Short Attention Span Girl

Thimbles for hand quilting can be a big and sometimes expensive decision.  Bonnie did a post recently about hand quilting which elicited a number of questions about thimbles and she challenged those of us who have a favorite thimble to post about it.

When I started hand quilting I hadn’t ever used a thimble.  My mom never sewed with a thimble.  When I took sewing in school the teacher never used a thimble or mentioned that people used such a thing.  Then I signed up for a quilting class and “thimble” was on the supply list.  I went to the sewing store which had exactly one type of thimble and bought it.

It was awful.

It felt weird to have something on my finger while I was trying to hand quilt, which is a weird enough thing on its own.  It fell off because it was too big.  It tipped and dug into the side of my finger and left a blister because it was the wrong shape for my finger.  It was discouraging!

Finally the desire to hand quilt became stronger than my thimble aversion and I started hunting thimbles.  Like kissing frogs to find a prince I ended up buying a lot of thimbles that didn’t work for me.  However, once I started teaching and sharing my thimbles it ended up that just about every thimble I had became somebody’s favorite.

Besides style there is also the matter of fit.  A thimble should fit snugly.  You should be able to move your hand around including letting it hang down at your side without the thimble falling off.  If the thimble falls off it is either too big or the wrong shape for your finger – with one thimble exception we’ll get to later.

Finally there’s the oddity of wearing a thimble if you aren’t used to it.  It frankly can feel weird and awkward  to have something on your finger getting in they way of your quilting!  The best way to deal with it is to wear it.  Wear it around the house – while you do laundry or chores, while you put away the groceries, while you read or watch tv or even read blogs on the computer.  Wear it until you don’t notice it anymore.  Then you’re ready to start quilting with a thimble!

So, here’s my collection with a few notes.  Hopefully it will help the thimble seekers among you to find the right type of thimble.

These are what I call the “low profile” thimbles:

Low profile thimbles are a great starting place.  When someone is not used to wearing a thimble these are less obtrusive than the standard thimble.  Some quilters stick with them and others get used to the feeling and move on to sturdier thimble versions.

Top left is textured first aid tape.  Some hand quilters like to wrap their quilting finger with this or electrical tape or even a bandaid and quilt that way.  Just a couple words of caution: the needle will wear through all of these tapes eventually so keep an eye on things and add more tape or replace it before the back end of the needle stabs your finger; second if your finger is already sore say from sewing thimble-less wait until it heals before trying a sticky option or it will really hurt to remove (does it sound like I’ve had that problem before?)

Bottom left is a soft leather thimble with a metal disc in the front.  This one is made by Clover but several manufacturers make them.  They are soft and less annoying to wear than a hard metal thimble but some people find they twist and turn on their finger.  This is the exception to the snug thimble that does not fall off rule.

Sticky thimbles.  The two pictured are technically for the “under the quilt” hand, however I’ve had students try and like these for their needle hand.  The left one the “under thimble” is a metal disc and round double sided tape to stick it on with.  The disc is smooth but some quilters liked to wear it and put a piece of tape over it to keep the needle from slipping.  This solved the wear through problem of tape alone.  The other is thin tape ovals.  I’d often have an anti-thimble student try these only to discover that they’d change sewing fingers to an un-taped finger.  It was not uncommon to have one or more students with tape on every finger of their quilting hand just trying to get used to dealing with something on their finger.  There are also little leather sticky dots that can be purchased that work like those pictured but are far more sturdy.

What all of these thimbles have in common besides their lower profile is that they require the quilter to push the needle with the pad of their finger rather than the tip of their finger.  The more you quilt, you will find that you likely prefer pushing with one spot on your finger.  Once you know where that is, you can narrow down your search by pad of the finger thimbles or top of the finger thimbles.

Here’s my collection of pad of the finger thimbles:

Left is a “nimble thimble” these are soft leather thimbles with a metal disc hidden under the leather at the pad of your finger.  They, like most of this type of thimble have an opening for someone with a long fingernail.  Because these are leather they do eventually wear out and you will know it when the metal disc moves and the needle enters your finger tip.

Near left is an adjustable thimble made by Clover.  This one has nice deep groves for the end of the needle to sit in.  The back of the thimble can be squeezed, just like a ring from the gum ball machine, to fit snugly.

Center is a tailors thimble which is also made by Clover.  It can also be squeezed to fit snugly around the finger closer to the first joint rather than centered on the pad of the finger.

Inner right is a Roxanne thimble.  These are nice, heavy duty thimbles that are sized like jewelry to fit just right.  They come in brass (shown) or sterling which some quilters really love.  They are a bit heavier at the tip than other brands which may take getting used to.  The metal is hefty for long wear and the price is hefty too.

Right is a Diamond thimble.  It’s made out of some sort of flexible plastic.  The pad of the thimble is textured to help reduce needle slip.

Tip of the finger thimbles:

I think these are what people typically think of when they think of a thimble.  Notice that none of these are porcelain with little dancing ladies painted on them.  Those painted ones are decorative, not really designed for quilting.  When shopping for these, really look at the shape of your fingers.  Some fingers are tapered and others are the same diameter from tip to hand.  Thimbles are the same and if you fingers taper than you will likely want a thimble that tapers too.  If your fingers are straight (like mine) than you want a straighter sided thimble to avoid the thimble tipping and moving on your finger.  If you love long fingernails these are not the thimble style for you.

Left is the basic Dritz metal thimble widely available in virtually every single sewing store on the planet.  They come in about four sizes.  Try them on and choose one that fits snugly.

Near left is a leather thimble with a metal top.  My local quilt shop had these but there isn’t a brand on it.  The leather is actually pretty stiff so it’s not really any more comfortable than a well fitting metal thimble.

Nearly center is a latex dipped metal thimble called a “ladyfinger thimble.”  The latex coating helps stop needle slip.

Nearly center right is a custom thimble made by T.J. Lane. She makes many styles of thimbles and they are each a little work of art besides being really well made.  They are sized like jewelry so you can get one that fits you exactly.

Inner right is a “flexible thimble” made of hard plastic.  It’s a bit slick but some people like how light it is to wear.  Others hate how sweaty a plastic thimble is.

Right is a “raised edge thimble”.  It has a reinforced top with nice deep grooves to hold the needle securely.

Try on as many thimbles as you can and get one that really fits you securely.  Then wear it and get used to the feeling of a thimble on your finger.  It might just surprise you the difference a well fitting thimble will make to your quilting stitches.

See what the creative ladies have up on their design walls over at Judy’s.

Check out other thimble opinions over at Bonnie’s.

- – marcella

Actually, it’s been a design table sort of week rather than the design wall.

I’ve been making little bags again.  That bag making bug sure has hit me hard this year.  Who knew I’d like making little bags so much?

It started when I saw a little bag like this.

I thought it was so cute that I went looking for a pattern for the bag.  After very little looking I found directions here and decided to make some bags for Valentines day for some of my friends.

I dipped into my never ending supply of white cotton canvas for the outsides.  And yes, I still have some canvas left over but not too much.  I had red wool for the hearts in my stash as well.  Just a quick trip to the store for some zippers and a little Valentine theme fabric for the lining and I was ready to go.

Naturally, I messed with the instructions a little bit.  I sewed the front, zipper and lining in one seam. I skipped clipping the seam because it’s an inner curve not an outer one so what is the point?  Just a time waster in my mind.  I also skipped the binding on the bottom seams.  I used a wide zig zag set close together instead.  It made a neat finish and was very quick and easy.

The bags went together very quickly.

Before I knew it I had eight all finished.  I put a few treats of the chocolate sort inside and had fun giving them out to some of my friends.

Back to quilting this week.  I need to get moving on my unfinished project for February.  The month is half over and I haven’t even started on it yet.

Check out the links here and see what other creative quilters are up to this week.

- -marcella

I had great plans for sewing this week and then got hit by a sore throat and spent several days in bed.  Not so much sewing actually happened.

I did bind my ufo and got it finished.

I did use up the last of the scraps from that project and made the top for a preemie-quilt.  The quilt bee I belong to decided to make that our project for this year.  We’ll make quilts for the hospital to give the preemie babies.

And I made a Swoon block out of scraps from my other recently finished quilt.  The block is big (24 inches) so I think with a border added it will make a cute preemie quilt as well.  There are a lot more scraps to go so I think at least one more quilt will be made out of these fabrics.

Eagle eyes will notice that I didn’t have quite enough of the blue polka dot and did a little substituting.

Keep up with all the other quilters by visiting Judy’s blog.

- – marcella

It’s almost the end of the month and all I have left for my January unfinished project is the binding.  I had really hoped to have it all done this weekend but I am still searching for the perfect binding fabric.  Later today I’m scheduled to go to a friend’s house and raid her stash.  With luck I’ll find something there.

I am really pleased with how the simple straight line quilting turned out.  I just continued it across the whole top – even the borders.

With that as done as it can be without binding fabric I went back to working on the Orca Bay Mystery quilt.  Steps one and two are complete and I’m cutting out a zillion (or maybe just 354) pairs of little triangles.  I’ve got just over 200 cut out at this point.

The plan is to have them all sewn into little 2″ squares by the end of this week.

See what those creative quilters are up to over at Judy’s blog.

- – marcella

I took a quick break from the quilt re-assembly to make a couple of flannel receiving blankets.  With those out of the way it was back to finishing up the quilt top.

The top is finished and is now 38″ x 49″ which I think is a much more useable baby quilt size than the original 32″ x 39″.  It’s also much better looking with the sashing, I think.  Thanks to Judy D in AZ for the corner stones idea.

Then I took the scraps and pieced up the backing.  I had a pretty big piece of the border fabric left over.

And for all that, I still have a bunch of scraps left over.

This quilt was made from the scraps of another quilt and yet, they just seem to grow. It’s like wire coat hangers, they just multiply when you aren’t looking!  The last of scraps will likely go into a quilt for the NICU and then I hope they’re all used up.  If not, they will go in my scrap bag for the guild give away table and someone else can do something with them.

See what the other quilters are doing over at Judy’s.

- – marcella

I’ve been having fun working on putting the quilt top back together.  I’m really liking how it’s turning out with the sashing and scrappy cornerstones between the blocks.

Off to the side is one of the original borders.  I think I have enough of this fabric to use it for the borders on this version.

- – marcella

Here we are in the middle of January and I’m just getting started on this months unfinished project.

I found buried in the back of the pile a little quilt made from scraps of another quilt and a matching charm pack. I used Anita’s method of making square on point blocks.  I just made my template for a 5″ square. They made for very cute little blocks.  Where I went wrong was to just sew them together side by side, slap on two borders and call it a baby quilt top.

The blocks were just too busy, and it was just a tad too small for what I consider baby quilt size, and it just wasn’t what I wanted.  Into a bag and into the closet it went.  Until now.

For the past few days, I and my seam ripper have been taking it all apart.  The borders are off and nearly half of the rows have been dismantled, pressed and every little annoying thread bit thrown away.

Here are the blocks that have been taken apart so far.  I’m kind of liking the way the design wall looks like sashing.  I had been thinking of alternate plain blocks, but I may just sash them instead.

I’m pretty happy that I’d just bought a new lint roller.  It has sure been put to work cleaning up thread bits!

Now to find enough time by the end of the month to finish taking the top apart, sew it all back together and quilt and bind it.  This challenge is teaching me to be a faster quilter!

See what beautiful things the other quilters are up to over on Judy’s blog.

- – marcella

Usually on Mondays I try to report what has been going on in the sewing room.  There hasn’t been much happening in there.  I got a little bit of time to work on the mystery quilt and sewed a piles of triangles together.

I’m hoping now that nearly all of the holiday things are put away I can find some sewing time this coming week.

A lot of time this week was also spent in the kitchen.  We’re still swimming in lemons around here.

Two more batches of marmalade were made – the original lemon-vanilla and also an experiment of lemon-raspberry which looks beautiful.

Then there were the little individual lemon tarts -

Good but not stellar.  There was a lot of butter whipped into the lemon curd and it really blunted the lemon flavor.  Not a recipe I’d likely ever make again.  They were sure pretty though.

The unsatisfying tarts left me craving a really lemon-y dessert so I made a batch of Ina Garten’s lemon bars.

I like her recipe the best.  It has a greater filling to crust ratio than most lemon bars.  I put half the zest in the crust and the other half in the filling.  Other than that, I actually follow the recipe.

Then we spent a morning zesting and squeezing lemons and packaged up a lot of zest and juice for the freezer.

I think we’re down to just a dozen or so lemons in the fridge for cooking and such.

Visit Patchwork Times and see the real quilting that’s been going on.  Hopefully there will be more quilting here next week.

- – marcella

I’m really happy to have finished my December unfinished quilt project.  For a while there I really thought it wasn’t going to happen until well into January.

The center blocks got all the seams stitched down and then diagonal lines about 1/2″ on either side of the seams.

I really had some fun with the borders.  I pulled out the free motion foot and did some humps and bumps in the narrow border and some spirals in the wide outer border.

The quilt was finished off with a striped binding.  This time I was smart and did it all by machine.  I think that’s a good sturdy choice for a baby quilt that is likely to take a trip into the washing machine often.

Now it’s all ready for the arrival of my friend’s baby in February.

I’m excited to get back to the Orca Bay Mystery quilt.  The final step is up and wow is the quilt beautiful!  I can’t wait to get mine finished.

See what the other quilters have been working on over at patchwork times.

- – marcella

I’ve been working away in my sewing room but not on the design wall.  More like design table, or design ironing board.

I’ve been busy working on our Christmas ornaments.  56 ornaments!

They don’t look like much now, but in a few days the’ll be really cute. Promise!

When my son was little we used to make a different ornament every year.  We’d box them up and give them to friends and his school teachers and my husbands co-workers.  Then the company where my husband worked got bigger and bigger and my sons teacher list went from one or two to six and ornaments went by the wayside.

Then one year we did not manage a nice photo for our card.  We decided to make up for the lack of personalization on our cards by making ornaments that could be mailed.

The first year we did this we made the hawaiian shirt ornament.  My husband wears an aloha shirt every Friday to work and my sister had spotted the mini hawaiian print fabric at the fabric store.  I used the instructions for folding a dollar bill into a shirt as the start of the pattern although I added a few seams so that there are no raw edges.

We liked the idea but finding unique ornament ideas that fit in a regular envelope is a bit tricky so the ornaments don’t happen every year.  Twice I made origami ornaments adapted from flower patterns in a Kumiko Sudo book.

A couple of years ago I found a fairly simple snowflake pattern and tried really hard to remember my basic crochet and make little snowflakes out of purl cotton.

This year the family photo didn’t happen and I did find a cute ornament idea.  I played with it and ordered some wool felt and hopefully by the end of the week they’ll be tucked into cards and in the mail.

And, while looking for that ornament idea I actually found a second one.  Think I could be organized enough in a future year to make them before mid-December?

See what all the other busy quilters are doing here.

- – marcella