I've been determined with the most recent hand quilting project to learn to use a thimble. Just started using a spoon to help with the underneath hand being stuck all the time and that's working wonderfully so thought I'd work on protecting the other hand too. I love to quilt by hand and find it very relaxing but it's sure rough on the hands! This morning I noticed the first finger on my right hand was really sore and then started wondering what I could have done to it to make it so tender. I started paying closer attention to what I was doing and found I'm avoiding the finger with the thimble on it and pushing the needle through with the first finger. That's defeating the whole purpose so off went the thimble. Maybe next time.