Embroidery fun
Island Batik and Aurifil Thread

The March Island Batik Ambassador challenge was to use the Italy-themed Color Builder Box we received as part of shipment one in January.
Some of the products featured on this site were provided to me free of charge by Island Batik, Hobbs Batting, Aurifil , AccuQuilt, ByAnnie and Schmetz Needles.
Guidelines:
- Project Type: Quilt
- Size: 20” x 20” or under. Mine finished at 20″ x 24″.
- Must use each of the 3 thread spools from the Color Builder box
The fabrics I used are from the Island Batik Foundations Collection. These fabrics are available throughout the year, Black Solid, Parchment and Acorn. They blended so good with Sicily Yellow.

The Color Builder I received is Sicily Yellow, yum, I love them. Thank you so much Aurifil. Yellow is something I don’t use enough of although I do love it and it was the thread collection I requested. Aurifil and Island Batik has some of the richest yellow and golds that I have worked with.
Embroidered table topper

Using designs from Kreative Kiwi, Island Batik black solid and six Aurifil Threads I stitched out the designs. It was really exciting to see the designs come to life and the black solid was perfect to make the yellow thread pop.

The color builder I received is all 50wt thread and there were no issues embroidering with it. This made me very happy because I have a drawer full of Aurifil.
My first attempt I failed to center the quilting around the blocks, hey I’m learning machine embroidery. It will still be bound and used later and it was fun learning from my own mistakes.

Below is a built in design from my machine and I decided to stitch 6 of these blocks on Island Batik Parchment in 2105 Aurifil Thread, then center the embroidered blocks on top of each after I cut them to 5″ circles.

Here it is right after I finished adding Island Batik Acorn for binding. The blue markings were for the embroidery machine.

Embroidered block detail
The block photos were taken in the bay window, photographing Parchment in natural light washes out the color, it is so much prettier.






Of course Loki had to photo bomb me. Isn’t the Parchment (background fabric) pretty? This photo reflects what I see when looking at it in any lighting.

Aurifil Threads used
Sicily Yellow includes 50wt 2115, 1135 and 2105. These were used for flowers, the watering can, detail and butterfly. 2105 is a perfect match to Parchment so I chose to quilt with it.
Others used were 50wt 6010 for the baskets, 50wt 2843 for the leaves and 40wt 2975 for the block frames.

This one was taken outside in the shade. It shows the beauty of the thread and black well. The Parchment is displayed better above.


Thank you Island Batik and Aurifil Thread for this fun challenge.
Hi Denise, what an amazing piece! You are really doing some incredible work with the embroidery machine. Your quilt is really stunning. Thanks so much for linking up to Free Motion Mavericks. 🙂
Awe thank you again. My mind in running full speed on all the goodies I can make.
Denise, this is fabulous!! I’m so glad there are other embroidery enthusiasts in our ambassador group! My Solaris loves Aurifil thread. I haven’t tried it on my Bernina 830E because it is not on my sewing table at the moment, but it loves most thread, thankfully! I’m excited that you are having run and learning your new machine. You’ll get use to placement – it was a learning curve for me. In my opinion, embroidery is a great addition to quilting! Great job! I love the yellows!
That is so kind of you Brenda, thank you. Also, thank you for letting me know placement was a learning curve for you, gives me hope.
I love using Aurifil to machine embroider. It shows the colors and designs so well. Great project! I’m glad you’ve gotten to play more with your new machine, and you’re learning about placement and quilting with it, too. Yay, you!!
Lol, thanks Maryellen. I am really loving this machine but the placement not so much. It’s been really easy to learn.
Nice job! It looks great. I didn’t know you could use Aurifil to machine embroider.
Thank you. To be honest I wasn’t sure if it would work but it sure looks nice. There were a couple thread breaks like any other machine.