AUBURN — Kendra Biddle grew up in Auburn listening to the rhythmic hum of her mother’s sewing machine.

She was encouraged to sew as a young child and developed a foundation that would lead to national recognition for her quilt making today.

Last fall, a quilt Biddle designed and created, titled “Graphic Garden,” was accepted by the American Quilt Society of Paducah, Ky., in the newly recognized Modern Quilt category. The quilt was displayed initially in Des Moines, Iowa, and has been on a national tour.

Long-arm quilt artist Alice Koroski of Lisbon used her considerable talents as a stitcher to artistically stitch together Biddle’s top layer, batting and backing to finish the quilt.

From the original 100 quilts accepted for the AQS show in Des Moines, the group culled 50 to take on the road, exhibiting the past six months in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Lancaster, Pa., among other cities.

Biddle’s quilt made the cut. “Though I’ve been left behind, my quilt has been traveling,” she said with a smile.

She caught up with her quilt in Lancaster last month at the AQS’s show there.

This week, the quilt’s display comes to an end in Paducah, Ky., home of AQS’s annual show, which attracts thousands of spectators.

“This is truly a privilege that my quilt was chosen and is traveling,” Biddle said. “This is the first competition I ever entered to be judged and juried and accepted into the show.”

Biddle’s quilt is considered modern, a new category that’s emerged in a rapidly growing movement attracting young quilters.

According to the Modern Quilt Guild’s website, “modern quilts reflect each quilter’s personality and personal style. . . . A modern quilt aesthetic, a set of principles that define and guide the movement, is beginning to emerge.

“For example,” the website stated, “the use of asymmetry in quilt design is seen. And, the quilt makers often rely less on repetition and the interaction of quilt block motifs. The works embrace simplicity and minimalism and use alternative block structures or lack of visible block structure. They are inspired by modern art and architecture, and use frequently improvisational piecing.”

The genre now has a home base with the national Modern Quilt Guild with chapters throughout the country, including Maine.

Biddle, 29, said she is inspired as a quilter to use her talent and skills to create a series of modern quilts that capture space through the use of fluorescent colors against simple backgrounds of either white or gray. Her sketchbook of ideas includes a physical list of a half-dozen quilts to make.

Currently living in Somerville, Mass., and doing odd jobs when not quilting, Biddle said she may spend months designing her patterns and finding her material, but a week to fabricate it once she fires up her sewing machine.

“I often start with scrap material and, through trial and error and free association with my sketchbook, I cut up perfectly good fabric and stitch it back together, and it transforms to give birth to a new creation to inspire viewers,” she said.

“It’s intuitive, creative and develops a sense of visual comfort for me. When that happens, it feels OK.”

Biddle earned a college degree in photography art with a strong interest in textiles. “Quilting is approachable to everyone; it references art and history,” she said.

Biddle’s mother, Suzanne Biddle, is a retired Auburn teacher who operates Kindred Spirit Sewing Room, where nearly four dozen adult students learn the art of quilting.

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