diff --git a/test-requirements.txt b/test-requirements.txt
index a4e1693..e21b1ce 100644
--- a/test-requirements.txt
+++ b/test-requirements.txt
@@ -6,3 +6,4 @@ unittest2
 python-subunit
 sphinx>=1.1.2,<1.2
 testrepository
+testtools
diff --git a/tests/helper.py b/tests/helper.py
index 1068cf0..7c00b84 100644
--- a/tests/helper.py
+++ b/tests/helper.py
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
+import functools
 from multiprocessing import Process
+from multiprocessing import Queue
+import traceback
 
 from six.moves import socketserver
 
@@ -7,15 +10,54 @@ class TestsTimeoutException(Exception):
     pass
 
 
-def time_limit(seconds, func, *args, **kwargs):
+def time_limit(seconds, fp, func, *args, **kwargs):
+
+    if fp:
+        if not hasattr(fp, 'write'):
+            raise TypeError("Expected 'file-like' object, got '%s'" % fp)
+        else:
+            def record(msg):
+                fp.write(msg)
+    else:
+        def record(msg):
+            return
+
+    def capture_results(msg_queue, func, *args, **kwargs):
+        try:
+            result = func(*args, **kwargs)
+        except Exception as e:
+            msg_queue.put(
+                "Running function '%s' resulted in exception '%s' with "
+                "message: '%s'\n" % (func.__name__, e.__class__.__name__, e))
+            # no point re-raising an exception from the subprocess, instead
+            # return False
+            return False
+        else:
+            msg_queue.put(
+                "Running function '%s' finished with result '%s', and"
+                "stack:\n%s\n" % (func.__name__, result,
+                                  traceback.format_stack()))
+            return result
+
+    messages = Queue()
     # although creating a separate process is expensive it's the only way to
     # ensure cross platform that we can cleanly terminate after timeout
-    p = Process(target=func, args=args, kwargs=kwargs)
+    p = Process(target=functools.partial(capture_results, messages, func),
+                args=args, kwargs=kwargs)
     p.start()
     p.join(seconds)
-    p.terminate()
-    if p.exitcode is None:
+    if p.is_alive():
+        p.terminate()
+        while not messages.empty():
+            record(messages.get())
+        record("Running function '%s' did not finish\n" % func.__name__)
+
         raise TestsTimeoutException
+    else:
+        while not messages.empty():
+            record(messages.get())
+        record("Running function '%s' finished with exit code '%s'\n"
+               % (func.__name__, p.exitcode))
 
 
 class NullServer(socketserver.TCPServer):
diff --git a/tests/test_jenkins_sockets.py b/tests/test_jenkins_sockets.py
index d8fc945..5377fac 100644
--- a/tests/test_jenkins_sockets.py
+++ b/tests/test_jenkins_sockets.py
@@ -1,21 +1,24 @@
-import sys
+from six.moves import StringIO
+import testtools
+from testtools.content import text_content
 
 import jenkins
 from tests.helper import NullServer
 from tests.helper import TestsTimeoutException
 from tests.helper import time_limit
 
-if sys.version_info < (2, 7):
-    import unittest2 as unittest
-else:
-    import unittest
 
-
-class JenkinsRequestTimeoutTests(unittest.TestCase):
+class JenkinsRequestTimeoutTests(testtools.TestCase):
 
     def setUp(self):
         super(JenkinsRequestTimeoutTests, self).setUp()
         self.server = NullServer(("127.0.0.1", 0))
+        self.messages = StringIO()
+        self.addOnException(self._get_messages)
+
+    def _get_messages(self, exc_info):
+        self.addDetail('timeout-tests-messages',
+                       text_content(self.messages.getvalue()))
 
     def test_jenkins_open_timeout(self):
         j = jenkins.Jenkins("http://%s:%s" % self.server.server_address,
@@ -24,7 +27,7 @@ class JenkinsRequestTimeoutTests(unittest.TestCase):
                                   self.server.server_address)
 
         # assert our request times out when no response
-        with self.assertRaises(jenkins.TimeoutException):
+        with testtools.ExpectedException(jenkins.TimeoutException):
             j.jenkins_open(request, add_crumb=False)
 
     def test_jenkins_open_no_timeout(self):
@@ -35,5 +38,6 @@ class JenkinsRequestTimeoutTests(unittest.TestCase):
 
         # assert we don't timeout quickly like previous test when
         # no timeout defined.
-        with self.assertRaises(TestsTimeoutException):
-            time_limit(0.5, j.jenkins_open, request, add_crumb=False)
+        with testtools.ExpectedException(TestsTimeoutException):
+            time_limit(0.5, self.messages,
+                       j.jenkins_open, request, add_crumb=False)