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.
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.
Once I used my own colors (a brighter palette) I enjoyed this design more:
Or maybe in a neutral and darker palette:
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.
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.
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.
This is the original design which is still off centered but it just did not feel right.
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.
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!!
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 😉
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”.
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.
