Have you been following along with our Sanctuary SAL? Yesterday, we introduced Blocks 25, 26, 27, & 28 — we are officially over the halfway mark! We are so grateful for Susan Ache, our favorite cross stitch queen, who pulled this all together incredibly quickly to give our anxious fingers something to stitch. It’s the gift of self care in the form of stitch therapy… home-schooling for grown-ups!
Today, Susan shares an easy tutorial for the full quilt construction so that you’re ready to roll once your stitched blocks are complete. You should be able to work through this with fabric from your stash, but, as always, if there is something you need, reach out to your local quilt shop. Many of them are now offering curbside pickup or online shopping and could use your support! Happy Stitching!
Happy Home day to everybody! Susan Ache (yardgrl60 if you are on Instagram) back again to see how much fun you guys are having with your first little bits of stitching fun.
As promised, I said I would get y’all started on your blocks for our quilt. Since it isn’t a mystery, you can see all of the blocks themselves — there are 48 “King’s Crown” blocks in total. I’m going to give you the tutorial here, but of course, if you are already familiar with the block and have your own method or if you would prefer to consult another quilt block book, please feel free! It’s truly a simple block to make yourself, I promise!
Block Construction
8” Finished, ¼” seam allowance throughout
- One 4-½” Square Embroidered Block (A)
- Four 2-½” Squares for the corners (I used all of the same in each block on my quilt) (B)
- Four 2-½” x 4-½” flying geese blocks (2” x 4” finished) (C)
- Bloc Loc Ruler (or other preferred tool)
1 – Arrange block according to the image below. Top: B – C – B, Middle: C – A – C, Bottom: B – C – B
2 – Sew one 2-½” square (B) to each end of one flying geese block (C). Repeat to create two strips.
3 – Sew one flying geese block (C) to each end of the center embroidery block (A) making sure that points are facing out.
4 – Sew one flying geese unit to each remaining side of the center embroidery block, making sure that points are facing out.
5 – Press seams according to diagrams shown.
Before we dive into quilt construction, this might be a good time to tell you that I made 2 blocks each out of the same fabric for a total of 24 different reds and 24 different backgrounds. Since the embroidery is so random, don’t worry about matching up embroidered blocks with fabric during block construction. There will be plenty of time to play around with layout in your final setting.
I did use the same fabric for my cornerstones throughout the quilt as well as in my final border. The final border was done just like my sashing and was sewn right along with the rows of the quilt, so it’s a one and done method.
Full Quilt Construction:
¼” Seam Allowance
- 110 – 2-½” x 8-½” Background Rectangles (D) (I used ones from the blocks and also added more)
- 32 – 2-½” x 2-½” Background Squares (E)
- 67 – 2-½” x 2-½” Red Cornerstones for outer border corners + sashing (F)
- 28 – 2-½” x 8-½” Red Rectangles for the outer border (G)
- 48 – Finished Blocks (H)
1 – Work on the final quilt layout on your design wall (or on the floor — use what you’ve got!)

2 – Place one 2-½” x 8-½” red rectangle (G) RST with one 2-½” x 8-½” background rectangle (D) along the long edge and sew.
3 – Place the (D) edge of unit RST with one finished block (H) and sew.
4 – Place the finished block (H) edge of unit RST with one (D) rectangle and sew.
5 – Continue this process until 6 quilt blocks have been added with background sashing in between and red rectangles on the exterior.

6 – Place one 2-½” red cornerstone (F) RST with one 2-½” background square (E) and sew. Place (E) edge of unit RST with the short end of one 2-½” x 8-½” red rectangle (G) and sew. Continue creating one full sashing row using this method.
7 – Using the same method, create a second sashing row using alternating colors. (E – F – D – F – D – F – D – F – D – F – D – F – D – F – E)
8 – Place sashing rows RST, making sure to align seams, and sew.

9 – Place sashing unit RST with quilt block row, making sure to align seams, and sew.

10 – Create a single sashing row using the background squares (E), background rectangles (D), and the red cornerstones (F) using the method above. (E – F – D – F – D – F – D – F – D – F – D – F – D – F – E)
11 – Place quilt unit unit RST with new single sashing row, making sure to align seams, and sew.
12 – Continue adding quilt block rows and sashing rows using this method until all 8 quilt block rows have been added and 2 sashing rows are added to the bottom just as they were on the top.
I’m sure that most of you have done this sort of block and sashing method, but if you have any questions, please feel free to check in with me. I know that this pattern was hastily written, but I’m hoping that it’s easy enough to follow along. Like I have said from the start, it’s not fancy by any stretch of the imagination. It is hopefully something easy and manageable to give you a bit of fun — a non-stress related project to help you ease your mind and pass the time!
If you’re stitching along, don’t forget to tag your photos with #sanctuarySAL and #aurifilathome. We want to cheer you on!
Thanks everybody for playing along with low tech quilt patterns and fun tv stitching…..let’s talk soon…
SANCTUARY SAL
— Aurifil will post 4 new motifs every other day from March 20 through April 11 following the schedule below
— PDFs will be posted on Aurifil’s Free Pattern page in the Sanctuary SAL section
— Blocks will be shared and promoted via Aurifil Instagram & Facebook Stories & Shares
— We’ll look for progress images in #AurifilatHome & #SanctuarySAL
SCHEDULE
March 20 – 1, 2, 3, 4
March 22 – 5, 6, 7, 8
March 24 – 9, 10, 11, 12
March 26 – 13, 14, 15, 16
March 28 – 17, 18, 19, 20
March 30 – 21, 22, 23, 24
April 1 – 25, 26, 27, 28
April 3 – 29, 30, 31, 32
April 5 – 33, 34, 35, 36
April 7 – 37, 38, 39, 40
April 9 – 41, 42, 43, 44
April 11 – 45, 46, 47, 48
SUSAN’s FREE PATTERNS
Click here for access to download all PDFs.






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.
SUSAN’s FREE PATTERNS
Click here for access to download all PDFs.






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.
Hi,
I’m not on Facebook or Instagram so I would like to know what embroidery stitches are being used in these blocks? Is it a backstitch or stem stitch or whatever you want?
Thanks for your assistance.
Thank you so much for this idea and embroidery patterns. I have stitched 10 centers and completed 6 blocks so far. All floss and fabric from my stash in a scrappy combination. So fun to have hand work to pass the time!
I am having problems printing some of your embroidery designs for the red and white Sanctuary Sal pattern. I believe these are text files and I can’t get about a third of the designs to print.
Thanks for a hand embroidery project. I don’t do cross stitch which I know is very popular but I’ve tried it and made 2 small projects. I just rather do embroidery, so again Thanks for combining my 2 favorite crafts- embroidery & quilting and sharing it through Aurifil which is where I found the Sanctuary SAL. I look forward to more embroidery projects on your blog.
Finally finished my version of the Santuary SAlL. Started during the first U.K. lockdown and completed during the third.
Really pleased with it. So thank you Susan. Would love to send you a photo .