Thursday, December 18, 2008

Thimble talk and more!

I recently talked to a fellow blogger about hand-sewing. I shared my thimble experiences with her. This is a photo of my favorite thimble:


There are several types of this style thimble on the market. However most are lighter weight than mine are. I like the heavier ones. The light ones are probably just as nice but for some reason the 'feel' of the heavier ones suits my brain better. :) I love the ridge around the top. I wish I knew the maker of these! If I were to see it again I would recognize it by the packaging. It was a simple small zip-lock baggie with a cardboard insert, IF I remember correctly, that is! I purchased it at a quilt show several years ago. I have seen them in quilt shops in CA too. I need to find some again and buy myself a spare one!

I've tried many different thimbles with the exception of the Roxanne ones. Someday I hope to try one of them, but truly this thimble, that I already have, makes me so happy, I don't feel the need to buy anything else. Heaven help me if I were to lose it! I have one in size nine and one in size ten as I find my finger changes sizes with weather and health. :)


One quick project, I just tried, is this coaster:
It was made from the selvage edges of a quilt I recently finished. I just crocheted the selvage strips into a simple circle pattern.


I continue to work on the hex-quilt. I am making dozens of only black hexagons now, as I near the end of this project.
December 18th progress:

Back:

Close-up of the back:
A sewing machine will never touch this quilt. IF I ever finish the top, I will be hand quilting it too. All the hexagons are joined by hand. The back shows some of the hexagon papers still in place. I have a pretty good sized bin of hexy papers I have taken out of it. I reuse many of them as I keep adding to this quilt. It will be king sized when done.

Off to sew more on a few projects that don't have deadlines. Fabric therapy makes me very happy! :D


4 comments:

Bee Square Fabrics said...

A king sized quilt??? By hand??? You are a mad woman! I am quite impressed.

It is absolutely gorgeous and I hope it lasts for many generations.

Thank you for sharing your thimble! I like all the ridges in it, it looks like it will grab the needle nicely. The close up picture of it reminds me of a cake mold, and now I'm hungry for some sweets. :)

Thanks again, I appreciate all your feedback on hand quilting.

Best, Diane

Alikat said...

I have been in love with this quilt from the off, I particularly love the black border. You are truly insane but brilliantly so

((HUGS))

Ali

grendelskin said...

The hexagons are gorgeous! Love the black in between and your black-and-white borders too. I have just started mine - it's remarkable how many itsy-bitsy pieces of fabric I have that are just right for this! Nice and portable, like you said, for a while ... in several years I should have a lovely outcome! Thank you for the inspiration!

Sherri D said...

Thank you Grendelsmom! However there are not black and white borders...you might be seeing the papers still inside the black hexagons. That is on the backside of the quilt. Click on the photo to see a closeup look.
Thank you for visiting my blog!