Product Review: Marcia Baraldi Quilting Grip Gloves Part 1

 

I like to do both walking foot and free motion machine quilting and for that to work out for my hands, I need some help. Usually I wear these Machingers quilting gloves which are wonderful. These are a great improvement over the knit gardening gloves I used to wear back when I started quilting. They're lightweight and flexible and the grippy material on the finger tips helps a lot.

 I also use the Steady Betty Bands quite a bit, I reviewed them here. the foam grippers really help me to not grab onto the quilt as I'm moving it around and keep more of my palm in contact. That's where the real control comes in. It also saves you from very sore hands.

Recently I saw a recommendation for this new to me quilting glove design made by a Brazilian quilter, Marcia Baraldi.

They're very adjustable and feel great, nothing scratchy or poky which I'm pretty sensitive to. They were easy to get situated on my hands and adjusted to a firm but not too tight fit. I have very large hands, and these gloves are only offered in one-size fits all so I was happy to see how well they fit me. It's possible they'd be too large for someone with very small hands. 

Instead of the Machingers gloves emphasis on the grippy-ness of just the fingertips, this design is all about the palm. And they cover much more of the palm than the Betty Bands. This will mean they're much better for control, and for saving your hands, especially if you have arthritis or other hand issues. It's also better ergonomically for your neck, upper back and shoulders because if your fingers aren't in derma-grip tension then the rest of you can relax. 

When I opened up the package, the smell was really overwhelming so I wasn't able to try using them on a quilt right away, After a few days, including one outside in the sun, the smell pretty much went away. The bands that go around your hand and finger are made out of a soft neoprene. Maybe that's what it was? Or something to do with the rubbery textured palm piece? 

As I was writing this post I noticed in the pictures how dirty my Machingers and Betty Bands were, so I washed them and hung them out side to dry along with the Grip Gloves. Much better! Usually when I'm done quilting, the last thing I think about is washing my tools. The Machingers fingertips did not come quite clean because of the rubberized coating, not sure what to do about that. No all-white quilts for me I guess.

 

Part 2 of  the review tomorrow after I actually do some quilting with them.

What The Right Hand Knows

Wish me luck, as I'm having hand surgery this morning.  Hopefully this will bring my pinky finger back into full use.  I miss it. 

(oh and this figure actually does have all five fingers, just the angle of the photo doesn't show one of them!)

Recent Additions

All of these were purchased back in January in Half Moon Bay while I was there for the CQFA retreat, at a little shop called Tokenz.
First is a big anti-evil-eye glass charm to hang over the front door.  This is about 3" wide.  One of my favorite symbols.  Never had seen one this large before!

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 I'd never seen cone shells sliced like this before, thought the shapes were really intriguing.  Probably too delicate for quilt embellishing but maybe for printing or stamp carving?

Who doesn't need a lightweight bracelet of skulls?  Well not me really, not something I'd wear except maybe in October. I predict that these will end up on the next Dia de los Muertos quilt that I make.

Teeny tiny doodads for embellishments.  This store had a wall of big jars of this things, it was fun to go through and pick out a few I thought I might use at some point on a quilt.

 A right hand figure, to help me meditate on upcoming re-repair tendon pinky finger surgery.  But now that I look at it more closely, maybe not such a great model to use as I'm not planning to have the pinky finger removed. hmmm

A pony-tail holder of felted green woolen spikes.  Not so easy to spot against t

green background.  So here I am against the more neutral house.  Except for the purple window trim of course.  Are you surprised I insisted on purple trim when we repainted?

Last Post Of The Year

I can't believe it is the very last day of the year! This year has gone by so quickly it seems to me, and 2010 is here already. (doesn't that sound soooo futuristic?!) I hope that you've had a lovely holiday season and enjoy some festive fun this New Year's evening.

It has been more than a month since I've blogged here, a very long break for me, but it was unfortunately necessary. This hand surgery recovery really was much harder than I had imagined. There have been many many times I've wished I had not even had the surgery or that I'd just broken a bone instead (much easier recovery!).

It was a pretty depressing December because of the pain and forced inactivity and I just didn't want to blog all about that. I didn't want to think about it, much less write about it, and I figured you wouldn't particularly want to read about it.

I also felt very inauthentic posting anything happy or creative because I wasn't, and it felt like lying. I had to pretty much just ignore Blogland altogether because it made me even more depressed about all the stuff I couldn't do or make or try or participate in.
This is the rig I was in for 4.5 weeks, it is called a dorsal blocking splint and the main purpose was to not allow me to straighten my repaired tendon before it was healed enough. The hooks were superglued to my fingernails with little fishing line/spring/velcro cords to use for bending my fingers. I was part machine for a bit there! The blue straps were this industrial strength velcro which wrapped the whole thing around my forearm.

Then after those long 4.5 weeks I got my forefinger back and could pinch stuff, which helped with wrapping Christmas presents and driving.

And as of yesterday I'm completely out of the splint and able to type two handed for a little bit at a time. And I have used my scissors and sewing machine exactly once (to repair a sweater for my son, don't get too excited!). As of now, I am only supposed to lift something as heavy as a soda can. Did you know most of your grip strength is in your pinky and ring finger?

There is a long way to go with hand therapy before I'll really have the full use of my hand back, and I'm not sure it will ever be the same again. It will be a lot better than now though and that will just have to be good enough. I'll learn to deal and adapt. And I'll never ever take my hands for granted ever again.

I'll leave you with a picture of our Christmas tree/Hannukkah Bush before it "fell over" (no one quite knows what happens, but I'm pretty sure it was one of our cats). Luckily it was after we'd opened most of our presents. Only a few got really soaked and had to be re-wrapped before we could give them to relatives we were to see over the next few weeks. And not too many ornaments were broken which was a good thing. Usually we anchor the top somehow, but it didn't happen this year.

Wishing you a PEACE-filled year ahead!

Pumpkins In The Palm Of My Hand

Here are two of the three pumpkins I managed to grow this year. Aren't they the cutest little things? Baby Mini Jack from Renee's Garden Seeds.

So perfectly formed and miniature. They feel really nice in the hand and are making me smile just looking at them.

You can also spot the injury I unfortunately sustained while carving our larger pumpkins. Gory story, but it turns out I have cut one of the tendons in my pinky finger. Yes, of course on my right hand. And yes, I am right-handed. Sigh. I have a consult with the surgeon on Monday, hopefully the surgery and rehab won't be too awful. But it sure would be nice to be able to bend the tip of my finger again and have my whole hand not be so painful. Very hard to do a lot of things, especially gripping and controlling small things and heavy lifting. I'm adapting but it is most definitely slowing me down in the making art everyday and writing a novel projects I was attempting this month. What a bummer. But I'm not giving up!

Henna hands

Here are some pictures of what my hands look like today. I got hennaed at a friend and sister priestess' 50th birthday party on Friday. We were all gathered to welcome another priestess to our group Sisterhood of the Silver Branch, and so I chose some symbols that would be appropriate for my role in the ceremony. On my right hand is a pomegranate with some crescent moons.

I always wondered what it would be like to have henna done, and it was quite an experience. It was hard not to fidget or stretch my hands. It felt like a real luxury (it was quite spendy) and a big treat to have myself taken care of and attended to in this way. It also was fabulous to do it with a group of friends like this too.

On my left hand is my personal symbol, similar to the traditional buddha eye .

The henna is darkening even more since I took the pictures this morning, I wonder how long it will last???