My first quilt blocks were wonky stars and crazy birds, and everything was improvised following Mary Lou Wideman's style. I had no interest in aligning seams or protecting star points. Each year, my fascination with complex piecing has grown, and I regularly search for more challenging ways to incorporate precision into my work. The Many Nested Curves block consists of quarter circle squares ranging from 2-7 inches in size that all must align with their neighbors to create a flowing effect throughout the composition. To minimize waste, the shapes were cut from fabric irrespective of the straight of grain, and each block had wildly biased edges. This piece incorporates my obsession with gridwork in multiple ways. The echoing of the the dots and concentric circles creates the strongest grid reference. The subtle shifts resulting from the use of scraps reveal the block-based construction and a secondary grid.
