I’ve used lots of hard angles lately, so let’s relax with some groovy curves this week!

This is a block-based design: the version above uses a 4 (across) x 6 (down) layout. (I liked the idea of stopping the design before the bottom edge of the frame, kinda like the design is dripping down the page.) Anyway, in the design above, the inner blocks each have four colours (with the tiniest of background colour in their corners), while the outer blocks have three colours plus background. I’ve coloured the blocks to create those big S shapes that extend between blocks.

The S shapes are made from two types of curves: quarter-circles (or drunkard’s paths) and elongated 2:1 curves (twice as long as they are wide – which I first encountered using the long drunkard’s path templates from Jenny Haynes of Papper, Sax, Sten).

Combining these two shapes gives some really organic, flowing movement across the entire quilt design. You can put your finger down, trace along a curve, and it’ll just keep meandering round the page. I love it.

I also love how the use of colour can suggest transparency, just because of how the curves seemingly overlap.

All those swirly, globular shapes remind me of a lava lamp.

This design could be made into a quilt using just curves (and some borders). I use templates for curves: for cutting the pieces and for trimming the final units. I like Jenny’s templates because they’re oversized, so you can be a little off with your sewing and still trim down to a perfect drunkard’s path or long oval drunkard’s path unit. (I don’t get anything from Jenny for spruiking her awesome templates! I just like telling people about products I like 🙂 )