I am "lucky" enough to have 3 sets for 12 plus a luncheon set, and I use them for everyday and have found that the Connoisseur Silver Wipes, sold at Bed, Bath and Beyond are great. Riverrat turned me to those and when I get down to 3 sheets, I go for a new box. Just wet the silver and wipe/rub and the tarnish is gone. I also was buying the Hagerty silver dip at BB&B but they no longer carry it. Wrights is fast but the silver seems to tarnish much faster than with Hagerty. You can buy the silver cloth at the fabric store and line a drawer or flatware tray and it really does help. Keep it "cacooned". Also, made by Hagerty are silver strips, long narrow strips of a treated paper that you can place in the drawer to prevent tarnish. Great for larger items placed in a zip bag, like a coffee pot or tray. Never, ever put the silver in the dishwasher mixed with your stainless. You can dishwasher it, but they cannot touch or you will have black tarnish like marks. But most importantly, use your silver when ever you can.

Laura, I'm working with dolphin fabric right now and using the Snowball block with an alternating Friendship Star block. I'm making the star WOW, the corners of the Snowball and Star block the same fabric of blue bubbles and of course, the dark blue with dolphins and whales for the main part of the Snowball and HST of the star. The site below gives various blocks that will work with a Snowball block if you want to consider it..... SharonG/FL Here is a link that might be useful: Snowball +

Red, I don't have any silver to trade right now because I still need what I have to finish my Grandma's Kitchen quilt. But I did find some really pretty silver metallic fabric online a while back when I was looking. It's from the Michael Miller line "Fairy Frost". Very pretty colors! Here is a link that might be useful: Fairy Frost

Here's the beginning stages of mock up header practice. In these practice headers, I am not using the actual drapery fabric (to save on expense). This is not the actual rod & rings to be used in the final drapery. I used one of the rods currently in my home. One header is using train print fabric, lavender felt (which is much thicker than the actual interlining) & muslin for lining. I used the hand sewn method I mentioned in my first post. I made a backing band (covered in the actual lining that will be used) & hand stitched it to the gathered portion of the header. Instead of using buckram for the band, I used something a bit more pliable, so not to be too stiff. I was thinking that if I used buckram, the drapery may not scrunch up very well when moving the drapery from the closed position to the opened position. The next header to try out will use a solid silver fabric, thin cotton flannel (to represent the interlining) & the actual lining fabric. I have not sewn this practice header, yet. I could not find a 1 1/2" - 2" gather tape. I found two different 1" tapes (both have 2 cords). Not sure which one to use. The one that has the "channels" for inserting drapery pins/hooks is a little bit thinner than the other one. Since these drapes will be opened & closed daily, the slightly thicker one may be better for inserting hooks. See beginning pics of this header in my next post (I reached my photo maximum allowed in this post already) Another thought I had was...I could hand sew small rings to the back of the finished header so I won't need to insert the hooks directly into any of the bands or fabric? In the last pics, you can see how the drapery hooks move out of vertical position easily. That may not work out well when opening & closing drapes. I noticed that they sell drapery hooks in different sizes. I may be able to get smaller ones than what I currently have. Keep in mind that the actual fabric we will use in the final project has a softer and more supple feel to it compared to any of my practice fabric. The actual fabric is a blend : cotton 46%, wool 26%, silk 28%. It is solid & color is silver. The practice header is narrower than the actual width of the final drape. First pic represents "closed drape", second pic is "opened". Third pic is open (top view), fourth is closed. Last pic shows how hook moves...not sure what that will do to fabric over time.