Tag Archives: Quilt Design a Day

October Quilt Designs

I have been busy making the last couple of months, and have not designed as much as usual. I have however liked a couple of my designs over the last week…so I think I’ll start in reverse order.

29 October: Wheels turning

I love the idea of some improv. wedges in this design. I think there are a lot of opportunities for quilting to bring out the shapes.

I added a slightly darker background here, just so you can see the circular centers.

27 October: Split Court

I started with simplistic shapes and loved it instantly. This is the final design with a reduced color palette.

Here is what I started with using an extra color. I like it still but not as much as the reduced version.

24 October: Washboard Shutters

I loved this muted color palette. I was inspired by the french buildings and thought of shutters. I like the alternating shutter placement with the of centered main post.

I played with the color palette a couple of times before deciding on this final version. I also have one with the pale tan colored shutters. I thought this palette may also look better with a white background. I like the one on the left but prefer the limited color palette again.

19 October: Visions through a Mountain Fog

I have been dying to get a monotone palette to try out some improv. block designs. I originally thought this would be great with red’s but loved our it turned out with this dark grey neutral palette.

22 October: Autumn leaves

My least favorite of my designs. I was using the placement of the leaves as placement of color in my design. I played with the scale and found that the larger version was better.

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”.

August QDAD

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The set of designs, for this month, are all so different. I was inspired by folks like Clare Rojas, Lucienne Day, and Sherri Lynn Wood. I really enjoyed the designs exploring improv. using various shapes (squares, triangles, stripes, and curves) from the 8th – 11th August. These designs were definitely my favorite of the month so far.

As the sparks (inspiration photo is not mine) don’t forget to check out the facebook page for the photos.

02 August: Coastal Village

The coastal village on the hillside spark had areas of color. I used these blobs of color in my design. I was also inspired by Clare Rojas work for this design.

06 August: Dragon Boats

A line of dragon boats inspired this simplified design. The lines end at various lengths based on the angle of the line of boats.

07 August: Flowers
These colors reminded me of Lucienne Day and inspired me to play elements that were in one of her designs where she breaks areas into angles and using solid shapes and lines. Here is my individual block but the repeats are endless and make unique patterns.

The first one is a more regular pattern just using an inverse repeat but my favorite is the second design which randomly places the block at different rotations.

08 August: Gridded Wire Frame

The gridded wire frame that was in the spark for this day, let me experiment with varying square designs that I had been collecting from various building facades.

09 August: Car Show

Based on the squares the day before, and the inspiration I had experienced with Sherri Lynn Wood’s class, I decided I wanted to play with improv. only using triangles. I broke the areas into rows and sections and designed a piece at a time. This was the final design.

10 August: Casino Lights

The spark definitely had three distinct areas, the two sides and the foyer. Still in the mood, for improv, I used those sections to introduce improv design elements of triangles and lines. The foyer section in the design represented by the full columns. I was surprised with the color palette of this spark, I really enjoyed it and definitely would not put these colors together naturally.

11 August: San Diego Strip

In the spark, there were these unique curved lampposts in between the trees. These lamp posts and trees are represented by the left side of the design…playing with improv triangles and curves. Th right side with the more structural lines represent the building structures in the spark.

12 August: Boardwalk Pier, San Diego

I was inspired by a blind and its reflection on the wall for this design. I do like the angles and the variations of the line widths in the design, though I would use a different color palette if I made this up.

QDAD: July Installment 2

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I got to put together another round of sparks this month. I love seeing what other people do with the palettes. Check them out on our facebook page. Below are my photo sparks/palettes and the designs I came up with this last week of July.

26 July: Vatican City

I thought I would start of with a brighter palette. I wanted to play with different designs row by row and build up the overall quilt.

27 July: Astronomical Clock, Prague, Czech Republic

I used the window on the right side of the clock as the inspiration of the design. Its not a favorite of mine but in all fairness of showing my design process – here’s one I would do over.

28 July: Ericeira, Lisbon Portugal (Coastal town)

I love the blues and the whites of this quaint coastal town. I used the umbrella’s and awning as inspiration. I used improv blocks in a Mediterranean feel. This definitely one of my favorite but I might try some softer colors.

29 July: Scottish Castle

This is the favorite of the week. I decomposed, somewhat, the crosses in the stain glass windows into two parts. I really like the secondary shapes that form. I kept the warmer color palette around the edges and the more neutral palette for the center.

30 July: Iron Gate in Charleston

I love the neutral color palette. The variations in the wrought iron gate inspired the creation of various blocks to make up this design. This was version 3 (and my favorite of the 3), as I needed to play with the diagonal blocks.

The first version I thought that diagonal block was too heavy, so I removed the border in version 2. I then did not like the same block across the diagonal so I replace the middle block with diamonds. The last one I added here, I have been playing with the C+S Tinsel colors thinking it might make a good Christmas quilt (??)

31 July: Wrought Iron, Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah

I got stuck on the vertical lines of the gate from the day before, hence the design of lines. Again, not one of my favorites this week but I do like the layered look the design offers. It would make an interesting improv. project.

16 July: Extra Design
This was one of my designs from another spark. I was going for a minimalistic approach of a shop front door frame elements of triangles and blocks.

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