MQSA2026 was a great success for our community of Modern Quilters, and as part of our wrap up we just wanted to share some interesting information, insights and our thanks for all your support!
The Modern Quilt Show Australia 2026 was a truly national show, with entries from quilters across Australia. Every single state and territory was represented with quilts juried into the competition.
An SA resident and member of VIC’s Melbourne MQG (how country-wide can you get?!) was awarded Best in Show:
Pip Porter’s quilt Hot Flush won the main prize, sponsored by Blessington / Pfaff Australia, an Ambition 365 sewing machine. Pip also won a generous voucher from Angie & Coco.
We were delighted to introduce 2 new special awards into this show:
The Presidents’ Award for the Spirit of Modern Design (selected by the presidents of Sydney & Wollongong MQGs, the two guilds that worked together to present MQSA2026)
Winner: Susan Sheath for Deconstructed Opera House
The Amateur Award, ensuring the beautiful work of emerging quilters is recognised too.
Winner: Carmel Tonkin for View from Above
A complete list of winning quilts across all awards and categories and all our lovely generous sponsors is attached here, and quilt images are available on our website.
Visitors to Petersham Town Hall in Sydney came from all over the country too, and their feedback was universally positive. It was very rewarding for the committee to receive your comments and delight that MQSA had returned after a 6-year hiatus: your support makes the effort involved so rewarding.
Most of the workshops and talks in our program sold out in advance, and the remaining spots were snapped up by attendees over the three days. It seemed most people could find something that felt important, or useful, inspiring and entertaining to them among the events. This was, of course, our intent in putting together a far more wide-ranging, ambitious schedule than in previous years. More work for the team – but definitely worthwhile!
The social events were great. There was much laughter during the Stamp Swap Social; and there may or may not be photographic evidence of someone (who, me?!) 
wielding pinking shears at the last minute to finish off their stamps… Huge fun was had by everyone in that room, and it was lovely watching online friends finally meet up IRL and new connections being forged.
On a more serious note, our raffle, supporting OWN NSW’s Buy a Brick Campaign, raised an amazing $2400 to help tackle the homelessness crisis among older women – the fastest growing group of homeless in this country.
The gorgeous award-winning quilt, 
Tilted Tiles pieced by Wollongong MQG (a Charles Cameron design and quilted by Leanne Harvey of Mount Vincent Quilts), and the organisation’s work were both real talking points throughout the show. It was wonderful to see how engaged our visitors were as they learned more about the Older Women’s Network. We thank all of you who bought tickets, the volunteers who manned the stand, and the team at OWN for their active participation with our event.
Props, too, to Berry Quilt & Co for their generous donation of a second prize pack: fabric, notions and a beautiful lightbox.
A highlight for many in our community, was the presence of Karen Cooper, Executive Director of the international MQG and QuiltCon. It was lovely to meet such a vivacious, generous-spirited, knowledgeable and hard-working individual; and to have the opportunity to discuss the future of the Modern Quilt movement, and understand Australian quilters’ role in a global context. The MQG’s grant towards prizes and the running of MQSA2026 was valuable recognition of the Aussie contribution to Modern Quilting’s profile worldwide, and we’re so grateful to Karen and her team for their endorsement.
Looking forward, we certainly hope that it won’t be such a long gap before the next show. We are already looking at options for taking the show beyond NSW, and as a subscriber you will be the one of first to hear about future plans for MQSA.
One last time, we all want to express our appreciation for your support and participation in our show, and in Modern Quilting across Australia:
Thank you!
From the MQSA2026 Committee members 
