"Perforated Fingertips" or "The Gentle Art of Hand Quilting"

On Saturday I attended an introduction to hand quilting class at my LQS.  I booked this several weeks ago and when I booked it was purely to find out how to hand quilt with no intention of using my hopefully new found skill in the near future.  That was until I received the rainbow hexagons quilt and, as it is totally hand sewn, I started to toy with the idea of hand quilting it somehow.


Rather than jumping the gun and buying all the necessary threads, needles etc, I was patient and waited until I'd found out at the class a) if I could manage hand quilting and b) if I enjoyed it enough to embark on a large project.

And even though it was only a small piece I'm happy to say I enjoyed hand quilting (although it does take a lot of concentration) and I love the effect and look of it.

I'm going to have to find a better fitting, and if at all possible more comfortable, thimble but I'm now considering how best to hand quilt a large quilt.


And why the slightly odd post title?

You use one of the fingers on your none sewing hand to tell when the tip of the quilting needle is through the quilt.  After only a very short period of time hand quilting the skin on my middle finger is already quite roughed up.  Not helped by sewing myself to the work once or twice.  Goodness knows what it'll be like after doing a whole quilt! Any tips on how to avoid a callous on that finger gratefully received.