"The Quilter" by Katherine Jones won First Place - Appliqué at QuiltCon 2026.
Artist Statement: "Based on a self-portrait painted in 2021 of me working on my longarm, this quilt depicts me looking down with concentration on what I am making. My original painting emulated Chuck Close's later portraits, where an on-point grid is used to "turn one big overwhelming problem" of painting a portrait "into thousands of little more solvable problems", each square being a small abstract composition, a method that naturally lends itself to quilt making."
Techniques Used: Machine Pieced, Hand Appliqué, Machine Quilted on a Frame (Longarm); Each block was hand appliquéd mimicking each abstract square in my original painting from lightly hand dyed fabrics then densely quilted in heavy contrasting threads.
Materials Used: Commercial cottons lightly hand dyed, Cotton and Polyester Threads
Design Credit: Original Design
(Main Quilt Photo from themodernquiltguild.com; All Other Photos from ziplinequilts Instagram Page)
Maker: Katherine Jones
Quilter: Katherine Jones
Year Made: NA
Owned By: NA
Size: 58" x 65" inches
Shows & Museums: QuiltCon 2026
Awards: First Place - Appliqué (Sponsored by Twin Essential Quilt Shop) at QuiltCon 2026
