Lately, I have been so busy with other things that I have not spent a whole lot of time sewing/quilting or participating in Quilt Design a Day this month. I was lucky though ,to contribute the sparks (inspiration + color palette photos) in early July. Apparently, when I commit to doing the sparks, I can also commit to doing a design.

The sparks are all photos taken on various vacations, I have had. Have you ever taken a look through your photos and found quilting inspirations?? I have a different eye sometimes while on vacation….I think I am more open to see what is around me…so I see more design opportunities.

July 5: Moulin Rougue

Love the dark moody colors this photo gave as a color palette….and how can you not use red while in Paris. The design is a minimalistic impression of the windmill blades.

July 6: Ponte Sant’Angelo

One of my favorite photos while in Rome. I love the view of Ponte Sant’Angelo from Castel Sant’Angelo key hole brick. It offered a stark neutral kind of palette. I choose to keep a simple brick layered design, color placement was important.

The original design had color placement a little different and I found it to noisy and made it look more like camouflage material.

July 7: Rossio Square

I love this palette of dark greys, mustard, stone and red-brown. There was so much you can do with the design of the bricks in the photo but I had been flipping through a magazine and found the most amazing shelving units. I took what fascinated me in the furniture and turned it into this design.

July 8: Raglan

I love coastal color palettes. There is so much variety. I had an idea for a totem like design, inspired by the Maori sculpture in the picture and I had seen this great multimedia textile design which inspired the triangles and stripes.

I also like this color way and couldn’t really decide between the brighter or darker versions.

July 9: Raglan Succulents

For those of us who started out when we were using design-seeds as the photo inspiration, we have a few subject matters that we just cringe at. Succulents can sometimes be part of the list. So, I had a great chuckle to myself for posting this. I do love the color palette. Not my usual as it reads a little pastel.

I was inspired by a few Bauhaus prints for this one and chose several different elements from a few of those prints to put this triangle design together.

I also love the darker palette with the plum as the background.

July 10: Portugal Coast

I definitely have a thing at the moment for teals and coral colors. This color palette did remind me of a Lizzie House fabric line. I went with a simple design, again with lines of fractured color. This is not a bad design but with this color palette I would look at doing something different with it next time.

Ah, that feels good to post some of the designs. I would love to hear what photo from your vacation inspires, or inspired any quilt design you may have made.

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”.