Clean your machine ...

Or the lint monsters WILL GET YOU.

Red Lint Monster

See? This is BAD. I have been quilting and quilting and quilting on the Third Weekend in October quilt and not paying attention to the amount of thread I'm running through my Baby. (Lots!)

The picture shows what happens when you do at least 30 hours of FMQ without doing a little maintenance. I'm not talking about having your machine serviced -- I'm talking about the stuff the experts recommend you do after every 8 hours of sewing. Do you know that stuff? Here is a quick rundown:

1) Clean your lint out! You don't have to take your machine apart! Most machines these days have an 'escape hatch' for your bobbin case so you don't have to take the tiny screwdriver to those tiny screws in the throat plate. To get to the dirty part I slide the gray plastic 'escape hatch' off -- its the part that fills in the L-shaped area between the metal throat plate and the white base of the sewing machine --- so that I can lift out the bobbin case and quickly swish the fuzzies out with my little lint brush. If you are nervous about moving pieces in your machine you can likely ask the service people to show you how to do this when you take your machine in for your "yearly" maintenance.

2) Change your needle! I'm not joking here girls - the standard sewing needle is good for about 8 hours of use. Needles are one of the cheapest notions out there and you will be helping your machine out a lot if you give it nice sharp needles to work with instead of DULL ones. DO NOT wait until they BREAK to replace them! That is like waiting for your car engine to explode before you get an oil change ... just not healthy for that expensive machinery!

3) You're done, you have a happy machine! Now treat yourself to something nice --- like a cup of tea or a glass of wine or maybe even a fresh new rotary blade :)