When the judges of the largest quilting event in the world announced that Ava Badstubner had won second place in the Youth Quilts category, the winner completely missed her name being called. 

Badstubner, a 15-year-old Chestnut Hill resident, was busy making dinner and packing for her flight the next day to attend QuiltCon 2025 in Phoenix, Arizona and wasn’t paying attention to the livestream of the awards ceremony. When her parents called out from the upstairs of their house, she was in for a big surprise.

“My dad told me that I had won and I was ready to cry on the spot,” Badstubner says. “I didn’t even think that I would get into QuiltCon, so the fact that I came in second place was absolutely mindblowing.”

Badstubner’s win becomes even more mindblowing when you consider that it’s the first ever quilt she has made.

Hard work pays off

Badstubner, a student at W.B. Saul High School, had been taught to sew by her grandmother, but quilting was a new venture. A little over a year ago she began her first quilt at Cut and Sew, a quilt shop and sewing studio in Mt. Airy. 

For an hour and a half per week for over a year, Badstubner got to work on her first quilt. Melissa Clouser-Missett, the owner of Cut and Sew, and instructor Stacy Kraus McDonald encouraged Badstubner to submit the piece to QuiltCon in October 2024 after finding her skills in the studio to be quite apparent. What was even more apparent was her dedication.

“I was really impressed with Ava’s perseverance,” says Clouser-Missett. “Even after she was no longer coming to our classes weekly because she went to high school, she came multiple weekends…When she could have been out doing anything else, she was here working on that quilt to get it done in time for the QuiltCon submission.”

Badstubner’s quilt, entitled “A Snapshot of Who I Am,” features different square blocks with a personal symbol or poem in each. For instance, one block has an avocado with her brother’s nickname “Joely guacamole” while another reads “We are all gifts under the tree” beneath an evergreen. 

“The whole quilt was a way for me to express my feelings about the people who have been in my life or are currently in my life, whether it’s a happy moment with them or an inside joke,” explained Badstubner.

A trip out West

Clouser-Missett had an inkling that Badstubner might win after receiving an email from the QuiltCon organizers saying that one of her students had won. She told her students to be sure to watch the livestream awards ceremony. Badstubner did not get the memo.

“Melissa was so set on everybody watching it and I couldn’t tell if she just really wanted us to get inspired by all of the quilts or if something was happening,” said Badstubner. “When the award show was over, I was like, ‘Oh, I guess Melissa did just want us to watch it to get inspired’.”

Moments later, a text from Clouser-Missett alerted Badstubner’s family that she had won. They were on a plane to Phoenix within hours.

Badstubner says that sight-seeing on the trip inspired her artistically.

“On the plane, I was looking down and it felt like I was flying over a quilt,” said Badstubner. “Then I saw cacti around me and it felt like everywhere I turned I was inspired. Now I’m even leaning towards making quilts based on a mural that I saw.”

Another inspirational moment from the trip was the keynote address by Tara Faughnan, who gave a lecture called “Valuing Our Work.” Badstubner found the speech empowering. 

A final highlight of Badstubner’s Phoenix trip? She got to ride in a self-driving car.

Quilting together her life

After winning second place at QuiltCon and coming back $500 richer with prize money, Badstubner says her future remains uncertain…but that’s the exciting part. 

“While I do already have plans in store for another quilt, we never know if I’ll have the time now that I’m in high school,” says Badstubner. “I’ve always let my brain decide what craft it wants to do…currently I’m doing stained glass, but I’ve tried bookmarking and I’ve done sewing. I’m excited to see where I go now.”

Even if she doesn’t get to make another quilt anytime soon, quilting will always hold a special place in Badstubner’s heart. 

“It’s given me a way to express my emotions and connect with my grandmother and friends,” she says. “It honestly feels like, as I’m making a quilt, I’m sewing different parts of my life together.”