In a recent creative stint whilst my Mum was in town, I made a quilt. My Mum, to be fair, provided me with a) all the pieces of material already cut up, b) a whole pile of guidance, c) pretty much bought all the equipment for me for my Birthday (Happy Birthday to me!), and d) also the motivation to actually finish it. Quilt now finished and winging its way to (grateful - well, they'd better be ;-)) recipients in the UK.
One of the things my Mum gave me was a book on quilting, called The *New* Sampler Quilt, by Diana Leone. Full of exciting tips and tricks, it takes you through how to make various components to create a sampler quilt (i.e. one which demonstrates many techniques, not dissimilar to an embroidery sampler).
Casually flicking through this (yes, I have become a quilting addict, have commenced my 2nd quilt (lovely corals and creams in French toile), have a third project waiting in the wings, and have just also promised to make a quilt for Beks (which, incidentally, will be an extremely thrifty quilt as it is going to be made from all her scrap bits of fabric - we are meeting this evening to plot styles and patterns)), I noticed much on thimbles.
Now, I am not a fan of thimbles - they hinder my work, I can't get to grips with them at all, and they really just seem to get in the way. The sentiments of thimbles in Peter Pan I can totally agree with (Wendy gives Peter a thimble, as she believes thimbles are kisses). However, the small metal things you wear for sewing? Nope, I just don't get it - they simply get in the way and I lose all control over the needle and end up with a higgledy-piggledy mess.
Anyway, this book recommends all manner of thimble-goodness, including purchasing 2 thimbles (I ask you? Two thimbles? Surely one is perfectly adequate? But, apparently not. Oh no, you should purchase two thimbles so that
you can wear one in the summer and wear the other in the winter. Yes - that is so that, when your fat Tory fingers (as Beks sweetly put it earlier) swell to the size of German sausages in the heat of the summer, you can use the larger of the two. Now, I don't know about you, but surely your fingers don't swell that much? (Although, you could also argue you needed 2 engagement/ wedding/ other rings, if you were going to be heartlessly mercenary about this!)
Perhaps the winter thimble should have a wool lining to ensure your fingers stay warm in the cold weather? Perhaps the summer thimble should have built-in air conditioning, or ice packs to ensure you don't get to sweaty?
But wait! There is more! This is not even yet the Two Thimble Technique!
Oh no, the Two Thimble Technique (may it be blessed in the hearts of hand-quilters for ever more) was created in 1975 by the world- (and, can one assume, with such prowess as this clearly demonstrates, galaxy-) venerated Michael James. I know you are just gagging to hear what the technique is ;-) So I will quote (courtesy Diana Leone).
"Two Thimble Technique
This technique is a very good method to learn, as you can quilt very fast, form very small stitches, and the underfinger does not get sore. [Ed. the image shows a thimble on the middle finger of each hand - one hand below, and one hand above the quilt.] The needle touches the bottom edge of the thimble on theunderhand. The bottom thimble pushes the needle back up into the quilt. Michael James introduced the two thimble technique [Ed. surely this warrants capitalisation?] in 1975. Practice this method and you will quickly become an expert."
Well, you heard what the woman said! Go! Practice! Quickly become an expert!
Or spend your entire time either unpicking the guddle, or picking up the blasted thimble from the floor.
...
Ah, I see where I have been going wrong - I have been wearing my summer thimble in the winter; it is too large for this time of the year, and I should swap to the smaller of the two!
