Confessions of a Pin Thief

I'm a pin thief. In order to understand how I became a pin thief I share the following:

A few years ago when I worked in an office I was a pen thief. Oh, it happened innocently enough. I'd use the pen, stick it in my pocket (thank goodness for hair spray is all I can say!) to use later on in the day and come home. Put the pen on my dresser, dining room table or in my purse with the intention of bringing it back to work the next day. That sometimes happened, not so often as I would like to think.

Part of my job at the office was ordering office supplies, so over the years I've ordered lots of pens. Ball point pens blue, black & red. Felt tip pens, permanent markers. Retractable pens, highlighters, pens that are meant to be stationary (they usually weren't for too long, we tried though, we really tried). Correction pens (these are great! no more messy goop all over my fingers) and then there were the really good pens. Fountain pens and gel ink pens are by far my favorite styles of pens. The fountain pens are best for journaling and writing letters. A bit messy (okay, I'm the messy one with my writing hand somehow ending up on the ink and blotting it everywhere else great for ink blot tests, not so good for reading later on) but great an amazing writing experience. The gel pens with the really fine points are great for a lot of things including accounting work. With their really fine point I could write the numbers in those little tiny spaces in the column pads.

So back to the whole pin thief story. Back in August (I remember it oh so well) I went to my 20th HS Reunion. Had a great time. Met up with my classmates and enjoyed the evening. The DJ was too loud (of course) but hey, that's what he's there for. But I digress, part of the weekend was spent at a friends house quilting. As we prepared for the weekend my friend said that I just needed to bring my projects, I didn't need to bring pins, needles, sewing machine, scissors etc. She had it all there and I'm welcome to use what I needed. Thanks, it made packing a whole lot easier.

So Sunday morning I get there. I have projects to finish and deliver to my sister the next day so I really want to get some sewing done! I take them out of the box and begin pinning. I have the three "cutie purses" as I call them ready to go. And on one actually got most of the binding done, however, I was having problems with the thread breaking (I returned it) and with the needle slipping out because of the bulk, I'm sewing two quilts together with binding, so it makes sense. I get frustrated and put everything away, pins and all. I figure I'll send them to my sister in a couple of weeks. No problem.

Fast forward to yesterday, I finally get these purses out of the bag they were in and there they are, my friends pins! Oh-my-goodness, I can hardly believe my eyes. I realize I've made the move from pen thief to pin thief. What's next pun thief? Good grief. They're the good pins too, glass head, long, sharp, strong and fine.

As much as I had a thing for pens, I have a thing for pins too. As a quilter the search for good pins is on-going until just the right one comes along and you know, just know that this will be the pin for me. Over the years I bought long and short pins with little plastic balls on the end (if you have them a word of advice, keep them away from the iron!), I've purchased steel ball point pins that are really sharp, they work really well for pinning binding down. Then there are the two variations on the flower head pins. I really like the flower head pins and will always have some on hand. The are great for a variety of projects. Again there are the really good ones and the not so great ones. The really good ones can be ironed over, even on high heat and I've even stitched right through them. The challenge comes in when I have to break the flower head part, it's doable however it can be rather painful and they don't quite look so pretty any more. The not so great ones can't be ironed over and what a mess when I do. Thank goodness for iron cleaner is all I can say.

I did talk to my friend yesterday and told her what happened. She just laughed as she has lots of pins and it quite happy to share. It's good having a friend like that, one you can laugh with and just enjoy quilting. It makes being a pin thief a bit of a gift really.

Happy Quilting!

Teri

Oh and in a few weeks I'll be ordering some of these glass head pins!