Crow’s early piece, Crosses, demonstrates a modern twist on a quintessential American quilt pattern, the Log Cabin. Crow, however, modernizes the pattern, first seen in quilts in the years following the Civil War, by using saturated colors in precise gradations. The body of the piece is framed with a stark contrast of light and dark fabrics that contain the movement of criss-crossing lines. 

Crow continues her exploration of the traditional American quiltmaking with her series of Bow Tie and Color Block quilts.  Each piece is grounded in the basic form of the single block, yet more and more, they break out of their prescribed patterns and embrace a freer, more abstract overall design. Circular hand-quilted motifs contrast with the crisp edges and hard lines of these familiar, yet new designs

The crisp lines and defined shapes of Crow’s earlier quilts blurred as the artist searched for a way to create more abstracted designs. Crow began to work without a prescribed plan, cutting her fabrics free-hand, reacting to color, form and tension while “building” quilts on her design wall.

In 1995, Nancy Crow began to work on a new series titled Constructions.  Influenced by lines inherent in architecture and construction and in nature, Crow refined her earlier visions of abstraction, focusing on proportions of shape, line, color values and rhythm. Grids reappears in the Constructions series, fluid, skewed and delicately balanced.

Markings 1 represents a new series and a new approach for the Crow. Searching for a method that would bring to mind calligraphic markings, Crow experimented with screen printing and dying directly on fabric. In Markings 1, Crow identified each of the marks as human lives wasted needlessly by political lies and manipulations. 

Crow describes her quiltmaking as “a process of discovery.” She constantly works and reworks her concepts as she pieces fabric together in an attempt to express her unique vision of form and color. Crow pins fabric pieces together amidst the textiles, basketry and various crafts from around the world from which she draws her inspiration.