Hey,

I have callas on both my first and second fingers of my left hand. I also quilt with both hands and wear a short black leather thimble on my left thumb I use it to push the needle when I am quilting with my left hand.

My natural nails are about the length shown in the picture and I don't think about them one way or another.

Wow, I wish my nails looked as nice as yours do! Over the last year or so mine have gotten little ridges, thin and splitting all the time. When they do grow out a bit I have to trim them all the way back cuz they have 'snags' all over them.

I know some professional quilters who have extraordinarily long nails, I don't know how they do it, LOL.

warm quilt hugs, sue

My nails are short. Besides quilting I garden and paint so nails just get in the way.

I always keep mine filed to the tip of my finger. Any longer, and I forget they are long and end up breaking them.

Mine are generally a little longer but had to cut them today in fact. I broke one and didn't want to break another.

I feel naked with short nails!

mine are about the same length as yours. well, not 'mine' mine. but i paid for them, so they're mine. they don't get in my way at all. when i garden, i remember to wear gloves. i keep the gloves in the tool bucket. when they get much longer, i immediately cut them back to that same length. i also keep them polished, sometimes with clear, to give them extra strength.

Mine are about the same length as yours. I use the open type thimble when I hand quilt so that the nail can poke out. I don't find that they cause any problem one way or the other.

I found if my nails are longer, I rake them across a bar of soap before I go garden. That way the soap is lodged under them instead of dirt. I just hate gloves..I'm trying to train myself to wear the latex gloves to garden in (we had boxes of them left from when DH needed me to nurse him back to health)...so I had plenty. They make my hands sweat tho'

Hey I use my natural nails doing that, thumb nail is extra hard. Eventually I poke a hole in the nail and have to clip it short.

My natural nails are a wee bit longer than those in the photos and they work great for sewing and even finger pressing seams, they are very hard. They work for a stylus too for marking a line on fabric. Just another tool, and free too.

That's a good idea Patti - only we use liquid soap, don't think that would work! :lol:

I poke holes in mine also!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: So glad that I'm not the only one that does this. :wink:

I knew a couple of guys who grew their nails long on their right hand for playing the guitar. But, just wondering, why do guys grow their pinky nail long?

Pinky nail! Geez, it has been years since I thought of this, but a man I remember when I was growing up, kept his pinky nail long for...get this...cleaning wax out of his ears. He was an old guy, guess he never heard of Q-tips. Gross anyway. I also remember a fellow who loved playing Spanish guitar, just beauiful music and he had long nails on his struming hand and the other hand had short nails. Interesting topics for quilting, huh?

Some guys grew their pinky nails long, because of their drug (Cocaine) habits. The pinky nail was the right size for a dose up the nose. But I wouldn't know much about these things. I was never into the heavier drugs.

Girls, you were talking about your fingernails that split and break easily. My doctor told me something to help my nails from the inside and it works well. He said to put extra virgin olive oil on my food on my plate and it would help the nails. It takes several months to grow the nails out, but it works. I don't put much on at a time--about 2 teaspoons full--because it does have calories. I don't miss a day even if it means I take my olive oil with me out of town. This works and is cheaper than all those things we paint on our nails. Hope this is helpful.
Wanda