, Bags, Other quilted Items
  
• Modern Traditionalism: Quilts whose design incorporates the use of an identifiable traditional block pattern and modernizes it by applying design elements such as alternate grid work, asymmetry, color, or scale.
  
• Piecing:  Quilts that reflect a particularly strong or innovative use of machine piecing.
  
• Small Quilts:  measure 36″ or less per side.
  
• Use of Negative Space:  the unoccupied area that surrounds the objects, shapes, or forms in a composition that can be used to create movement, emphasis and interest in a quilt design which is integrated into and/or organizes the composition of the quilt.
  
• Guild Challenges: 2024 Modern Art Challenges, 2024 Scrap Buster, 2024 Row by Row Improv, 2025 Block Lotto, 2025 Stripes
  

How to submit your quilt

• Gather your Information:  A blank form will be sent out after this meeting so you can gather all of the required information.
  
• Help Desk Committee members will be available to help submit after the January 10 guild meeting.  If you would like help, bring a completed form.  You will also need a photo of your quilt on a flash drive or available to email from your phone.
  
• Submissions will be through a Google form, which will require a free Google account. If you have a gmail email address, you already have a Google account.
  
• You will submit one form for each quilt
  
• The link to the form will be sent by email on Dec. 15, 2025. The form will close at 11:59 pm on January 15, 2026.
  
• See the Slideshow for walk through of application.
  

Jurying Process

• All information is removed. Only photos are reviewed by the committee.
  
• Committee members rate each photo according to the qualities of a modern quilt, on a scale of 1 to 5.
  
• Each quilt receives an average score. Quilts are prioritized based on this rating, filling in the available display space. 
  
• Notices are sent to everyone who submitted, whether quilts are accepted or not accepted.
  

Quilt Collection

• Quilts will be collected at the February 14 guild meeting, or on February 28 at a location to be determined. Alternate dates can be arranged. All quilts must be collected by March 1, 2026.
  
• Show time! Quilts will be hung on Friday, March 13.
  
• Quilts will be available for pickup at the end of the show on Sunday, March 15.  Quilters will be responsible for picking up their quilts at that time, or designating an alternate person.
  

Help Needed

• We need everyone’s help to make this work. Members are strongly encouraged to volunteer for two shifts during the show.
  
• Volunteer sign-up will be open before the January 10 meeting.  More details will be provided at the meeting.
  
• Quilt Show Committee will organize the quilt check-in process, and help organize transportation of the quilts.
  
• We need one or two members to store the quilts from February 14 to March 13.

Show and Share! 

Attendance Prizes!

Fabric raffle Winner: Kristina Olson, Barb Phelps

• Huge thank you to Cotton Cuts for your donation!

STRIPES Winners

• 3: Annie Cook
  
• 2: Susan Muszynski
  
• 1: Candice Marshall
  
• Participation: Sheila Acuncius, Margie Murphy, Laura Cox
  

Meeting Closed at 12:49pm

We hope to see you at our members only meeting on December 13th. Until then, happy quilting!

Ander Weis (VP)