3littlethimbles Aurifil Thread Review!

Thread...who cares right? Its the quality of the fabric and the adorableness of the print that counts. Right???

WRONG!!!!

The first 3 quilt I made were for my kids, I used what was available to me locally (Lethbridge Alberta, Canada) and used Dual Duty-machine Quilting thread. I experienced continual issues with tension problems to the point when I thought I couldn't quilt with my machine. I even took it in for maintenance and cleaning to see if that would help. 
I was crush when my machine came back...clean, but still not quilting to my satisfaction.

And then one day I saw a pretty picture on a fabric site of a spool of Aurifil thread. It looked so pretty I ordered a spool.......

Which is the back story of how I found Aurifil.

Sew(tee hee), after using the 50wt white to quilt my next quilt project I was amazed...but at $10 a spool I wasnt sure if it was worth the investment.

Thats when the lovely people at Aurifil sent me this to review!!!!

Yes, I cried! 6 spools of thread and the Aurifil Colour Chart(which has actual thread strands on it so you can perfectly match the thread to your project). I tested them out on a few quilts over the past few months but wanted to use bolder colours for this review so I jumped online and bought some spools for pictures in the review.

The Trial Project

This is the quilted project. A crib quilt(which is available on my etsy shop) https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/200165575/modernbirdtealorangetriangleunique

And this is the thread I used! I used 50wt(Orange coloured Spool) , 40wt(Green coloured Spool) and 15wt (Red coloured spool)
I pieced the entire quilt top with the white 50wt aurifil. Then It was time to quilt

It even looks amazing on the bobbin!!!

I quilted straight lines with the green 50 wt Aurifil and hand quilted with the green 15 wt thread.



So here's my thought's on Aurifil. It truly made me realize the importance of using a high quality thread!!! After using the thread for my past few projects I'm officially hooked.
Here's what I love about it:
1) It stitched like a dream! This quilt I didn't even use a walking foot and the stitches are smooth and perfect and I didnt have to play with the tension AT ALL.
2) Its beautiful! Getting a new spool is JUST as fun as getting new fabric
3) HUGE variety of colour options
4) COST-yes it is expensive, but you get so much on a spool that it makes it totally worth it
5) It doesn't break on your machine. You know what I mean....when your sewing along and your top thread breaks 6 times in a row and you have to walk away and count to 10. I have never had Aurifil break on my sewing machine.
6) Hand-stitching is way easier with this thread and your thread will not knot as you go. The few times I had it knot it fixed itself without me having to untangle it
7) The variety of weights available in each colour make your possibilities ENDLESS


What I didn't love:
1) A few time while hand stitching my binding the thread did break. I used several different needles to make sure it wasnt my needle. But the 40 wt broke a few times during binding.
2) One of the spools I received the inner tube was pushed out at the bottom so it wont stay standing flat but rolls(not sure if this is common and doesn't effect how it performance on my machine)
3) That now I am going to go broke buying every colour and every weight ;)

So my final thoughts, incase you didnt guess...
I give it two HUGE THUMBS UP
I am 'sew' impressed with it, made making my quilt way easier by using this thread and.......I threw out all the rest of that cheap garbage thread ;) 

*Aurifil did send me free samples to do this review but my opinions are un-bia. I did several project using their thread samples to ensure I was giving a proper and accurate review

Vintage Printemp Crib Quilt---Just listed on Etsy

Remember these adorable Printemp by 3sisters fabric squares?? Well I finally got around actually making them into a quilt!

I used a disappearing nine patch pattern and I love how it turned out with all the pinks, yellows, blues and creams.

It is currently available on my etsy shop here

Oh and lastly can I just gush over this pink birdy binding!!! Heavenly

Quilt hunting at Fort Steele

Hexagon Quilt....amazing

 We went on vacation last month to Fairmont Hot Springs, B.C Canada last month. On the way home we got the pleasure of stopping at the funnest place on earth! Well to me anyways...

Fort Steele

Yeah, you read that right. This Road to Avonlea, addicted to vintage, crazy lady LOVES Fort Steele.
But this year when we went I was on a mission... Quilt hunting.
And I struck gold.
So much inspiration!! It was beautiful

Shop Display

Sewing Machine....reminds me of the one I learned to sew on

Vintage Fabric---so cute

Quilt wall hanging

This one I actually got to touch(it wasnt behind glass) and study. So pretty

Well...those were some of the awesome Quilts and Sewing Items I found :) Along with tons of inspiration for my own fabric designs and quilt designs. Its so neat to see how far quilting has come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thread display

Tumbler Quilt!

We dont have many people in our family having babies, so when my husbands cousin in Germany was having a baby girl I jumped at a chance to try a crib sized Tumbler Quilt. I wanted it to be scrappy and bright coloured, so I pulled out my bin of scraps along with an adorable fairytale green fabric.

(Now im clearly busted for not ironing before cutting--but in my defence I have a crappy iron, but I will iron first once I get my new Iron Saturday) 

After using my handy-dandy tumbler die(from accuquilt), in no time at all I was swimming in tumblers :)

I was amazed at how quickly it came together and how easy it was to sew!

Plus this was my first opportunity to use my black/white stripped fabric for binding! I love how it turned out. 

I cant wait to ship this off to Katherina in Germany :) 

Now off to work on my downton abbey tumbler lap quilt!!! 

Discovering my style-out with the old, in with the new

So this weekend I am having a garage sale and get rid of all the fabrics that Im not totally in love with!! Which only means one thing....... I need to re-build my stash :)

This is the first mini batch of my re-building stash shopping spree! With the money I made from selling a quilt on my etsy shop and the garage sale $$ I am going to go to our local quilt store and buy fabrics that melt my heart. I am shifting from wanting a big fabric stash to having the perfect fabric stash that screams my name!! Finding ones style in quilting is a challenge, but step 1 is finding the right fabric. Im 'sew' excited to show you what I get soon!! And even more excited to have my sewing studio done in the near future ❤️

Stay tuned for part 2.... ;) 

Coral and teal Bird Quilt.....heaven!

My newest 3littlethimbles creation is finished!! 

I have a resent love of coral and teals.....this may be very apparent in this quilt

I used the co-ordinating fabrics from the line 'Flos Garden' by the Henley Studio. I have to say, I LOVE these fabrics. I couldn't even bring myself to throw out a 1 inch scrap!

To quilt it I used straight, and wavy lines with leaf imprints throughout! 

Which is a bit easier to see on the teal side. 

It is currently up on my etsy shop 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/190969282/handmadecoraltealbirdmoderncribtoddlerqu

3littlethimbles 1000 Facebook page 'Like' Giveaway

It's hard to believe that my facebook page is at 921 page likes! I am so excited to be coming up to 1000 page 'likes' that I decided to do a BIG GIVEAWAY!
You can enter the contest starting now, once my facebook page hits 1000 page likes, then 48 after I will be closing the giveaway and announce the winner :)
Wanna see what you will win?????????

The winner will receive this beautiful, modern crib sized quilt(38x44 inches) and 3 Mini Owls-with soft White Minky Cuddle Rose backs. Valued at over $100 :)

4 Possible ways to enter:
Once you have completed a one of the ways to enter, write a separate comment on this blog post (indicating you 'shared my facebook giveaway pic, reposted on instagram, followed my etsy shop, etc.) Make one comment per entry(total of 4 available)
You must Like my facebook page in order to be eligible to win the giveaway
http://www.facebook.com/3littlethimbles
1)Comment on this blog post and tell me what you love about 3littlethimbles(a product, idea, etc)
2)Share my facebook page giveaway pic on your profile
3)Re-post my instagram pic (be sure to include #3littlethimbles, @chelsierosner so I can see it)
4)Like and Follow my etsy shop 
http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/3littlethimbles

Giveaway is open to anyone everyone(including internationally) :)
I will announce when I reach 1000 facebook page 'likes' and when the entries will end(48 hours after I reach 1000)
Good Luck everyone!!!!

New fabrics-New Quilting ideas

Today was a great day for my fabric stash! Lots of awesome new additions. 

I got some Joel Dewberry(for my big quilt giveaway), and Flo's garden in the mail today! 

I also stopped by our local fabric shop(which rarely has nice stuff, sadly) and picked up some cute pinks and got a killer deal on some red/green polka dot cottons. Oh and I bought my first Aurifil Quilting Thread, which I am so excited to test out!

This is  Flo's garden, I am in love!! The corals and teals and birds...oh my! This will be a quilt that i will have a hard time parting with ;) 

Yummy Pink/Peach and Coral cottons! Maybe I should just frame it to avoid cutting it up ;)

This was my amazing deal of the day!! My local quilt store had a shelf of these Dot(and chevron) colours in the clearance section marked 'as is'. Turns out they came pre-cut in 1 and 1.5 sections so they were clearancing them off. Lucky me!! I bought 1.5 meter of the red for $6 and 1 meter of green for $4(and it was the end of the bolt so I an additional .5 meters for free! Yippee! Gotta love these rare finds in Canada. Its rare....usually good quilting cotton is $14-$22 a meter

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST........

(drum roll please) 

The rest of the fabric for my quilt giveaway arrived!! I am hoping to have it all quilted up this weekend. 

3littlethimbles is almost at 1000 page likes!

I am 'sew' excited!!!! 

My facebook page is almost at 1000 page  likes. To celebrate I will be having a huge giveaway!

Want a sneak peek?????

I just ordered this material, along with a few others to make my giveaway prize!

I am going to be giving away a free crib sized quilt!! Valued at $90, and who knows.... I may add more to the giveaway pending how many entries we get :) 

So keep checking my blog, facebook page or #3littlethimbles on instagram 

I will post the giveaway once the quilt is complete and there will be multiple ways to enter. Thanks everyone for your support and getting me to 1000 page likes, without you...my dreams of having a sewing business wouldn't be possible. 

A changing of the seasons....

After a lot of soul searching, I've decided to make some major changes to 3littlethimbles.

This picture sums up my life for the past 2 years. I've sewn hundreds of Minky Blankets and stuffed animals for my amazing clients, and I have truly loved it! Sadly, my minky distributors prices have increased(as has their shipping and the exchange rate) which makes it impossible to compete with people in the U.S. So I have decided to clearance all my minky blankets....use my scraps in any way I can. Make some Minky stuffed animal, and then close the door. It's hard for me to do, because I still love and adore minky but I have my sights set on bigger and better things :)

Through this process of sewing minky blankets I have acquired a love and passion for quilting cotton, and sewing in general. Which has started the dreaming process for me. 

And when I dream, I dream BIG! 

I am not ready to announce what those dreams are but please bear with me over the next few months while I try to make these dreams take shape. You will see new things on my etsy shop....fabric bundles, patterns, and who knows what else. 

Above all I want to start making tutorials on this blog....to help women everywhere be able to sew. It is a skill that need not die or become rare. Basically, I want to help women be as good(or better) of a sewist than I am. 

I look forward to seeing where my dreams take me and I hope you all stay for the ride!!!

xoxox

3littlethimbles

Oma's Garden

So I entered a mini quilt challenge(20x20 inches) 

The theme was modern traditional. So I whipped up this beauty!!!

I call it 'Oma's garden' after my sweet Oma who taught me to sew but never quilted. She always loved her garden and sewing! She passed last summer.....so this one is for her 

xoxox

441 mini(1 inch)hexagons. Took me 12 hours to complete!!! I absolutely love it and when my sewing room is finished I will be hanging it on the wall.

I will be posting a tutorial later this week on the blog, on how to machine piece hexagons :) Super excited!

Cupboard Storage!!!

My awesome hubby brought up this cupboard from our basement so I could store my etsy products and accuquilt cutter! Sooo much better than giant tupperward bins :) 

Eeekk! I love it. Who doesn't want a shelf on owls stuffies?? 

 Or a giant stack of crib quilts??

And of course.....my Accuquilt cutter and dies!!! Making quilting way easier for this busy working momma!!!

 Love my new cupboard!! Cant wait to fill it up even more with fun 3littlethimbles goodies. 

Sneak peek at a new quilt Im working on

 I picked up these gorgeous fabrics....cut them up into 5 1/2 inch squares!! Super excited to make a quilt out of these :) 

I am actually thinking of making a disappearing nine patch out of this! I might even do a tutorial for anyone curious about this technique.....stay tuned!!!

Oh and as always the quilt will be up for sale on my etsy shop

3littlethimbles Crib Quilts on Etsy

Here are some awesome 3littlethimbles crib quilts that are available for purchase on etsy!! 

https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/3littlethimbles

Black/Grey and Yellow Bird Crib Quilt

 https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/186568633/bird-and-demaskreversibleyellowgreybird

Triangle Girls Modern Quilt

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/186597155/moderntrianglegirls-crib-quilt

Pirate Crib Quilt!! 

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/179715052/pirate-patchwork-boys-crib-quilt

What little one wouldn't love one of these darling treasures! 

Quilts are a key and a link to our history, so many women have made so many over the years. Buying a quilt made in a mass produced factory overseas devalues all these women's hard work! We have to keep this technique and tradition alive and support artists who dedicate their time and talent making them.

Keep Quilts Rich History Alive!!