I was very puzzled when this happened to me in my early stages of quilting. I came to the conclusion that the iron had melted my thread in those places, as I was using the wrong kind of thread, and it was old. Could that maybe be it?

Thanks! I'll post a pic when it is all finished!

i found my serger thread i was using to machine sew with was melting as well, stopped using serger thread and no more problems and no more black gunk on my iron, would never of thought that was it...

Your quilt is BEAUTIFUL! I will take it and love it if you want to give it away. Haha.

Thanks, Diane! I do like the way the colors play together so well on this quilt...now, if only the seams would cooperate! LOL

recently I was quilting a wall quilt and had a lot of problem with the back having all the stitching pulling out. I tried everything,new needle, check tension and eventually found I was using 2 different types of cotton-1-Rasant the other Threadart. Once I put Rasant in the bobbin too the problem was solved. But like the others I would suggest a small ladder stitch for the repairs, the stitches will look like the normal machine stitching. Good Luck.