October Aurifil Artisan Showcase

Each year we partner with an amazing team of Aurifil Artisans to not only spread the joys of working with Aurifil Threads, but to also share their masterful creations and talents far & wide. Today we are thrilled to share the fourth project showcase for our team of 2022-2023 Artisans!

For the month of October, we challenged them to create a project in which they featured both machine and hand stitching. We absolutely love the effect this can create for a finished project and knew these makers would knock it out of the park. We’re certain you’ll agree that they did just that. HUGE thanks to all of our participants for October — we are grateful for you, your creativity, and your incredible willingness to play along with us month after month!


Katrina Hadjimichael

I loved making this pretty bag using stitchery, hand quilting, and machine quilting! The machine quilting gives the plain green panels an elegant quilted effect while the hand quilting using 12 weight thread adds lots of intricate detail to the hexagons and embroidered details.


Debbie Jeske

In my recent quilt project, Italiano antico, I used both machine- and hand-quilting for one of the first times ever. For the machine-quilted grid, I chose three different red Aurifil 28wt threads. I intentionally left the centers of the Xs unquilted, and later went back in for some big-stitch hand-quilting with Aurifil 12wt. Perfect it’s not, but I love the look, and it was a pleasure to stitch.


Anorina Morris

I absolutely love the combination of perfect machine quilted stitches and big stitch hand quilting with Aurifil 12wt thread. On this pouch, I quilted straight lines using my machine presser foot as the guide and then added rows of hand stitches in between them. The texture is absolutely delicious.


Janine Heschl

For the Aurifil October challenge, I wanted to create something that I closely associate with autumn: the fly agaric mushroom. It is embroidered with Aurifil Mako 50wt on black medium weight calico. The moss had been stitched on soluble stabilizer first and once washed out and dried, sewn onto the background fabric.

For the white spots on the mushroom cap, I used Aurifil Lana 12wt and embroidered several French knots by hand to create another 3D effect.


Genesis Hall

In the month of October I completed an entire quilt for the Artisian Challenge.

Modern piecing and quilting were accomplished by my domestic machine. I pieced with Aurifil 50wt in Dove (2600) and quilted with Aurifil 40wt in Toast (6010). I attached the binding using a hand-stitching technique in partner with Aurifil 12wt in a bold red (2250).


Kate Sandford

This month I used all kinds of thread to achieve the look I wanted — monofilament, variegated, 50wt, 28wt.

They all worked to together to create a mini quilt with both machine and hand quilting, drawing inspiration from my love of interiors and still lifes!


Sarah Harris

I’ve been working away on my October Aurifil Artisan challenge which is to use machine quilting and hand stitching in the same project. I love the look of precise and organic stitching together, which can make a great visual and textural juxtaposition.

For my Mini Series SAL ‘22 quilt, I started with hand quilting, then moved on to machine quilting, and then back to more hand quilting. I am using a combination of Aurifil threads including 50wt for piecing the mini blocks, 40wt & 50wt for machine quilting, and 12wt along with Aurifloss for hand quilting. I am slowing down now to enjoy the final hand stitching.


Brandon Wulff

I love mixing different thread weights and techniques. My clients love that layered look and so you will often find me doing both hand and machine work on my quilts. Have a look at a few of my previous projects.


Zeïba Monod

I am delighted to share my October project with you. Over the last 6 months I created my first linen quilt and the combination of machine piecing and hand quilting was simply perfect. When piecing my quilt, the 40wt thread flawlessly blended with my linen whilst the 12wt beautifully glided through all my layers of linen, bamboo batting and cotton backing to create splendid hand quilted Baptist fans.

And as an added bonus I hand stitched my label with one of my favourite threads, gorgeous Aurifil floss that matched my backing to perfection. This is my favourite quilt to date, it’s drape, feel and softness are pure comfort.


We encourage you to click through and check out each of these amazing projects in more detail!

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