Hi , 

It feels great to be back to making larger quilts again and I've been piecing more in the last two months than I have in the past two years!

BUT with more sewing / piecing time comes a task that's easy to forget - cleaning and oiling my sewing machines. I had put it off for a bit too long and opened up my machine to find: 

Dust bunnies! This is definitely not the kind of bunny I want to sew. 

Ever heard a bad noise and found an ugly wad of thread and dust bunnies stitched to your seam allowance? Yep, this lint build-up is normal because we're stitching thread and fabric - two things that create dust and lint in our machines.

Yes, piecing with low lint thread, and quilting with no lint thread can definitely help, but eventually a machine making many quilt tops or quilting many quilts is going to need a good cleaning and oiling. Here's a video on how I clean and oil my home sewing machines in detail:

If you're short on time, here's a quicker version of this video on how I clean and oil my Qnique longarms:

Whenever I share this video, I always receive the same questions - how often must I do this? Can't I use Can of Air to blow it out? My machine manual says it doesn't need oil - so I don't need to do this, right? Here's my take:

How often? - I like to clean and oil my machines after changing 2 bobbins. If you're changing thread colors a lot this can make this time tricky to gauge. In that case, clean and oil your machine at the end of one quilt / beginning of the next project. That way you're getting started with your best stitch forward!

Use Can of Air? - No. No. No. Please don't do use anything like Can of Air on your sewing machine. Forcefully blowing air against the lint will push it deeper into your sewing machine. 

It's also not just air in those cans - they also have a tiny bit of oil in them too, which can bind up the lint and literally glue it to your machine parts. I've heard from enough machine repairmen to know, Can of Air is no good for sewing machines. 

Use a brush and take your time. If you spent $300 on your sewing machine or more, it's worth spending 5 minutes a month to keep it running smoothly.

No Oil Machines Require No Cleaning? - If you have a machine that can oil itself, does that also mean it can clean itself? No!

Your machine will fill up with lint. This lint will eventually break your machine, most likely after the warranty period is over. Then you'll either be on the hook for expensive repairs, or encouraged to trade-in for a new machine. This No-Oil-Machine thing is a gimmick, nothing more.

All machines, whether they are chain saws or sewing machines, need oil and maintenance to run well for years on end. Take the time to take care of your equipment and every stitch will be easier and smoother from there. 

Here's a link to the Microtip bottles I use for oiling my sewing machine. It's so nice to be able to control the flow of the oil to get one drop exactly where I want it! 

Of course, there are ways to make cleaning and oiling your machines easier, and this is yet another reason why I love my Eleanor Standing Sewing Table. With this sewing table, I can hit a button to lift the table height to a convenient place where I can see the bobbin area clearly and clean the machine easily.

This sewing table is on sale through the end of January. Save $400 on this sewing table which features an electric lift that can raise it from seated to standing. Click Here to check out the Eleanor Standing Sewing Table.

Heart Quilting Design Sale

To add a little more love to your quilts, we've just launched a Heart Quilting Sale until February 15th on all of our heart themed quilting designs and workshop.

Whether you're quilting on a home sewing machine in a table or a longarm on a frame, you've gotta try quilting with paper stencils. This doesn't require any additional accessories because you stitch through the paper stencil and quilt at the same time. 

Click Here to find our Heart & Spirals Stencil on sale for $4.99

I love quilting with these paper stencils because they are fast and help me efficiently quilt edge-to-edge across my quilt. Yes, it does add an extra step of tearing the paper away, so if that's not your thing, you may want to try pantographs:

Pantograph designs require your machine (home sewing machine or longarm) to be on a quilting frame with a back table to support the design. The pantograph design is taped to the back table, then you use a laser light to trace the design. For home sewing machines, you'll need this Gracie Laser Light. 

For Qnique longarms, you'll need a Qnique Laser, which includes a bracket to attach it to your longarm.

We have two heart pantograph designs on sale this month:

Click Here to find Loopy Hearts Pantograph for $4.99

Click Here to find Heart Paisley Pantograph for $4.99

Quilting a quilt with either the stencils or pantographs will leave your quilt feeling soft and cuddly. These are designed on a soft, bed quilting scale.

Are you looking for more of a challenge this winter? You can also join me for the Heart & Feather Wholecloth Workshop and make this beautiful quilt:

This workshop covers all the steps to wholecloth quilting from marking your quilt top, trapunto, and dense filler quilting to make the motifs stand out.

This is definitely NOT a bed quilting scale. Wholecloth quilts like this are meant for decoration and delight. 

Click Here to join me for the Heart & Feather Wholecloth Workshop for just $12.00.

Last but not least, our Love Stitch n' Paint Embroidery design is on sale for $5.00. If you have an embroidery machine with hoops to fit a 5 x 7 inch design, this will stitch out beautifully every time. I'd love to see the creative ways you paint this little embroidery design:

Is your sewing machine needing a little love? I hope this newsletter has inspired you to check in on your machines and give them a little TLC. Making a Ms. Bunny Doll is the only kind of bunny I want to play with on my sewing machines. No more dust bunnies allowed!

Let's go quilt,

Leah Day