Tips from Country Quilter's Newsletter

Man...can you believe it....2 posts in one day! I just received my e-newsletter from Country Quilter's and I thought you would enjoy reading some of the tips in it.

Deer Repellant from Carol Carr

1 Egg, beaten well

2 TBSP. Mongolian Fire Oil (Asian foods part of store)

Add 24 oz water and keep in spray bottle.

Use once a week on your "dear" plants.

Also stopped the slugs on the Hostas and the rabbits weren't a problem either.

I found this recipe in Birds & Bloom (A/S 2002) - Pam T.

Insect and disease repellent for plants

Mix 2 TBSP of baking soda with 1 gallon of warm water, then add 1 tsp of baby shampoo or dish soap and a tsp of vegetable oil or horticultural oil. Test the mixture on a small area of leaves before spraying.

Fons & Porter tips –(I did not try out either one.)

¦ Combine three parts rubbing alcohol, one part water, and a squirt of CLEAR dish detergent to make a solution to remove pencil marks from fabric. Saturate a cotton ball with the solution and rub over the pencil marks.

¦ To make environmentally safe spray starch, combine 2 cups cold water and 1 tablespoon cornstarch for light starch or 2-3 tablespoons cornstarch for heavy starch in a spray bottle or plant mister. Since starch tends to settle, shake well before using.

This tip found at About.com Quilting Community

¦ A tip from a repairman: The most common problem with machines is the thread tension going bad, and one thing that causes it is repeated misuse of the tension discs.

When you change your spool of thread, you most likely take the spool off and just pull the thread out of the machine. By doing that, you are actually forcing the thread to go backwards through a path that it is only meant to go forwards. Instead, you should snip the thread up near the spool, then grasp the other end of the thread and pull it out of the machine so that it follows the same path as it does when you're sewing.

Yes, you might be "wasting" several inches of thread by doing it that way, but the small waste is much cheaper than taking your machine in for service more than should be required.

Websites

http://nixiechicks.com – 108” wide backing for $6.95

http://www.quiltfabricdeals.com - They have a daily deal posted early in the morning, and sell till it's gone; usually it's gone early in the day; regular fabric is also at a steal.

http://www.sewing.org – different interests