June 2005...

Today’s column is a Quilter’s public service announcement.  Read it carefully and pay attention, it just may save you some pain (or some work).  I recently had an injury from a run-in with a wicked sharp potato peeler.  Y’know, my hubby loves to cook and has proclaimed Sundays “Roast Beef with all the Fixins”.  He had spent a tiring day cleaning out the garage and sprucing up the yard so I thought I would do the wife thing and help him out with his kitchen chores.  As fate would have it I decided to peel just one more spud and was almost done when oops! that slippery tater jumped out of my hand and I took a chunk out of my index finger RIGHT WHERE MY HAND QUILTING CALLOUS WAS.  Oh—my—gosh!  NOW what was I gonna do??  My entire past-time was on hold now – just great.  I knew just how a surgeon must feel.  Well, I wrapped it up and whined enough to get the kids to wash the dishes, and sat on the couch feeling every heartbeat throbbing through my injured digit. And I got to thinking – being domestic is not very conducive to quilt-making.  Think about it – potato peelers, knives, graters.  A quilter’s hands are their tools. So the best advice I can offer to you, my valuable friends, is don’t jeopardize your quilting career by slicing vegetables, don’t reach into a hot oven.  Don’t even risk washing windows – just think what could happen if it broke!  No, my friends, your hands are way too important to be performing menial tasks.  You are a creator – demand to be respected!  If that doesn’t work, whine a little.  ;0)