Flower Mandala for Aurifil Thread Labs Subscription Box

Excuse me while I blow a little dust off this blog… where did August and September go?! I am amazed to find that I haven’t written a post since July!!

So it’s definitely time for a catch up and I have a few new posts planned over the next few weeks to make up for the last two months.

Let’s start with the Aurifil Thread Labs subscription box which I’m involved in. My project went live yesterday on the 1st of October.

As I’m sure regular readers will know I have been working with Aurifil, the superior Italian thread company, for many years now. I became a designer in 2017 and an Aurifilosopher in 2020. This latest title means I am a certified Aurifil educator.

Earlier in the year Aurifil asked if I would be one of the guest designers for their new curated subscription series which celebrates 40 years of Aurifil. Of course I said yes. I love working with Aurifil, not only is the thread amazing but the team are all lovely, supportive and kind.

You can read more about the programme here but the idea is to showcase different weights of threads with different techniques every month. Subscribers get a box with all the threads used (by that month’s guest designer) and the pattern to make the project. I was asked to use 80wt cotton and both 12wt cotton and 12wt wool.

I have been using 80wt with 12wt wool in projects together so much this year! In fact the last post I wrote is all about my new thread collection, Dream Flowers, which is a mix of these 2 weights. But it was more of a challenge to fit the 12wt cotton into a project. I love this thread too and use it for hand and machine quilting but I needed to fit both of these 12wt threads into a design and differentiate between them.

I decided to return to one of my recent favourite patterns. This began life as a quilt, Journey to the Centre of a Flower, which in turn was a new version of a couple of previous quilts, Tiny Improv Streetscape and Journey to the Centre of the Earth. It then became a modern crewel embroidery hoop (using Aurifil 12wt wool) called simply Flower Journey (less cumbersome!).  But I always knew there was still room for more from this idea…

My project for the Thread Labs box is a cushion/mini quilt using needle-turn applique (with the 80wt), embroidery embellishment (with the 12wt wool) and big stitch hand quilting (with the 12wt cotton) and is called Flower Mandala.

I got to choose whichever colours I wanted from their vast range and went for saturated jewel tones in turquoise, pink and gold, along with some of my favourite variegated shades and black.

I then matched these with the Essex Linen Yarn Dyed, Manchester, and Alison Glass Kaleidoscope Woven fabrics that I have been using constantly for the last year! This has the added advantage that this pillow goes really well with the others I made recently and will be one of the stars of our new sofa (green velvet, coming next week!).

I’ve had to keep quiet about this project for ages so it’s good to finally share it with the world!

The accompanying pattern is incredibly comprehensive. These days I tend to do a lot of organic, freehand applique but this design, despite appearances, is fully templated, and the pattern lists exactly which colours are used where so you can replicate it pretty much exactly, should you wish to.

The subscription also includes a recorded video with Karen Miller, our chief Aurifilosopher and organiser of this programme, interviewing me over Zoom.

It’s not too late to sign up for this fantastic programme, you simply need to find a retailer that is offering it and sign up with them. Head to the Thread Labs Retailer Map here to find someone in your area.  I know there are quite a few offering this online in the UK, and all over the world!

I’ll be back with a finished quilt reveal later this week! Yes I will, honestly!! 😉