Curves and color in an art quilt

I often look at paintings and photographs to find inspiration for new art quilts.  I’m especially drawn to other art with curves in the abstract designs.  I LOVE piecing curves in my art quilts, a design component which I would say defines my art quilts as different from those of other quilters.  The quilt showcased on my home page for this website and in this blog is a new quilt I made this winter.  It was a technical challenge to create the most pleasing curves that move around in two different directions. 

I have made several quilts with curves and color in the past.  I often face a technical challenge trying to keep the piecing laying smoothly as it curves here and there.  With this quilt I started with fabrics across the width of the quilt, the long way, hoping to establish both the curves I wanted to expand for the upper and lower parts of the quilt, but also to stabilize my piecing.  I also added seam allowance to each cut for the most curvy piecing instead of just doing a simple wall paper cut.  The seam allowance made the seam lay perfectly when the curves were more severe.

I created this quilt with the colors progressing as shown in the first photo on this blog.  But not wanting to miss another good perspective, once finished, I checked out the art quilt from all four sides.  It was amazingly beautiful and interesting from any perspective!  That discovery lead me to put a sleeve and dowel on the top and bottom long sides and plastic rings on all four corners so the quilt may be hung anyway the new owner would like.  I can’t wait to try a new design and some new colors.