Autumn Sampler, I love you so much.
We just released our third week of Autumn Sampler! YESSSS!
Ok, so we've done all the previous seasons in a 25 block format (you can find winter, spring and summer here) but this one I wanted to be extra special. I'm a total Fall Girl. I love Autumn, it's truly my most very favorite time of year.
When Ashleigh & I sat down to design the pattern I made a list of Very Important Things that had to be included in this pattern:
- Pumpkin Spice EVERYTHING (sorry PS haters!!!)
- Sock Knitting
- Leaf Peeping
- Cozy Homes
- Warm Drinks
- Something Primitive Style (my most favorite quilting/stitching style-yet I've never done it before!)
- Turkey!
Ashleigh wanted:
- Continuing theme (like something builds each week-hint check out the apple basket in week one and the baking in week three!)
- Apples galore
- Pumpkins xamillion
- More people
- Cute animals
- Back to school
As she worked on it, we built the color palette (you can buy one here), it's warm and filled with rich earthy tones. This is so much fun for us, we bring Ashleigh's laptop into Michaels and pull up the chart, then we sit on the floor (I know, we are kind of obnoxious) and pull embroidery floss and create a palette. It's so much fun to say "oh no, not that brown, THIS brown, this is a good brownbrown" and "that is the best burgundy ever, no other burgundy can ever come close- wait, I like this one better". We *really* have a good time with it. And I'm glad that we each got all the things we wanted in this one sampler! Woowoo!!!!
I got a new scroll bar and frame (you can buy it here but we don't recommend it- very expensive & not so good quality), set it up to start stitching and realized I cut my fabric wayyyy too small. Heartbreaking! So Ashleigh built me a little chart that is just 9 squares, I'm going to stitch it up and make a pouch. It'll take me forever because we are currently stitching all our winter patterns but it's SO much fun. I'll be sure to post photos of it once it's done, but it might be in November. ;)
Tomorrow we are getting together bright & early and re-vamping our stitch guide. We designed all new graphics and made it a lot bigger with more details, I'm so excited to put it in our patterns. I think it's going to help people a lot. Plus, we are *always* growing as small business owners/designers, we are constantly editing and updating, it's a good cycle! If all goes well, it'll be sent out in week 4 of Autumn Sampler and we'll update all the previous patterns with it. *knock on wood!*
And then we are hopefully *crossing my fingers* picking the palette for our 2014 year long sampler! EEK! I've only told two people the theme of the 2014 club and both people said it was AWESOME. And Ashleigh's designs just keep getting more and more rad. When she first said the theme I was like "hmmm" but then I saw the first four months and almost fell over. It's amazing. I'm really looking forward to stitching up the sample for that one, it's going to be a blast and has lots of small details. I can tell you that fans of Japanese kawaii fabric are going to love this pattern.
Our facebook group has been really active, it's pretty neat watching everyone interact and share their tips/tricks. I feel like I've learned a lot! Plus everyone is really friendly which is always awesome. I want everyone to feel welcome to stitch-a-long with us always, that's a big thing that Ashleigh & I want to encourage. Friendliness = Awesomeness!
If you want to join our group, we'd love to have you! And if you want to sign up for Autumn Sampler, you can sign up until tomorrow night at midnight PST for $12.95, then the price rises to it's permanent price of $16.95.
I'm hoping to get far enough along in one of our winter patterns to share a sneak peek next week, cross your fingers!!! :):):)