Modern Quilts: What's The Fuss?

I am still a rogue quilter. I create and quilt what I want. I may find a design or pattern that I like, but I never make it just like the picture or the instructions. I like to add my own twist to it.  I think that is why I like the 15 Minutes of Play, because I am making my own unique sort of fabric design with lots of different pieces and shapes. I also love Collaborative Quilting because of the techniques and styles of Freddie Moran.  I joined the Idaho PieceMakerS four or five years ago.  I have really enjoyed learning, working, and befriending the wonderful members of this group.  At one meeting last year, however, they had a nice young woman from the local "Modern Quilters" group come and give a presentation. She was a dynamic and interesting speaker, with an excellent slide show and trunk show. I thought her quilts were wonderful.  The discussion, either after she departed or at the next meeting, as I recall was very negative toward "Modern Quilting".  I really cannot understand it.  I feel like the large quilt group I belong to are proud of being individuals and "not a Guild".  I thought this meant we were free thinkers and it was all about quilting.  Every photo and object that was presented by the "Modern Quilters" representative was indeed a quilt.  It was not tied, but two pieces of fabric with batting in the center that was all held together by thread in a fashion known as quilting.  I think that is what matters.  Oh, there is some gray in that quilt! Oh, how does that make it not okay?  I decided to look into this "Modern Quilting" debate.  I bought a book titled Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe, (c)2012 by Martingale.  This book features 19 quilts by 19 different creative quilters.  It features lovely color photos, instructions, tips, and comments by the quilters.  Many of these quilts could be brought in for Show and Tell at our quilt group and no one would even know they were "Modern Quilts".  Many have traditional elements, many have used scraps as a major component, and some have used solids instead of prints, yet they are all delightful.   The "Mini Claw Throw" has wonderful star blocks and instead of black and/or white for the background, she used grey fabric for the eye to rest on.  It is a perfectly lovely quilt. 
I decided to make one of the quilts from this book to give to my Aunt Karen as a Christmas gift.  "The Knotty Quilters" (my other quilting group) named it the "Red Dog On The Left" quilt.  I did all of the piecing at our retreat in November.  It has two dog fabrics in it, that all the other fabrics where chosen based on their colors.  One is red with blue, grey, and brown & white dogs; the other is gray fabric with white dogs and gold dogs.  I had so much fun finding fabrics that went with these core fabrics.  Freddy Moran has influenced me toward dots in a big way, so I had to have some blue fabric with brown dots. It and the others just look wonderful together.  The pattern I chose was: "Across The Quad", by Jennifer Mathis.  This pattern has the "gray negative space" that I have heard other quilters speak negatively about.  Well, my quilt blocks already have gray blocks scattered among the other blocks, so I did not want a gray background. I decided something lighter was necessary to make the part with the blocks pop.  I had purchased some fabric, that I could not live without, last April on my maiden voyage to "The Gathering Place" in Rupert, Idaho. It worked perfect!  I got the entire quilt pieced at the retreat. I got it sandwiched and pinned shortly thereafter and marked straight lines across it with my Friction Pen and I quilted it on my own sewing machine.  I felt that my aunt would really love it more if I did it completely by myself, instead of having someone else long-arm it for me.  I got it done from start to finish in 30 days.  My aunt just loves it and that makes me happy. What more can a quilter want?

Furthermore, Merlinda gave it a "cat scan" and it is much to her liking, even if it has dogs on it.