One of the many exhibits I enjoyed was the Modern Quilt Guild Showcase 2013. This fresh approach to quilting using sold colors often on a background of white, is popular, often appealing to younger quilters who want to make more contemporary looking quilts. Here’s a sampling from the exhibit in which members from chapters of Modern Quilt Guilds around the world were invited to submit their works.

Bull’s Eye 1 by Colleen Wootton of WA, is digitally printed and machine quilted. Colleen was inspired by Frank Stella and Ellsworth Kelley. She has used geometric shapes in designing two and three dimensional works for corporate America for almost 50 years and became adept at drawing these using the computer.

Fireworks Quilt was designed and made by Tara Faughman, CA. Tara writes, “I was working with the idea of broken lines for this quilt, playing with the interaction of spaces where the quilt blocks come together,” This is an explosive lively design which I love.

This grey-tone quilt made by Leslie Tucker Jenison, TX, is named Fifty Shades of Groovy for a little dot on the map of the cultural zeitgeist. Leslie improvised the Log Cabin piecing technique and was inspired by her love of dots and greys. The large print on the back of the quilt is awesome – I wonder where she found that fabric!

On the left, Sparkler, by Lee Heinrich, WI, and quilted by Jeny Pedigo is a modern interpretation of the tessellating Pudding and Pie block. The solids on the white background give it a new look and the color transition is pleasing. Rhythm and Blues by Anne Deister, CO, makes me think of the view of sky scrapers through blinds, but Anne was inspired by studying design elements in woven interior decorating fabrics. She writes, “I was interested in the interweave of colors that occur with the strong horizontal format of the weave. As the idea progressed, I became more intrigued with the vertical movement that could be created as different groups of lines interact with each other. The quilt morphed into a digital representation of the sound bars on digital recording equipment and Rhythm and Blues was born.” The graphical qualities of this quilt really appeal to me and of course the blue, which is my favorite color.