update on the widow's quilt

Remember my whine a few days ago? The widow's quilt made from very mixed fabrics, the horrible breaking thread? Following Polly's advice, I went to the LQS in search of silicone for my thread spool. No luck. Thought of trying a hardware store, but I'll need to do some linguistic research first. Meanwhile, I was out of green-band quilting needles, but the LQS had Madeira titanium embroidery needles. So I bought some of those. I'm in love! If you haven't tried these, please do, they really rock and roll! The needles *almost* solved my problems, but not entirely. Then I had a lightbulb moment while watching that slightly stretchy polo shirt fabric go up and down: the big foot free-motion quilting presser foot was having trouble forming the stitch. So I switched to the small generic darning foot, which seems to apply all the pressure to just the small area around the needle. Less flopping, and less thread breaking! No more skipped stitches! So now quilting is fun again, and I won't go bald from tearing my hair. Roberta in D

Reply to
Roberta Zollner
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I am just delighted that you've solved the problem and told us your solutions. Thank you for sharing the journey with us; it will help us so much in the future when things are not going well. Now, as to the silicone. I did a little looking around for you. Here's what I found. First I went to Nancy's Notions and Clotilde - assuming that both of them carried it and did international shipping. They don't have it, neither one. Hard to imagine. Then, I tried Big Horn because that online quilt shop is so big I guessed they carried just about everything. The name of the product is Sewer's Aid. It is produced by Prym-Dritz. The little bottle is only ½ ounce and, even with constant use, that tiny amount lasts for a year or more for me. An amount smaller than a drop does wonders. Before I suggested Big Horn, I wanted to be sure that they would ship to you. Reading their shipping information was an eye-opener. For example, they say they do not ship to Nigeria. Ever. Wonder what that's about? Polly

"Roberta Zollner" Remember my whine a few days ago? The widow's quilt made from very mixed

Reply to
Polly Esther

Thanks, it's good to have the exact name. I'll look around over here, we do have online stores! Somebody must sell it! Or I'll have it sent to DD1 in Washington, and she can bring it next time she visits. (She keeps saying she really doesn't mind being my personal mail assistant.) As for Nigeria, they will have to find their own mail assistants. Roberta in D

"Polly Esther" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net...

Reply to
Roberta Zollner

Thanks for the tip about the titanium embroidery needles, Roberta. I will keep them in mind.

So glad you got the quilting problem solved. Nothing more frustrating than wanting to zoom along, and being hindered at every step. Heck I even hate to stop to fill up my bobbin. ;-)

Reply to
Michelle C

Some postal systems are more reliable than others. I went to the post office yesterday for posting costs to the US, Australia, Canada and the EU for parcels I will send out after I've received all the Postage Stamp Charm swap packages. The postie specifically asked if I were sending to Italy, which is within the EU, and said that of course, "delivery times varied" for that country.

A couple of years ago, when I went to Russia briefly, I contacted Bighorn quilts and asked if they were willing to ship to Russia. The owner advised me to get it taken over in a diplomat's bag, rather than shipping it directly. As I do not know any diplomats, I went fabric-less.

-- Jo in Scotland

Reply to
Johanna Gibson

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