Susan Ache is a master of turning various colors of Aurifloss into beautifully stitched masterpieces. She has a remarkable eye for color and makes those tiny little stitches seem effortless in their perfection. She details her process on her well-loved Instagram account (@yardgrl60), with over twenty thousand followers looking for beauty and inspiration. We are lucky to have her as such a passionate floss champion and honestly get a little giddy every time we have new cause to promote her work.
Today, we’re all about Little Band Sampler, her latest collection with Aurifil, featuring 10 darling little wooden spools wrapped with brightly colored 6-strand floss. The collection released last month, at Spring Quilt Market in Kansas City, MO. We even got to meet Susan in person for the first time and she is every bit as charming and engaging in person as you’d expect her to be.
We’re delighted that she joined us in our booth for a showcase and demo and are always grateful for her enthusiasm and and her passion!
Today, we let Susan introduction Little Band Sampler in her own words. <3
Living in the South, we don’t experience the color changes of seasons as obviously as other parts of the country. But, we do love our season of changes and there is something magical and intense about Spring colors. All of the colors just seem so much brighter and fresher and that is exactly what I wanted to play with when designing “Little Band Sampler”.
You have already read about my love of Quaker samplers, so, let’s add band samplers to the list of things I love to stitch. Row by row of color play is so incredibly satisfying, especially when you only stitch at night like I do. I love to see progress and something complete when I stop stitching at a sitting. Band Samplers give you that feeling of completion with your stitches.
Let’s talk a little about Band Sampler history. Did you know that way back in the 17th century samplers were being stitched on a narrow bands of fabric? Fabric was very expensive and they were totally covered with rows of stitches without wasting any of the fabric. Most of the time, the samplers used one or two colors per row, mainly because there were not the color selections we have today. School girls would practice daily lessons in stitching covering everything from the alphabet, multiplication tables, and perpetual calendars to the other parts of their daily life that included landscapes, potted plants, and architecture.
This Spring sampler is filled with colorful bands for you to enjoy the same way that stitchers in the 17th century might have. Truth be told, there was another motive behind my color choices besides the fact that they are fun and bold. If you never have stitched with the Aurifil embroidery floss, I wanted you to be able to start your own collection with a variety from the rainbow.
Huge thanks to Susan! Stay tuned for Part 2, coming next week!
GIVEAWAY
To enter-to-win the Little Band Sampler Collection, click HERE to head to the Rafflecopter entry page. You do not have to complete all the options to be entered but the more options you choose, the more entries you have! The Giveaway will run from now until 11:59pm on Wednesday, June 19. We’ll select one random winner to be notified via email. Good luck and happy stitching!
THREAD COLLECTION DETAILS
Little Band Sampler
100% Aurifil Cotton, 10 Small Spools, Aurifloss (18yds/spool)
Colors included:
2530 – 2335 – 1148 – 2865 – 2535
2225 – 5015 – 4182 – 2606 – 6738
SUSAN’s FREE PATTERNS
Click here for access to download all PDFs.
2018 STITCHING WITH SUSAN SERIES
ABOUT SUSAN
Instagram — Susan’s Book
A love of color makes it easy for Susan to grab inspiration from her native Florida surroundings. With no grand idea other than knowing she wanted embroidery and nine patches in her first quilt, a new world opened up to this mom of now five grown children. Being self taught with many hours of reading about the makings of a quilt and quilt blocks has made this an a lifelong passion. Susan is always searching for new and fun ways to show off as many colors as she can in a quilt. Most of her quilts are a creative impulse from trips to the garden center, a photograph, or browsing through paint chip selections. “I really never see just the quilt, I seem to see the quilt in the room that it belongs in”. Working in a quilt store for years helped Susan to pursue that passion of color and the fabric inspired life she enjoys while constantly striving to make her next favorite quilt.
Love the colors in the mini sampler!
Great design and wonderful colors. Thanks for the giveaway chance!
What a sweet mini sampler. Thank You!
Looks so fun! I’ll definitly be doing it! I just got Susan’s Little Quaker Christmas box of colors and the chart and have been working on it this week!!! Love it!!!! Thanks Susan for sharing another chart for us to do!! 🙂
So adorable! I am tempted!