Our first front loader was a Whirlpool. While it was still under warranty, we had to have it serviced. They found a pencil in the filter - which was not accessible without taking the machine apart. How it got from the drum, through the discharge and into the filter is beyond me, but it somehow did. Never had another problem. That washer was almost 20 years old when we gave it away as we were remodeling.
The new front loader, an LG, does have an accessible filter. Five years in, the pump quit - mid cycle, of course. So I had to drain it through the little trap door that the filter is also located in. As long as it was open, I of course cleaned it out. Very little was in it.
Personally, if I were making a rag quilt, the only way I'd wash it for the first few cycles would be at a laundromat.