Tuesday, March 14, 2023

A Second Optical Illusion Quilt

Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.
~Jules Verne

Quilting


Happy Pi Day! Every year more and more people notice this mathematical celebration for 3.14. (It's easier to remember using the American date notation.. which I've always thought awkward. Most everyone else orders from smallest to largest units day/month/year.) That aside, this day is the perfect excuse to look for  circles. Here I go again. 

Since finishing the first Optical Illusion quilt I've been wanting to try it again with lighter fabrics. What if I switched values using lights for the background and dark sashing? Problem 1: none of my darks interest me or they are too busy in print or value. Eventually I decided to try a blue and white stripe as sashing. However, I'm concerned it won't show against light background. 

I also want to see if I can play with values to make the center pop up even more: lightest in the middle and darkening as they extend out.

The quilt is semi-improvisational or perhaps simply my own style of improvising. I get an idea, tinker with sketches, pull fabric, mess around, sew some stuff, make changes, etc. But they are always mathematically-based. This time the blocks are foundation pieced. I sketched the sizes by imagining a plaid then cut them to size from newsprint. The main diagonal took about three-quarters of a yard and is pinned in place. Yes, I marked where it should fall but realize it will move a bit and the angles won't always match up since the block sizes change. {Go talk to your geometry teacher for a more detailed explanation.}

Here's a vignette of some stages of my progress running from top left to bottom right. The strips are sewed to paper foundation; that's what makes the corners white and sometimes kept me from understanding the color progression. 

Building colors on this Optical Illusion quilt 

The center four blocks are all white but the subsequent blocks are {supposedly} darkening from center to edge. With all these pastels and limited values {because I'm using only scrap bag fabrics,} it's hard to get the progression correct. So I've been laying strips in the general area and photographing to see what they look like. Lots of moving going on. 

I'm having fun and taking it slow. And... chicken pot pie for us today. What about you?

Reading

Emma Straub's This Time Tomorrow enters the life of Alice Stern on her 40th birthday as her father lies dying in the hospital. After a night of drinking, she awakens on her 16th birthday in her childhood room. What, if anything, can she change that day to alter the outcomes of both her life and her father's? 

Enjoy the day, Ann

7 comments:

Julierose said...

Happy to hear you are having fun and taking it easy...
I had a lot of trouble with geometry--(maybe that is why I am triangle challenged?) Your Optical Illusions are really neat hugs, Julierose

patty a. said...

I am interested to see how this one develops.

Robin said...

Happy Pi Day to you. I'm thinking about making pork hand held pies. I've got some pork roast to use up. You're geometric improv is coming together but it sure looks complicated.

Mystic Quilter said...

Now this is quite a change from your last Illusion quilt! The centre in the bottom right seems to pop more than the others, perhaps due to the two richer colour of the fabrics used in the two bottom corners. I'm really liking the look of this, I admire your tenacity in working things out beautifully to come to the layout you had intended.

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Love seeing your progress pics, it's getting exciting as you move out with the darker elements. (I enlarged your photo to get a closer look, and the blue&w stripe is a great contrast!)

Kaja said...

I thought I had commented before, but must have failed to post. I love that you remind us about Pi day. You are right, that your way of doing dates makes it much easier to remember. I always enjoy watching you puzzle out your quilts, lots of tiny tweaks until the colours are exactly right.

audrey said...

This quilt is coming along so well. I just love how the colors are helping to build the overall design! It starts out so subtle but ends up with the design looking very striking. Go you!:)