Learn to Create An Optical Illusion Quilt

As this posts, I am enjoying an extended weekend with members of my local quilt guild.  For me this means some time actually piecing a quilt or two and catching up with some dear friends.  It is always inspiring to see what everyone is working on and hear about their latest fabric and tool finds.

I also get super inspired when members of Tech Know Quilters share what they are working on as well.  I consider them my "online guild".  They provide me inspiration each and every day.  I will be sharing a few of their virtual projects in this post.

​Scroll down for an EQ8 tutorial on designing an optical illusion quilt -- complete with added quilting.

Tech Know Quilter Showcase

Tech Know Quilter members shared some of their favorite projects (along with their own designs) from their June class.  You can learn more and sign up for the wait list to join this amazing group of designers here.

Mary Groesbeck I took a welcome break from a big project and made this for a friend's birthday. The center is from A Bit Orange and the border design is mine. I added the borders on the longarm, so there was no design or sewing until the binding. It took about an hour (plus binding). I'm pleased with it.

Rhonda Goss Surprising Corners class.

Connie Bobcik I was working on TKQ Optical Illusions. I had so much fun this month and learned so much also. It amazes me how much the quilt layout can change the entire look of a quilt and really give you an Optical Illusion as in lesson 9.

Connie Bobcik Lesson 8 learning the Hollow Block was also a fun block to do. Learning how to draft a simple block in such a way that it totally changes the look and really gives your quilt some dimension. I can see my blocks rolling down a staircase!

Connie Bobcik I also really enjoyed lesson 5, in Optical Illusions, the Overlapping Ribbons. There are so many options to changing this block up. It was so much fun to playing with coloring also in this block.

Connie Bobcik Another really fun lesson was lesson 10. Learning how to spin your block just by moving a node is so cool.

Julie Pedersen I took the Surprising Corners Masters class. This was a quilt from one of the lessons that I played with after the lesson and changed the motifs used.

Helen Warwick Last month I took your Advanced Borders Classes. I mentioned to a quilting friend that I was taking a class on borders and she asked if I could come up with a border for the scrappy log cabin quilt top she had just made. So I did. She loves it. I printed out the the paper piecing and blocks for the Woven Star corner blocks and wrote up sizes and directions on how to do the rest of it. I think it turned out great. Your classes have given me the confidence to tackle projects I never would have done otherwise.

Curryanne Hostetler I worked with different blocks of Checkerboard to create a quilt as well as the auto border of checker boards.

Curryanne Hostetler - a second coloration.

Fran Heisey Surprising Corners is a fun class. The corners really do surprising things. The block in the corner stones is the block with the surprising corners.

Kristy Goodin Soard Surprising Corners Masters Class...original block from the library was Topeka Rose.

Terry McCaskey I enjoyed the Modern Quilts 2 class this month. The Fibonacci class was probably my favorite and this quilt design is one I might actually construct sometime.

Debbi Treusch I had the Surprising Corners class this month. It was a fun class. I took a block from one of the lessons and made a few modifications, the set it into a non-square layout. I really like the result. The blue lines between the blocks is just a plaid fabric. I'm not a plaid person, but I like the effect of it in this quilt.

Marcia Jensen I finished the PolyDraw lessons in TKQ, and I loved using all the skills we learned in that group of lessons to make this Compass block/quilt!

Edith Craig My class this month was Surprising Corners. It was such fun to see the secondary patterns that appeared when blocks were put into a quilt. Such a variety of options. This quilt was adapted from one of the lessons, adding additional diamonds, setting blocks on the outer edge to make a square, and then adding pieced borders.

Jane Perri This quilt was designed in the Optical Illusions class Lesson 11 Impossible Triangles.

Optical Illusion with Quilting EQ8 Tutorial

I designed this project for one of my Optical Illusion classes in Tech Know Quilters -- but didn't have enough room to include it in the class.  As you saw in the show a number of Tech Know Quilter members just finished their projects from an Optical Illusions class.  So I thought it would be fun to share this tutorial with you.

Here is the quilt from the tutorial.

Optical Illusion with Quilting design by Kari Schell using EQ8

I look forward to seeing what you decided to do with this block.  Please feel free to post pictures in the Learning EQ Facebook group.

Learning EQ Facebook Post for Optical Illusion Block and Quilt

In Tech Know Quilters there are two different Optical Illusions classes.  Here are some of the projects from each of the classes.

If you are currently in Tech Know Quilters and would like to take either of these classes as an add-on class, just send us a note.  We would be happy to get you a discount coupon for your class.

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Happy quilting.

​Kari

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