Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Optical Illusions Blog Tour & Book Giveaway

Hello! It’s my day on the Optical Illusions Blog Tour! I’ve never participated in a blog tour before, so hopefully this goes well:)

It took a bit of time for me to come up with a design for this book. I happened to find some good research/inspiration from a project I had done in design school (I’ve kept almost all of my college work because it was so time consuming I can’t part with it, and I’m a hoarder). I found lots of patterns and studies on color and form that provided much needed inspiration (I found good research on Google too). 


A lot of optical illusions work because of high contrasts in color, but I knew I wanted to include an accent of color as well, and that helped guide the design a bit. I also like the play with foreground and background, and how fluctuations in shape can create new forms or illusions. One of my favorite parts is how the quilt creates curved lines, even though all the forms are made of angles. 

I kept it really simple and only did stitch-in-the-ditch quilting on this. I was totally stumped on what quilting to do, because I didn't want anything that would detract from the overall design and pattern. Luckily, this book also comes with quilting ideas for optical illusions, so I may go back and add more quilting to it later! You can also read my other post about my quilt Curvilinear here.


As part of the blog tour, I am giving away a FREE Optical Illusions book! Just leave a comment below to enter the contest. A winner will be selected in one week, on Wednesday, November 19th. Also, check out the other blog tour participants and Optical Illusion designers below!

Congratulations to Lisa E. on winning the Optical Illusions book! Thanks to all those who visited the blog and left a comment. I loved hearing from all of you!

Nov. 3
My Stars – Kick Off www.mystarsblog.com (book)
Deb Rowden www.debrowden.blogspot.com (BB FQ bundle)

Nov. 4
Angela Walters www.quiltingismytherapy.com (Athena bundle)

Nov. 5
Penny Layman www.sewtakeahike.typepad.com (book)

Nov. 6
Melissa Corry www.happyquiltingmelissa.com (Oakshott FQ Bundle)
Lily’s Quilts www.lilysquilts.blogspot.com (3 - 5" Oakshott charm pack)
Fat Quarter Shop www.fatquartershop.blogspot.com (Naptime Bella FQ bundle)

Nov. 7
My Stars on behalf of Mary Kay Fosnacht/Karen Hansen www.mystarsblog.com (book AND Kona color card)

Nov. 10
My Stars www.mystarsblog.com (book)
Jamie David www.patchworkarchitect.blogspot.com (3 packs of charm squares from RK)

Nov. 11
Elizabeth Timmons www.andpins.wordpress.com (3 packs of skinny rolls from Robert Kaufman)
Tammie Schaffer www.craftytammie.com (book)

Nov. 12

Nov. 13
Jenifer Dick www.42quilts.com (book)
Trisch Price www.hadleystreetquilts.com (Kona color card)

Nov. 14
Jacquie Gering www.tallgrassprairiestudio.blogspot.com (Kona color card)
Shea Henderson www.emptybobbinsewing.com  (A large and small Kaleido-Ruler set by Marti Michell) 

46 comments:

  1. Fabulous quilt!!! Thanks for the chance to win a copy of this great book!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your quilt is stunning! Elegant design!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! I really like the design of this quilt.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow. That is an amazing quilt. I'm awestruck.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love the quilt you made, it is awesome! I don't know how you can get all of those points to match up, because I don't think I could! Just your piecing alone is a work of art to me. Thanks so much for the giveaway, I would love to it!

    tdkcarpenoctem@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Totally awesome quilt. I think it is great that you only did stitch in the ditch for quilting because the quilt design is the star of the show, and additional quilting might take away from the awesomeness!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your quilt is beautiful. As I scrolled up on my laptop, it made me dizzy! Thanks for the giveaway.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Love the effect optical illusions can have. 24Tangent@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow - that quilt is fantastic! And this book looks aweseom! Thanks!

    Please click on the delaineelliott above for my email link.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow! An amazing design with awesome piecing.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow, I love the movement in that quilt. So striking! Looks like a great book, thanks for the chance to win!

    ReplyDelete
  12. WOW! I know others have used that word, but the movement of your design is awesome. What a great illusion, and the accent color really accentuates it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Your quilt is fabulous!!!!! I agree, simple quilting was the way to go. Nothing should detract from the stunning pattern.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Your quilt is really stunning! I love the movement in the quilt. Thank you for sharing and for the giveaway.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Awesome quilt! I love this kind of quilt. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I love your quilt! It is amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Your quilt is my favorite. Thanks for creating it and sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I really like how you explained your process and decisions - thanks for that. And I like your quilt too.

    ReplyDelete
  19. This looks a great book - I love the cover quilt!

    ReplyDelete
  20. HI, Book looks really neat!
    Thanks for sharing!

    msstitcher1214@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  21. Amazing optical illusions in Curvilinear. Congratulations on having your quilt chosen to be in the book!

    ReplyDelete
  22. The book looks amazing. Thanks for the chance.


    janie.mccombs(at)yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  23. Love Curvilinear!!! The colors are awesome and really highlight the design. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  24. FABULOUS My engineer husband has fallen in love with this. I must win lol

    ReplyDelete
  25. What a fabulous quilt. It needs to be displayed on a wall to show off its full glory.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I really like Curvilinear and I think I will attempt it in the future. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Hello Katie, I love the Curvilinear quilt . Steel , Valentine and Sky are luscious colors. I just wanted to tell you that.
    Exclude me from this draw as I've already won the Optical Illusions book on the first day of this Blog hop. Thank you though! BTW I like shoe fly pie:)

    ReplyDelete
  28. Beautiful design, beautiful colours. A very dynamic quilt. Thank you for sharing and for offering a giveaway.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Your design is great and the illusion of curves is wonderful.Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Your quilt is amazing. This is a great book.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I don't know about simple but that is dramatic in the illusion. Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Illusions are so cool. The quilting is amazing. It will be hard to choose colors to get the right illusion.

    ReplyDelete
  33. I really like this quilt. Of course, I like optical illusions and brain teasers so I would love to get a copy of this book or win one to add to my quilting library so I can make several of these quilts. Well, I'd probably make them all and then give them away because that's just what I do. I have yet to keep a quilt I've made. kthurn@bektel.com

    ReplyDelete
  34. Your quilt is amazing! I love this blog tour!

    ReplyDelete
  35. nice pattern. this book looks like one I'd love to win thanks

    ABreading4fun [at] gmail [dot] com

    ReplyDelete
  36. So much movement created in this quilt. I love it.

    tushay3(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  37. What a stunning pattern! Your quilt is stop-you-in-your-tracks beautiful!
    I would love to win a copy of the Optical Illusions book! Thanks for this opportunity.

    ReplyDelete
  38. I am so enjoying this blog tour and seeing the quilts - would love to have this book!

    Thanks, Liz
    boltonia55@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  39. I so want to make a Curvilinear quilt! Thanks for a chance to win...

    ReplyDelete
  40. LOVE your quilt! That looks so cool!

    ReplyDelete
  41. I am so glad I follow Melissa Corry and caught on to this give away!

    ReplyDelete
  42. I love your quilt, but totally looked away for the "curves" in the smaller pictures. So happy to find it is just straight line. Please pick me Would love to make this.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Thank you for the opportunity to win a copy of this book. I think your curvilinear quilt is awesome!

    ReplyDelete