@kowgiirl.up I think that may be the prettiest 127 I've ever seen! It's in amazing shape.

It explains why your husband considers your 66 to be a "boat anchor". It's one of the nicest red eyes I've seen. Oceans above boat anchor category.

He'd have a kiniption fit over my 15-88. It looked great when my Mom purchased it 18 years ago - though not as nice as your 127. Someone had already refurbished it nicely. However sitting unused in its cabinet in the dark, in Mom's climate controlled dining room, I opened for 15 years, she somehow managed to craze and chip dreadfully. Still sews beautifully, but she's slated for a paint job and new decals in the near future. A task I'm not looking forward to. You'll not have that problem with either machine. Lucky you!

Not to get into anything political, but on this side of the pond there is an issue with women over a "certain age" and of a particular skin tone that have had a moniker assigned to them beginning with the letter "k". When said women, as individuals, misbehave in public, it has become an acceptable " trend" to declare these events to be actual "news". Make no mistake - the behavior is usually egregious and virtually never happened as little as 20 years ago - but this particular group of women are absolutely not alone in their refusal to behave properly in today's society - yet only these women are singled out for national news coverage. I try not to look most days, but it's like someone is plopping a bloody car wreck at your front door. (I'm using the U.S. meaning of "bloody" in this instance, but it could work both ways)

Anyhow, today's k-word catastrophe involved a verbal explosion directed at a retail worker. Said anti-social woman allegedly screamed at the worker that she - the worker - was "worthless".

I personally have years/decades of retail customer service under my belt, and I have had lying, literally thieving, customers slander me to our corporate office. (No one believed the customer) and I even had a man strike me with an object when he was unhappy with a new store policy. (It was Christmas - I just excused myself to the long queue at my register and went to the stockroom and cried for 15 minutes. My boss later said not one customer complained - they just all moved to the ends of the other long lines!)

@Catllar I have ran into the type of worker you described - SO MANY TIMES - over the last 2 decades! It really begins to feel as if we are existing in an alternate reality.

Nope. With today's k-word catastrophe, I'd have to see the entire altercation in order to determine if the word "worthless" was used incorrectly. Rude? Yes. Dumb? Of course - if you're still expecting service. Possibly 100% true? Oh yeah. I've met far too many "workers" that fit that definition in recent years. I just mostly keep my mouth shut - except for the small amounts of acidic sarcasm I must quietly release in order to properly maintain my blood pressure.

I think if I did a tremendous amount of quilting or fabric crafting, I might want my thread out on display as I am very color conscious. And I would want and use a collection. But with garments and home dec, there is truly no need. I never need quick access to more than 3 or 4 colors at a time and rarely more than 1 or 2. To have this type of rack on the inside of a closet door would/could be convenient.

Mostly, my bucket list includes not collecting massive amounts of thread on cones. I only have 4 at the moment- probably 45-50 years old from my Grandmother. I'll probably have at least 3 of those to leave to my neice and nephew.

Being with my Mom so much during covid - a major element on my bucket list now is decluttering and not accumulating. I so dread dealing with Mom's "stuff".

@Ploshkin I last purchased a winter coat in February of '92, because I needed to spend 3 days in Chicago on business. It was a amazing coat, perfectly purple wool with a gorgeous shawl collar, lined and interlined - made in Russia. Kept me toasty warm in Chicago. Didn't wear it for another 7-8 years in Tennessee, when my niece was old enough to be in the Nutcracker. After 20 years, I forgot to put it in the cedar chest over the summer and moths got it.

A shorter wool coat is nice for driving. But at the mention of trench coats.......er....um....make that 7 coats in my stash.

I've heard others mention having problems with pre-wound bobbins from time to time. The bobbins themselves are usually not of the greatest quality and the slightest deviation in the moulding process can cause an issue.

Not familiar with your machine, but have you doubled checked to see that your bobbin is placed correctly in its case/shuttle? Then I would look to see that there's no thread or lint stuck in the bobbin area. Also, do you have your thread running thru the upper tension area properly? Is the thread on its spindle in a way that could cause it to catch on the tiny slice in the plastic, meant to hold the thread in place when it isn't being used?
Is it a new spool of thread that you've not used before?

@sewmuchmore @SkoutSews @Lemon Syllabub

I ordered one of these:

https://www.wawak.com/Cutting-Measuring/Patterns-Supplies/needle-point-tracing-wheel/?sku=CUT17

just before I realized I never use tracing paper for marking anymore. Then realized the needle points  on this wheel are excellent for transferring patterns.

I line pretty much everything made of wool - no matter what. Plus if it is too scratchy (made from too many cheaper short fibers) I don't buy it at all. I'm allergic to lanolin and really cheap wool is like wearing something that is constantly injecting an allergen into my skin.

While I may use an adhesive if and when I decide to quilt as that usage would be far superior to hand basting, I avoid adhesives as much as possible. If you replace the needle and sew on the same fabric without adhesive, does it seem to sew properly? If it is gumming up your needle, what else can it be gumming up? I'd try thoroughly cleaning or changing the needle and then thoroughly cleaning the feed dogs, bobbin and shuttle, you want to remove even microscopic bits of goo as they will attract dust, lint and thread - all not good for your machine when they reach the nether regions.

Even if a Chinese made product has been fine in the past, we have no assurance that they won't arbitrarily change the composition of anything to save a few pennies. Remember when they put melamine in cat food and so many pets died? Why should using a cheaper, gummier adhesive matter to them?

I like and trust the Chinese people, however their government and their manufacturers are a different matter.

In sewing almost anything, the time required to hand baste is mere minutes compared to the overall effort and the more you do it the faster it becomes.