Challenge Overview
Autumn is a season of change—a time to shed old patterns and make space for new beginnings. It brings balance, harmony, and reflection. This challenge asks quilters to explore the idea of transition through design.
Create a modern mini quilt that captures your interpretation of Threads of Transition, letting the shifting season guide your creativity.
Finished quilts will be displayed in a special section of our exhibit at the JCC in October and November 2025, highlighting modern design in quilting.
Modern Mini Quilt Design Requirements
- Inspiration: Quilts should reflect the theme Threads of Transition and embody modern quilting aesthetics.
- Size: Any shape, no larger than 18” in any dimension.
- Construction: Must consist of three quilted layers—front, batting, and back—with a finished edge.
- Palette: No restrictions on color or fabric choice.
- Design: Designs may be original or you may use or be inspired by a pattern or designer. If you borrow from existing work, please credit the source.
Using Modern Quilting to Convey the Theme
For this challenge, we invite you to create a mini quilt that captures the essence of modern quilting while exploring the theme of Threads of Transition.
Autumn signifies change. Explore this transition in your mini quilt. How might you express balance, harmony, or movement through color, form, layout, or stitches?
You might experiment with bold colors and high contrast to represent transformation, or use minimalist design to evoke calm. Try improvisational piecing, letting your intuition guide the design, or give a traditional block a modern twist by altering its scale, color, or layout. Don’t hesitate to explore asymmetry or break from the conventional by using alternative grid structures.
There is no single “right” way to be modern—only your unique way. Embrace your curiosity, take risks, and let your mini quilt become a bold, personal expression of both modern quilting and the Threads of Transition you wish to explore.
Additional Requirements
- Submissions are not eligible for the 10th Anniversary Challenge.
- Challenge entries may be submitted in addition to other exhibit submissions.
Prizes
Visitors to the exhibit will vote for their favorite design that meets the challenge requirements.
- 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will receive prizes.
Due Dates
- Pictures of the quilts are due with submissions for the JCC Exhibit in late August/early September. The quilt need not be completed at this deadline but should be far enough along to permit exhibit curation. Finished items must be complete by the exhibit quilt drop off deadline in late September/early October.
- Projects will be displayed in the October-November exhibit at the JCC in a special section dedicated to this challenge.
