Unveiling first two secret projects!!

I worked out the other day that I have been working on 6 secret projects. It’s been killing me that I can’t share with you all. I have exciting news today!!

My first two projects are being released tomorrow and…
it’s my first publication and….
my project made the front cover of Love Patchwork and Quilting
[Photographs courtesy of Love Patchwork & Quilting]LQP_23_cover_cmyk_300dpi

I learned a valuable lesson while quilting this project…..if you have batting you know and you like it stick with it….your first publication, with tight deadlines, is not the time to try new batting. “Stick with what you know”. I had a terrible experience with slippage and puckering while quilting this project. I probably quilted each line at least twice.

Project_hot_d9
In the end, I had to glue baste + pin baste + iron each row before and after stitching. It earned a nickname – “I hate you Quilt”.

I suppose now that it’s on the front cover, no hard feelings.
Hot_proj_main2

The other finish was a matching wall hanging. I love that stripped binding and the look of the diamond quilting on this mini.
Hot_proj2_pineapple

Anyway, the pattern for both quilts are in Issue #23 of Love Patchwork & Quilting. It goes on sale tomorrow, so I hope you enjoy it!!Project_hot_d1

Another Secret Sewing Project

I am working on another secret sewing project, but good news is that it will be revealed around July 1st and will include the pattern!! So not a big wait. It will be called “Altitudinal Ecosystem”…its the biology/ecology side of me being released :-).

I have a couple of photo’s though that I posted on instagram for a sneak peek (sorry for tease).

 I had a hard time with creating the back as I wanted to use my scraps from the front but I really wanted to use one of the mountain prints from Sarah Watson’s Indian Summer Fabric line. It just wasn’t working. Instead I went with a combination of the print and grey and white stripes. I added the pops of color from the front into the back which I love. This design choice evolved from cutting a strip to short and adding a filler from the scraps. 

 I decided to do mostly straight line quilting on the front. I had a blast at our guilds sew-in on Sunday and at Spoonflower’s pins & needles meet-up quilting it. I have decided to add some wavy line quilting using the method I used on my one first finished quilts.

 
 My other projects look like this:

Project Dates Current Status
  Idea, Design, Create  8th June  TOP, BACK, BIND (shipped for
quilting)
 Altitudinal Zonation  25 June  TOP, BACK, BASTE, QUILT (Underway), BIND
Can-Can Girls
(Row for Sisterhood of Traveling Quilts)
 30 June  2 of 6 blocks complete
 Pushme, Pullme  30 June
(ship for quilting)
 TOP (last-minute changes – adding a strip to top),
BACK, BIND
 Yoshiko Jinzenji Quilt Sampler  30 June  TOP (UNDERWAY), BACK, BASTE, QUILT, BIND

QDAD: Miscellaneous Designs

I have missed posting a few designs over the last couple of months. I thought I would use this post to catch you all up….if you follow me on IG (ml_wilkie) you may have seen some of these.

Initials:
I was inspired with the uppercase magazine on type printing and decided to try my own initials (MLW). I really liked this color palette which would not have been my typical choice.

QDAD_20APR(2)

Island Blossoms:
I am trying to get of my butt and start playing with machine sewing curves. This design is a repeated block and reminded of the big flowers you find in the Pacific Islands. I love the secondary design. Surprisingly though the colors were pink and green I struggled with color placement on this initial design.

QDAD_20APR2015
Once I used my own colors (a brighter palette) I enjoyed this design more:
CirrusBlock_April(1)

Or maybe in a neutral and darker palette:
IslandFlowers_Quilt

Toppling Jenga:
I was fascinated recently with Jenga and blocks toppling. I also wanted to play around with some transparency and overly patterns. I really liked how this one turned out. I like the combination of that pine green, brown and pinks with a subtle green as a background color. This is the final design.

QDAD_21APR(2)

It is amazing how a small change and color placement can change a design. With this initial design I did not have the green involved. I landed up not liking that darker pink and thought the espresso brown added a better contrast. I also like how the darker green pulls the colors together. The addition to the design was the bar through the middle of the top layer….I think it made a huge difference.
QDAD_21APR

Drainage:
This design was inspired by a drain cover in a bathroom that I noticed while on vacation. It was a very muted palette which I am not sure on.  I love the of screen placement of the design – this was not the original. I think this shows how playing with placement is important and can make a big difference to composition.
test

This is the original design which is still off centered but it just did not feel right.

QDAD_23April

Spools:
The photo inspiration was of rows of cotton spools. I loved the color palette – I think browns are so under rated (expect to see a post this month from me on playing with browns). I like what the white brings into this design for balance.

QDAD_04May2015(1)

Bits and Bobs:
Another repeated block, which may actually look better as fabric. I love the mod feeling with this one – the color palette  is one of my favorite at the moment…mint, coral/peach and navy!!

QDAD_05May2015(3)

Sliding Hinges (??):
I had taken a break of a couple of weeks and was lying in bed, and had this design pop into my head. Again, I love the color palette combination of the teals/aquas + citrons + the two neutrals (light grey and oyster). This is on my make list….I am just not sure when 😉

QDAD_May27(1)

That’s it. I think I am all caught up :-).

Please Note: If you would like to make or use one of my designs, please email me (ml_wilkie(at)hotmail(dot)com) or leave a comment below. I am happy to talk with you on options and provide the relevant measurements etc. or have you test out a pattern. Also, if you use one of my designs, please use the following text to credit me the design: “Designed by Michelle Wilkie @ Factotum of Arts”.