“SAND and SURF” optical illusions

As an artist, I am intrigued by optical illusions. Bea, the oldest and most experienced quilter in my class, shared a quilt made in this pattern. I knew immediately that I wanted to try it. "Storm at Sea" can be found easily in books, magazines and online but if you like optical illusions try Quilting Illusions by Celia Eddy published by Barrons.

Blue and yellow make a great color combination. This lap quilt is backed with flannel which makes it cozy while watching TV or reading a book.

I machine quilted in the ditch, following the pieced shapes.

"SHADES of CURVES": Winding Ways

The idea of a black/white value scale intrigued me. I found this pattern, "Sunset Wheel of Mystery", designed by Brooke Flynn in Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting March/April 2004 (known as "Winding Ways"). The finished queen size quilt was a perfect fit for Krista, my daughter-in-law, who is a photographer and loves to print in black and white (link to her blog under favorites).

The touch of red was a perfect accent. The layout was achieved by using a display wall. The least expensive alternative to purchasing a commercial wall is a vinyl flannel backed tablecloth. By hanging it on an existing curtain rod, you can used the back like a flannel board to "stick" the blocks up in a pleasing arrangement.

I had the perfect backing fabric in my stash but was short by 18" in the width. Using the leftovers, I created an interesting insertion down the middle.