Needle turn Applique

Can you believe that 1 week ago I couldn't needleturn to save myself! Seriously!

The butterfly on the right is my first attempt at the thimblelady's technique, The one on the left is my second and the top one is my newest attempt. Sorry about the pics, my camera is crappy.

Anyway, see that little pink spot, the one inbetween the grain of rice and the corn kernel. Yet the one that looks like a pin head, well guess what, I needleturned that! Me yes Me! Yeahhhh. It is unbeleiveable what You can do! and thats only my very first attempt!

Here have a closer look!

Here have an even closer look! See why I'm raving about the Thimblelady!

You really have to check her out! She is just unbelievable! And so nice too!

www.thimblelady.com.au

Thimblelady Applique Package Review

To say that I'm a perfectionist is a bit of an understatement. So I have been becoming increasingly frustrated at my needleturn applique attempts. I have really fallen in love with quilting because there is so many areas in which to conquer. I'm one of those who likes to just jump in and give it a go, if it doesn't work the first time, it eats away at me until I feel I have achieved my level of said perfection, then I'm over it and want to move on to the next challenge.


So needleturn has become a bit of a love, hate challenge. Imagine my surprise when I went from this: (which a week ago I was quite happy with..)



to this:
Check out those points!


In 1 day! That's right! One - uno - un - ein - eins day!


Just to be clear I have not been paid in any way for this review, this is simply my experience.


I first saw the thimblelady on Simply Quilts and was really impressed, firstly because she was a really great hand quilter and second because she's an Aussie!

Because Liuxin is an Aussie, I felt an instant connection to her, I then started reading more information on her and felt we were kindred spirits of a kind. The way Liuxin thinks and teaches is a really logical style. Exactly the way my brain works.

While watching the Dvd which came with the kit I found myself saying 'why didn't I think of that' so many times. I then showed the DVD to my mother (my Quilting buddy among many other things) and picked up just as much the second time as I did the first!


I read a comment recently on the Thimblelady Forum which basically said 'Why bother putting out another Applique book, there's hundreds of them (books), theres nothing else to learn, applique is easy.' Well I beg to differ; I have tried all the different ways and never had the INSTANT success that I've enjoyed with 'Perfect Hand Applique'.
That butterfly is only my second attempt at Liuxin's technique.


I felt like I had learnt more in 30 minutes than I have in 12 months.


I find myself torn, I want to give a true review about this system, but I also don't want to give too much away. The Thimblelady deserves to be paid, and paid well, for her innovation! As the invention of the rotary cutter changed quilting forever, this technique will go down as a moment which changed applique. This may sound like an commercial, but I truely can't express how huge this is for my quilting life!


Ok so the system draws together the importance of all your tools from fabric, to needles and threads, even the scissors you choose to use play an important role in your success. I jumped straight in after watching the Dvd, I truly couldn't wait another moment to try Liuxin's 'tricks' and imediately picked up about 4 things I had been doing wrong. My first thought was gee the thread makes a big difference, then, wow the needle is an improvement, then, I looove this fabric it makes it so easy, then, ohh I wish I had the magic needle marker 12 months ago. I can't decide which tool made the biggest difference.

The old saying 'A poor tradesman blames his tools' came to mind, but with the right tools, one can do anything!

With the kit I ordered from the thimblelady website I not only received the Book and Dvd but it also came with everything you need to get started. A beautiful Fat quarter of stunning fabric, a reel of silk thread, a packet of needles, you also get a thimble glove, a sheet of template plastic and a pair of scissors. For $68 I learnt more than with all my magazine subscriptions ever.

The magic needle marker is incredible. I gives you a clean line to follow with nothing to wash off and I feel it actually helps with the turning under of the fabric, because it sort of 'folds' the fabric for you. There is a video of this being used on the website. At $15 a very worthy investment!

The only negative I can find is that the video is a little ameteur, but in saying that it is so engrossing you don't mind the occasional shake of the camera. Someone should be throwing money at Liuxin to make the Ultimate Hand Quilting and Applique Video.

In closing if you want to see a circle the size of the @ symbol on your keyboard needleturned, then this package is worth the money. If you want to be able to do it yourself then its worth double what your asked to pay!

Thimblelady website


If you have anything to add please do!



Paula x

Daisy Chain by Amy Butler

I love love love this combination of Fabrics from Amy Butlers Daisy Chain range! I guess thats why I just bought it off Etsy. Amazing value, I ended up paying about $10 AUD per yard including delivery.... I can see it becoming one of these.... Yes I'm fnally making a quilt for MY bed.

Amy Butler Addict!

My name is Paula and I'm an Amy Butler addict! hehe

Seriously I love every single thing that I have ever seen from Amy (I like to think we are on a first name basis *BG*.)

As you may know I'm going into hospital so the doctors can hopefully fix my knee this time and so I decided rather than borrowing my hubbys footy bag again, I needed my own pretty case. So I got on line and bought Amy's Weekender Bag pattern (from Belsize square 'Awesome service') and came up with this....

Because the recovery will be quite yucky and we have to travel to Sydney (5 hour drive) Our girls will be visiting Poppa for a few weeks, So I needed a nice photo album to take with me. Once again, Amy to the rescue and I made this awesome photo book from her 'Amy Butler's little stitches for little ones' book.

I had some gorgeous Vera Bradley fabric that was just perfect! and It only took about 1 hour (sooo frustrating!) to get the Matilda's own ink jet printable fabric through the printer. But I got the whole thing done in a day, so I was really happy with it. What do you think?

Amy's understanding of interfacing is just incredible, and very inspiring. Although the timetex was a nightmare to use in the Weekender, the finish is just incredible. The book uses 2 different types of interfacing (fused together)and again the finish is just stunning! The pages are nice and stiff, not all floppy like a normal fabric book. I can stand it up and so I'll be able to look at my pics like its a picture frame.

Next job, My matching toiletry bag. This one I'll design myself though.... Stay tuned!

Static

An online quilting group I belong to has been discussing static and how treads stick to our fingers as we sew, and it brought this picture of Cherub #2 to mind. The more she went down the slid, the more her hair stood on end! hehe :)

Anyway, I have been doing heaps of sewing and not much blogging.... I guess thats why I have been getting lots of sewing done :) Catch 22.

Anyway I have finished my Amy Butler Weekender Bag to take to hospital, I have made a new table runner, and finished 3 UFO's. Cool huh! I've also nearly finished a little Photo book, (also to take to hospital) It's from Amy Butlers Little ones book and its just adorable!! I will try to take some pictures later today.

Needle turn Applique

I have had a crazy week. I managed to get in a bit of designing and stitching between the hundreds of tissues that we have gone through with 3 sick kids.

My Etsy shop kicked off well with lots of visitors and a few sales too. Woo hoo.

I even got a message from Homespun magazine asking if I'd be interested in designing a project for them. I was totally chuffed!

My husband spent the night last night close to tears as his beloved blues where hammered by QLD in the state of origin. That first silly decition lost it for us, totally destroying our mojo. :)

On a stitching note, I have been trying out a new applique technique, here's the tutorial I used. All I can say is wow! I have tried needleturn so may times and always pulled it undone and ended up going with blanket stitch. But this method is sooo easy and much quicker than cutting out freezer paper and templates. My stitches aren't perfect yet, but much better than I've managed before, so I'm pretty happy with this.

Giveaway Day Winners!

Congratulations we have two winners! I used the random number generator on Random.org and the two numbers I got were number 34 and number 6. So congrats to Jbear and Ariel. I'll be emailing you shortly!
Thanks so much to everyone who visited, I hope you come back soon. Paula x