Illusions is based on a classic illusion called “Cafe Walls.” I saw this trick on the back of a children’s menu and thought it would make a fabulous modern quilt! I wanted to see if I could translate the idea into a quilt and still maintain the illusion of uneven lines. The further you are away from this quilt, the more apparent the illusion is.
Illusions – Designed, Pieced and Quilted by Christa Watson
Illusions Stats:
- Designed, pieced and quilted by Christa Watson; designed in EQ7 and Photoshop
- Finished Size: 67″ x 88″; completed November, 2014
- Pieced and quilted on my Bernina 710
- Materials: Riley Blake Solids, Quilter’s Dream Orient Batting
- Thread: Aurifil 50 wt thread 2610 Grey, 2692 Black, 2024 White (about 1 spool each)
- Quilting Design: Free-Motion Quilting – Boxes
- Time to complete: 41 hours (top – 8 hours, quilting – 27 hours, binding – 6 hours)
- Originally named Optical Illusion, it was renamed Illusions upon publication.
Honors and PUBLICITY:
- Patterned in the Spring 2016 issue of Modern Quilts Unlimited
- Honorable Mention Modern Large, DQN Quilt Show, March 2016
- Hung at NQA quilt show, June 2015
- Juried into QuiltCon, February 2015
Christa Quilts 
This quilt is AMAZING! You did a marvelous job because it really does look like it could be tiles on a cafe wall!
I would like to make this pattern for a guild challenge but challenge is
limited to 180 circumference. If I reduce the block to 4 inches and the
grey to 3/8 will the illusion be preserved.
Isn’t this supposed to be published very soon? Please say “yes” and where to find it!
Yes! You are correct! It will be in the Spring issue of Modern Quilts Unlimited magazine 🙂
I’ve wanted to make a quilt like this since I saw a tile wall at the Exploratorium (Science Museum) in San Francisco in 2013. Nice to see it as a quilt.
I love this…is there a pattern?
I love this quilt