Sewing Machine Cover

I Made it! YEAH!

I hope that I made it in time, but I have finally finished my Sewing Machine cover for the Elefantz competition

I have been trying to get this project finish for sooo long and today I'm sitting here with a big grin on my face, because I finally have that sense of achievement!

I'm especially proud of myself as I had to teach myself how to use my left foot to sew, and my quilting lines are really quite straight! Surprise Surprise! hehehe

I sat at the sewing machine most of the day yesterday, to get it done. It was really uncomfortable as you can imagine with my leg the way it is, but I had to take my mind off things, because both my Mum and my Husband were stuck on the other side of the bushfires on the south coast of NSW in Australia. Thank goodness my hubby got home safe. Mum decided to stay up there until it was safer to drive home. They were stuck in Ulladulla and we live in Batemans Bay.

Anyway, here are my pictures for the competition, just click on them to be taken to Jenny's blog, there are some awesome entry's in the competition to give you some inspiration.

Do you like the whole I made for the handle? I was quite impressed with myself! hehehe I really really really want the win the book!! :)

Thanks Jenny and Cheryl I would never have finished this if it weren't for your competition!

A new Applique Cushion by Bareroots

I have been very slack with posting lately, but it seems like I have a dozen things on the go and just never seem to get anything finished! It is very frustrating, because I love that sense of achievement I get when I finish a project.

I have been trying to turn my Spring Garden pattern into a Sewing Machine cover (I changed my mind) for Jenny of Elefantz' competition and with two days to go, I don't think I'm going to make it unfortunately, I find it very difficult to sit at the machine for any length of time as you can imagine.

Are you like that? Do you get a real buzz when you finish something, but feel down when you don't get anything finished? Maybe I need to spend a day making pincushions so I feel I've acomplished something.

Anyway, here is the cushion I finished yesterday. It's from the Bareroots book Pretty and Cozy. I don't like how the red heart shows through the white heart, next time I will reverse applique the white heart. Also the pattern has a severe lack of photos, making it a challenge to follow the pattern at times.

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