I felt your pain this morning Steve! Literally LOL. Not for quilting, but I snapped 2 needles in half hand hemming a pair of carpenter pants for JB to wear to work. The first two were perfect for sharpness, but snapped after a short time (dritz brand by the way) and the third one was an off brand that came in a really cute little sewing box JB got for me, but man, it was much thicker, but boy howdy was it dull!! I had to pull out ultra thick leather thimble for that puppy!! It took longer with the bigger needle, but I managed to get the job done. I'm sooo glad I opted not to try to hem that heavy denim on my new machine!! I only have a couple of needles for it and I'm guarding those like gold. Makes me wonder exactly what I'm going to do when I get ready to quilt the memory quilt I have in the works, its mostly denim.