Quilting Problems

Last week I started quilting my bias tape challenge quilt. Now I've made a mess of it, and I've been stewing about what to do.

What happened is that I began quilting, outlining the basic shapes with straight-line quilting to get everything stabilized. At first I used my free motion foot to quilt, but then decided I would have prettier stitches if I used my walking foot. That's when disaster happened.

Recently, my walking foot and machine were serviced to figure out why the foot wouldn't "walk." The tech figured out that the top pressure wasn't tightened down. I suspect the walking foot itself was oiled/greased.

So as I was quilting, twisting the quilt to make a turn, it bunched under the back of the walking foot smearing grease on the white Kona. By the time I realized it, the damage was done. Since then I have thoroughly wiped out the bottom inside of the walking foot.

From a distance, the grease doesn't look so bad, but a judge would certainly see it - if this quilt even gets into a show! The red arrows are pointing at them.

I've tried all sorts of things to remove the marks, testing on the edge of the quilt top where there's also a grease smear. I've used Zout, Dawn dishwashing liquid, lighter fluid, and bleach. I'm hesitant to do anything more. What makes removal even more difficult is that the quilt is already quilted, so I can't just spot-clean the quilt top.

You can guess that I've been very upset - even sleepless - because of this. What's worse is that it isn't the first time I've had a problem when attempting to make a show quilt! My first experience was marking a quilt design using a Sharpie to draw on Glad Press and Seal, and last year I had a problem with FriXion pens - which I no longer use to mark quilting designs. You'd think I'd learn to be more careful.

Because I've been off quilting, recovering from my procedure, I've been thinking about my options. This might be a possibility - a cover-up with more newsprint bias tape. But honestly, I don't like how it changes the overall design.

Is there an ink or paint that would cover it up. Maybe a dense quilting design?

Often, I tell my beginner quiltmaking students that if they make a mistake or encounter a problem, they should look at it as an opportunity to make the quilt even better. I need to heed my own advice, especially since I like how the rest of the quilt is looking. Linda