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the owies

It's official. I'm old.
Saturday I weeded two small sections of the yard and did a small amount of housework. The next morning my joints ached so bad I actually took some pain medicine. Things weren't much better yesterday.Yesterday I spent several hours trying to finish up this quilt for the contest (it needs to go in the mail tomorrow), and woke up about 3am with every joint throughout my upper limbs throbbing. I pulled out Mom's blue emu cream, took a tylenol, and climbed back in the bed. Things are a little better now, but it is a little scary when our body starts to rebel against us just for doing routine activities.

On a different note, I made an interesting discovery yesterday. (Or should I say re-discovery?) You get what you pay for. Old info, yeah, I know. But lately I've had a major problem with this:
So yesterday after my SECOND quilting needle bent to the point it was next to impossible to use (I've actually had a few break this year.) I did what any modern woman would do: I googled "bent quilting needles" for a solution. And I found one!

Evidently cheaper needles bend or break frequently. They're not made sturdy enough to withhold three layers of material and the constant push/pull motion hand quilting requires. Several people on a few forums hashed out what brand was the best to use (as well as what size), and I did find that a few brands were consistently being mentioned. One lady mentioned one brand tended to work so well because they were made in England. Not sure what difference that makes, but I did remember that I had purchased a pack of quilting needles the last time I was in Etc Crafts, and took some time to find the pack. It wasn't a brand mentioned in the forum, but it WAS made in England. And the crazy thing is...I could FEEL the difference the minute I pulled it out of the pack. It was heavier and much sturdier. Now, that also means it punches into your finger harder, but I quilted for almost 2 hours with it yesterday and it has yet to bend. I might have to join the sewing snob ranks and insist on only the more expensive quilting needles. Now if there's a needle out there that will increase your sewing speed, I might even be willing to pay more for that! :)

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