Hi everyone!
                       Well, I could have saved this post for tomorrow, but this house is going to be full of food, family and fun tomorrow!  So, while it's peaceful, I'll post this....

          The great adventure---quilting with No. 8 crochet cotton...........
                        First, I threw together a tiny wall hanging.  Yuppers....tiny.  It's only about 13" square.  Then I dove into quilting it with the new variegated threads I bought yesterday.  After spending a few hours with this little piece, a few things dawned on me and I slowly drew a few conclusions.

      First, let me show you the wall hanging.  I know it's only partially done, but I don't think it will get completed...you'll see why.  (Disclaimer:  No, it is NOT wonky around the edges...the picture just came out that way....but many of you will already know that! :)  The star is a small pineapple block applied raw edge with two rows of stitches. 

       First off, I did the "rays" running out from the star in the variegated red.  Break.  Rethread.  Break.  Rethread.  Break.  Re----well, you get the picture.  Just in the rays alone, I must have had at least 10 breaks. The thread seemed to FRAY as it slid through the threading of my machine.  By the time it got to the needle, it seemed pretty frayed.  I suppose I should be lucky it stitched as far as it did between breaks.
        I was disappointed, because when I quilted that deep purple swatch with white, I had absolutely NO breaks. 
  


















 And with the "chunky" thread, if you do "repairs," they REALLY look bad!   I kept stitching, adjusting tension, threading path, speed, various things.  To no avail.  Break.  Rethread,  Break.  Rethread.  Break.  Re---you get it.

                  Okay, time to sit back and think about this.....oh....and examine my thread a bit closer.  HHHmmm.....the red variegated ball of thread wasn't the same shape as the white one I'd used before. It's more square---not as rounded.  It's....Uh. Oh.....a different brand.
                   It seems I was so jazzed about getting such a great price on that package of gorgeous thread, I paid little attention to manufacturer.  Dumb?  Yeah....well....it's an age thing.  When you reach 58, you get to blame everything on age!
               The variegated is NOT DMC.  Or Anchor.  It's uuuhhhh.....Sensations....neverheardofthebrand. *sigh*

Egyptian cotton, manufactured in Mexico.   I know you can't see it very well, but the DMC ball is CLEARLY more round than the....uh...other brand.  Not that the shape makes a difference as to the thread performance, but it's just something I should have noticed and then checked the brand.












Okay, so just for the heck of it, I change the top and bottom to the DMC and do that little bit of cross-hatch quilting in the corner.  What do you know!  No break.  No rethread.






  What conclusion did I reach?  When you get a good price on something, sometimes you pay for it!

          I'm going to do another star wall hanging.  I have another spool (a larger one) of the No. 8 DMC in white.  At least I've gotten a bit smarter.  Now all I have to do is find DMC balls of No 8 in COLORS.  So if anyone can hook me up with a good source for what I'm looking for, I'd sure appreciate it!

        Meantime, back to the drawing board!  Blessings!