Quilt Notes: DANCING CUBES is the title given by Nancy Cabot in her Chicago Tribune quilt column, May 8, 1937. Blocks like this have lots of names and incarnations, see more at SHIFTING CUBES. They also share the same optical illusion of dark and light 3D, so that if you stare at the intersection of the top or bottom of the yellow diamond in the center of this block for any length of time, the cube will shift in and out of space, or "dance." In Geometry, the phenomenon is called NECKER'S CUBE (see at Wikipedia). Also the blue diamond was added to the larger illustration here to interrupt the color scheme, so as to make the eye shift about somewhat (scroll down to see the effect in the tiling pattern). ALL quilt designs fall into categories of tiling possibilities, this one is referred to as Rhombilie. For blocks utilizing multiple fabric scraps, see BIRDS IN THE AIR, also OLD MAID'S RAMBLER and T QUARTETTE. Other quilt designs with "Geometric" titles illustrated at this site include: ARRANGEMENT OF SMALL PIECES BUTTERFLY IN ANGLES   CENTER DIAMOND CUBE LATTICE DIAMOND NET MOSAIC SYMMETRY IN MOTION TRIANGULAR TRIANGLE and TRIANGLE ASKEW