Café Wall Illusion Cushion - free crochet pattern

A few years ago, I made a series of optical illusions quilts. One optical illusion I always wanted to turn into a quilt is the Café Wall Illusion. In this one all the horizontal lines are parallel, even though they appear to be sloped. There's a building in Melbourne featuring this illusion - I discovered it during my sixth visit to Melbourne in May 2017 and took this photo from the SkyBus:



When we were in Canberra in December 2017, we also saw the illusion: it was, very appropriately, on the wall in the café of Questacon, the National Science and Technology Centre:



The quilt never got made by me (other quilters did make it - here is an example), but after another trip to Melbourne in May last year I decided to try and crochet a Café Wall Illusion Cushion. And voilà!



I crocheted the front panel of the cushion in the Café Wall pattern (read on for the instructions), then crocheted a plain red back, and sewed them together:



To create a crochet pattern in multiple colours, I used a technique that was new to me: tapestry crochet. It isn't difficult, as you only use one crochet stitch throughout: the single crochet (sc) in US terms (double crochet (dc) in UK terms).When changing colours in a row, you carry the first colour along and 'hide' it in the stiches of the new colour.  If you're new to tapestry crochet too, I recommend having a look at a this step-by-step photo tutorial by Lilla Bjorn Crochet.

Tapestry crochet is often done in the round, but can be done back and forth in rows as well, as I have done here. I have written out the instructions for every row, but looking at the graph will help you understand the pattern. It's pretty simple!

I cut the red yarn after each red row, and the black and white yarn after each block of black and white squares, but you could also carry them over to the next row/block.

Café Wall Illusion Cushion
Finished size: 41 cm / 16 in square

Materials
Yarn: I used Bendigo Woollen Mills Cotton 8 ply (DK) in red, black and white. This yarn comes in 200 g (484 metres / 529 yards) balls - I used about 100 g of each colour.
Hook: 4mm (G)
16 inch / 41 cm pillow insert
Scissors
Tapestry needle

Gauge: 22 stitches and 20 rows = 10 cm

Abbreviations used
ch = chain
sc = single crochet (UK dc)
st = stitch

Directions for front panel - see graph below.
With red, ch 91.
R1: sc in the second ch from hook and in each st across, ch 1, turn. (90)
R2: *change to black, sc 9. Change to white, sc 9. Repeat from * until end of round. Ch 1, turn. (90)
R3: *sc 9 in white, sc 9 in black. Repeat from * until end of round. Ch 1, turn. (90)
R4: repeat R2
R5: repeat R3
R6: repeat R2
R7: repeat R3
R8: repeat R2
R9: repeat R3
R10: repeat R2
R11: change to red, sc in each st across, ch 1, turn. (90)
R12: change to white, sc 4. *Change to black, sc 9. Change to white, sc 9. Repeat from * 3 times. Change to black, sc 9. Change to white, sc 5, ch 1, turn. (90)
R13: sc 5 in white, *sc 9 in black, sc 9 in white. Repeat from * 3 times. Sc in 9 in black, sc 4 in white, ch 1, turn. (90)
R14: repeat R12
R15: repeat R13
R16: repeat R12
R17: repeat R13
R18: repeat R12
R19: repeat R13
R20: repeat R12
R21-80: repeat R1-20 4 times
R81: change to red, sc in each st across. Fasten off and weave in ends.


(many thanks to Meghan from Meghan Makes Do for the tutorial on how to create these charts!)

Directions for back panel
With red, ch 91.
R1: sc in the second ch from hook and in each st across, ch 1, turn. (90)
R2-80: sc in each st across, ch 1, turn. (90)
R81: sc in each st across. Fasten off and leave a long tail to sew front and back panels together.

Assembly
Place the front and back panel wrong sides together and sew 3 sides together. Place the pillow insert inside and sew the remaining side closed.

Sit back and admire your Café Wall Illusion Cushion!

Pattern for Mondrian's Lone Star Quilt now available on Etsy

I'm happy to be able to tell you that the pattern for Mondrian's Lone Star Quilt is now available in my pattern store on Etsy.
Personally I am a big fan of Mondrian's works in red, yellow and blue, but if primary colours are not your thing, this quilt would also look very good in sea colours (blues and greens) or in pinks and purples. The thin black lines add a stained glass effect.



Meanwhile, all the boxes are gone, the kids are back at school and I have started a new crochet project, so life is slowly returning to normal. Pics following soon!

Holiday impressions from Rome and the Netherlands

We're back in Sydney, after a wonderful holiday in Europe. As promised, here are some photo impressions.
We started with a 4-day city trip to Rome, where we stayed in an apartment very close to the Vatican. It was my third visit to Rome, but the boys' first, so we did all the things you have to do in Rome, like Saint Peter's Basilica (above) and the Colosseum (which they loved of course):



I remembered to look down every now and then and saw some great sewer lids - I wished I'd brought my Shiva paintsticks and some fabric!





I'd looked up places where we could find some street art, but they were far from the city centre and sadly there was no time to go there. However, I did spot a few pieces of street art:





Of course we threw some coins in the Trevi Fountain to make sure we will return to Rome. I'm looking forward to my next visit, when I will just skip all the touristy things and discover other parts of Rome!



More pics from Rome on my photo blog here, here and here!



Back in the Netherlands we stayed for a week in a holiday home near the National Park the Hoge Veluwe, where we visited the Hunting Lodge St Hubert, designed and built by the famous Dutch architect H.P. Berlage in 1914-1920. He intended it to be a gesamtkunstwerk and also designed the interior, the gardens and even the furniture - it was all part of the whole work of art.





I thought it was very impressive! More pics, also of the interior, here.



Living in Australia makes us want to see some really old buildings when we are in Europe, so we visited a few castles - the one above is Castle Doorwerth near Arnhem. Its oldest parts date from the 13th century (more pics here). And the one below is Castle Hackfort (oldest part from the 14th century):



My mother-in-law works as a volunteer in the castle gardens and took us for a walk through the gardens and the surrounding woods (more pics here):







When my husband had gone back to Sydney for work after two weeks, I took the boys to the island of Schiermonnikoog. I have often been there when I was young and really wanted to show them this beautiful part of the Netherlands:



Schiermonnikoog is a small island with only one village, where you can find beautiful old houses:



You can't bring your car to the island, but you can hire bicycles to get around!



We stayed for four days and had a great time - I wish we could have stayed for two weeks!
More pics of Schiermonnikoog here.



When we got back to the mainland I took the boys for a short visit to Appingedam, the small town where I grew up. (More pics of Appingedam here...)



Then we drove on to Groningen!



My favourite city in the whole wide world! We stayed with my BFF Hylkia and her family for a few days. It was so good to be back there!



I discovered an interesting work of street art:







We went shopping and found a yarn shop:



Hylkia took this photo of me there ;-)



And of course we had to go to the market...



We had a wonderful time in Rome and in the Netherlands, and I hope you have enjoyed these photo impressions.
Now back in Sydney I am working hard on my new crochet skills. I'll show you the results soon!

New pattern: Mercator Messenger Bag

I'm happy to introduce my latest pattern: the Mercator Messenger Bag!



A roomy bag, large enough for documents, books or magazines, with handy pockets for small things such as keys, sunglasses, passport...



I decided to cut up this (Pacific-centred) world map panel for the bag. It has been in my stash for years, waiting to be used in a quilt for my youngest son. I used one for the back of an I Spy quilt for my middle son in 2007, and another one in 2009 for the back of the Aussie quilt for my eldest son. We have a world map hanging on the wall now, so it isn't a big deal ;-)



I sewed the bag together with pink Aurifil thread (no.2440) - it matches the lining fabric and nicely contrasts with the main fabric:



I named the bag after Gerardus Mercator, the Flemish cartographer who in 1569 created the world map projection that made navigation much easier. It became the standard projection for centuries, but has in recent years fallen from grace because of the serious distortion issues (you can read more about this interesting subject here).



The pattern is now available in my pattern store on Etsy.