QuiltCon 2024 Community Outreach Challenge

The Community Outreach Challenge is back for 2024 with a calming palette and the eye-pleasing concept of symmetry. Like last year, guilds will have the opportunity to sell their quilts at QuiltCon, and the proceeds will benefit two local organizations (details coming soon!) We raised $7,225 last year with this challenge – can we beat that this year? 

Theme: Symmetry

Design a quilt with your MQG guild or team of MQG Individual Members around the idea of SYMMETRY. We know asymmetry is a common trait of many modern quilts, but symmetrical quilts can of course ALSO be modern! Will your symmetry be horizontal? Vertical? Another direction? There are many interpretations of the idea of symmetry!

Guilds and Individual Member teams may use 4-8 colors from this year’s palette, with no additions. We hope this will yield a beautiful array of variety. Take out the yellows…Ditch the gray…Use all 8! We can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Double Quatrefoil by Nelson Salsa
Rocky Coast by Taylor Krzeszowski
Fazed by Scott Murkin
The Pleiades by Sally Williams
+x by Jera MacKenzie
Learning Curve by Betsy Vinegrad

Color Palette

This year’s color palette is shown below with its corresponding code for Moda Bella Solids fabrics. Be sure to use a total of at least four colors on your quilt. You do not have to use all of the colors shown, nor are you required to use Moda Bella solids for this project. Get creative with your use of solids and prints. Make it scrappy, or reuse bits from older projects. We can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Challenge Summary & Rules

Make the Quilt

  • Use 4-8 colors from the color palette to create your quilt. Solids or prints (or both!) are fine to use.
  • Please do not add neutrals, stick to the palette provided!
  • Make sure the theme of SYMMETRY is the focus of your project.
  • Size constraints of a maximum of 65”x85” and a minimum of 60”x80” must be adhered to. Quilts outside of these size guidelines will not be accepted. If the size is misrepresented on the entry form the quilt will not be hung at QuiltCon.
  • If your guild or team decides to use a pattern, be sure to get permission from the pattern designer and include that information when you submit the quilt to QuiltCon.

Work Together

  • This is not a solo project. Community is in the name for a reason. Include as many people as you can from your active MQG guild or create a team of individual MQG members.
  • Groups eligible to enter a quilt in the Community Outreach Challenge are MQG local guilds, or teams made of Individual MQG members. The MQG cannot accommodate teams of people with various memberships in local MQGs. Quilts made by those groups should be entered in the Group or Bee category of the judged show, and are not subject to the challenge limitations of the Community Outreach Challenge.
  • Your active MQG guild or MQG member team will provide all the materials to complete the quilt.

Photograph & Enter Your Quilt

  • Due to space and personpower limitations, the Community Outreach Challenge will be capped at 80 quilts. Although the quilt does not need to be complete, a photo will be required to submit the entry. The entry system will be open October 15 to December 15, 2023, or until 80 submissions are reached, whichever comes first. 
  • If your quilt will be for sale at QuiltCon, you will need to submit a high-quality image of the finished quilt. The photo may be updated with a finished quilt photo by January 15, 2024. If your quilt will not be for sale at QuiltCon, but only for exhibit, a photo of the completed top will suffice. 
  • To subsidize the increasing shipping costs, there will be a $25 entry fee for each Community Outreach quilt. If the quilt sells at QuiltCon and does not return to the submitter, the entry fee will be refunded by the end of March.
  • There is no prize in the Community Outreach Challenge.
  • There is no set pricing for the quilts, should you choose to list it for sale to benefit the selected non-profit organizations, each guild will set its own price. While every quilt is different, we recommend starting in the $250 – $350 range and increasing your price from there. Remember, this quilt has cost your guild time and money, and that should be factored into the amount that will be donated to the charities at QuiltCon. We see quilts listed anywhere from $200 – $5,000 at QuiltCon in any given year, so it’s wide open.

The MQG staff appreciates your understanding of these updated guidelines so the Community Outreach Challenge can continue to be a special part of QuiltCon!