playing with sharp objects

The other day I was sewing the ends of my quilting into the layers of the quilt (sorry, C. but I like it that way) and stabbed myself in the right thumb with my sewing needle (I'm left handed).

I looked around me and realised just how many sharp objects are part of my everyday life. Apart from the needle I had in my hand, in front of me was my sewing machine which also has an extremely sharp and potentially dangerous needle, given the speed at which it can move.

To the right of my sewing machine, my tool box contained long, flat, quilting pins and a container of round headed pins; as well as spare needles for the sewing machine, a pair of very sharp (and pointy) dressmaking scissors, my rotary cutter and a spare blade.

To my left was a pin cushion which is used to hold that one solitary sewing needle when I'm not actually using it, a container of sewing needles, a small pair of stork-shaped embroidery scissors, my stitch ripper and a broken (and therefore sharp) plastic-and-wire needle threader.

The quilting block I was holding also held several curved safety pins which I use to baste my quilts and on my desk was the container of about four hundred open safety pins (my teacher told me to leave them open rather than closing them after use and opening them again when I need to use them).

On the other side of the room, on the back of my cutting table, is my recently acquired Accuquilt Go Baby die cutter in its very own sleeping bag. Not an essential piece of quilting equipment, and certainly not used every day, but the dies are nonetheless sharp. In a drawer underneath, is DD's right-handed rotary cutter.

After dinner, which I ate with a knife and fork (both having sharp parts), I went to the living room to work on the Pinwheel Blanket. On the floor beside my chair was a set of Knitpicks nickel plated tips on a sixty centimetre (24") cord - they are pretty sharp, much sharper than the Harmony wooden needles. Nearby lay another pincushion, this one holding the tapestry needle that I use for sewing up my knitting and several straight safety pins. There was also a usable but broken (and therefore sharp) all-metal yarn threader, a pair of suture scissors (at least that's what my sister-in-law, a midwife, tells me they are), a pair of 2.75mm dpns that I used to graft pieces together, one 2.75mm straight needle and one 3mm straight needle (which I used to graft larger pieces together) and a packet of crochet hooks in various sizes from 2mm - 5mm.

I am very grateful for the person (or persons) who realised that sharp objects make our lives a lot easier!