I don't hand quilt, but when I hand sew the binding on, I pad my 'pushing' finger with several layers of masking tape. That works pretty good, but I just bought a Clover open-sided thimble to try. It is size adjustable and doesn't cover the whole finger tip. I've just never been able to tolerate a regular thimble. There are also some sticky backed circle patches for sale for use on finger tips. Got my thimble from Connecting Threads.