The Thimble Lady
 

http://www.thimblelady.com/ I saw this lady on The Quilt Show (it was a free episode for Mother's Day) yesterday and looked up her web site. If you are into needle turn applique she will amaze you as well as teach you some cool tricks for points and dots!

I got to meet her at The International Quilt Festival in Houston,TX. My friend from New Zealand works with her, she introduced me to her. Too bad I don't hand quilt any more; her technique looks interesting.
Sharon W.

Wasn't that tiny little circle the most amazing thing you've ever seen in applique? And that quilt with the thousands of TINY appliqued leaves? It looked like three or four leaves would fit on a dime - can you imagine?!

I ordered the applique book and DVD and then started looking at her hand quilting stuff and ended up ordering her needles, thimble, quilting book and DVD, threads and cotton satin the next day.

She promises that you'll be able to get 12-16 stitches per inch in one day of concentrated practice - we'll see. :) I really would love to do fine hand quilting - I tried the Aunt Becky and deep well thimble and that is okay - but I definitely did not progress beyond "utility" stitching with the one pillow top that I made.

I still haven't had time to study and practice her method, yet. I'm working on a "beast" of a quilt - a 116" square with my trusty 1947 Singer 15-91. It's a doll of a machine, but 116" is a lot of quilt when you're at the center. Yeepers! :)

But I wanted to say that I ordered a metre of this cotton satin on The Thimble Lady's site and as soon as I touched it, I knew I wanted to make a full-length nightgown out of it. It's beautiful, fine cotton with a hand that will make you cry. :D I ordered two 5m lengths of it - one for the nightgown and one for a wholecloth quilt or maybe a quilt backing or an applique top - I dunno. There's free shipping on all orders over $100 - from Australia, even! - so I ended up paying about $9/yd on sale, which to me, seems a very reasonable price.

I also ordered the full spectrum of her applique fabrics - 10" strips of 54" wide multi-shade fabrics. I now have fine fabric in just about any color I could want for my next applique project - just can't decide what to do first. It's gorgeous stuff.

One thing that surprised me is the short time it takes to get here - five days has been about the average, so far. She seems to ship the day after she gets the order and there are automated notices of when the order is packed and when it's picked up by the post. Then it's in your mailbox before you know it! :) I would definitely recommend her as a reliable seller.

Loved the books and the DVD's that came with them - just haven't had enough time to really study them and practice. Now that I've got some of the craziness settled, I might have time to sit down and work on this stuff. :)

Happy quilting!
Elizabeth

PS - here's the Lady of the Lake I'm wrestling with! :D

Hi Elizabeth, Have you had a chance to practice with the Thimblelady hand quilting method? I am considering purchasing it and curious if you have had a good experience with it. Your quilt is lovely, btw!

No, I haven't! Shame on me - I've been so sidetracked, lately. I loved both the videos and the books and I'm still hoping to squeeze in a little practice soon. :)

I have seen her on Alex Anderson's show and I liked her thimbles but have not as yet purchased one. I watched her video on threading a needle and it was an interesting way to do that. I also checked out her needles and will have to give them a try. Thanks for her link. Your Lady of the Lake quilt is just beautiful and thanks for sharing.
Pat

I LOVE that little trick! That's the only way I thread needles, now. No more tangling of the tail ends, no sliding out of the eye of the needle - that trick is SLICK!

I have a piece of intaglio (cutwork) that I started working on about 18 or 19 years ago - the sewing lasts forever, I think. But this way of uniting the tail with the main thread eliminates about 90% of the frustration that occurs from this type of hand work. :)

Thanks for the nice comments on the Lady of the Lake - I just took it to the laundromat to use the giant washer the other day and it came out so nice - all fluffy and crinkly. :)

Good Morning, everyone. I just joined the QB after reading about the Thimblelady applique needles. I inadevertently ordered the size M which are too thick for my app. stitches. If anyone has some size S who would like to trade for my 2 pkgs of size Ms, I'd be delighted. I take small stitches so need the size S. Thanks! OR, does anyone know of a U.S. supplier of her needles?