The next kitemaking competition was rapidly approaching and i decided i wanted to make a bermuda kite. I didn't have any quilt books with hexagonal block patterns so i tried to come up with something on my own. Back to "Optical Illusions for Quilters" for inspiration when i found the illustration for the impossible cube. I like it, i have always liked it. I think when Escher was little, this is what his building blocks looked like.

While it is six sided, the illusion works because none of the corners quite line up. It took a whole lot of trial and error to convert this idea to a perfect hexagon and the to figure out how to quilt it. I was so confused making this kite that i wasn't sure which direction i was going. When i finished, i didn't think the illusion worked. Seeing it in the sky changed my mind.

The kite was originally made with 3 straight sticks, but they were too stiff (.240) and the kite was unstable. So i made a tinkertoy hub out of nylon and set all the rods back 5 degrees so there is a bow in the kite. It flies great now and looks pretty good too!

 

 

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