Quilting ~ Cleaning And Thinking

 A recent e-mail from a new follower of my blog has triggered this post.  Triggered in a good way.  She was new to this area of Podunk and wanted fabric shopping suggestions.  We are like souls when it comes to fabric.  This topic has been discussed here many times over the years and is the reason for my quilting hero in the sidebar of this blog.  So, this is a heads up to leave now if you don't want to hear once again how I feel about quilt rules and quilt police.

There are some dirty truths in the quilting world.  The most important rule I've learn in my 38 years of quilting is most rules are merely suggestions.  Almost all the rules have been broken many times in my quilting room.  Sure, I try to follow some of the basic rules like the quarter inch seam, but it too has been broken when needed.  

There are more rules I break on a regular basis like...use only cotton for fabric, batting and thread...change your needle and rotary cutter after every project...clean and moisturize your cutting mat every 2 or 3 months...clean your sewing machine after every project.  

And then there's the rules for quilting on a frame.  Needle changes, cleaning...blah blah blah. (eye roll).  My quilter wheels haven't been cleaned in a long time and the only reason they are getting cleaned now is because I was getting some inconsistent stitches.  While cleaning I found a maintenance issues that might have caused the problem.  A loose nut on this bolt that holds my front to back stitch regulator encoder.  A quick chat with Mr. Podunk and he found a locking nut in his stash that will stop this from ever happening again.

Below is the side-to-side stitch regulator encoder.  It had no issues other than having a huge amount of lint on the outside of the wheel.  I don't think this was a problem, but I cleaned it anyway.  

Sure, my quilter and frame are both quite dirty, but I think the real problem was the loose bolt not the dirt.  Today before loading a new quilt on the frame, I'll give the machine a quick dusting to remove the lint and then a good oiling because I haven't done either in weeks.  I think I just heard the quilt police gasp...WEEKS!

 I won't be changing the needle because it's been working just fine for almost a month.  When I see skipped stitches or hear popping sounds when the needle goes through the fabric is when it will be changed.

The next quilt top to be loaded onto the frame was pieced with serger thread, my preferred thread for piecing.  YES, serger thread.  They say you shouldn't use serger thread, but have for many years.  I know many quilters who use it for both piecing and quilting on a longarm.  The quilt top was made with quilt shop quality fabric but the backing will be Walmart Waverly cotton.  I love and support my local quilt shop when I can and when they have what I want or need but sometimes I like the looks of a cheap print better.  It isn't always about price.  

 The batting for this quilt, not cotton...100% polyester.  It's easy on my allergies and makes the quilting pop.  And my go-to quilting thread is 100% polyester, good quality, Superior Threads Micro Quilter 100wt, 7002.  I pay a little extra for this because I like the way it looks on the quilt.  

My point to this post was not to say "they" are wrong about quilting suggestions/rules but...

Before I knew these rules, things were working okay and my quilts were loved even when made with cheap fabric and a sewing machine jammed full of lint.  The internet came along and put way too many rules on quilting.

It's okay to quilt how you want to quilt and ignore the quilt police.

All quilts are made with love and that's all that matters.

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