I use a small paint brush but like the idea of using the Q-tip which I am going to try!

A tiny brush, qtips, my stiletto.
I have used pipe cleaners until my grands cleaned me out of them for craft projects LOL :D:D:D

I use an air compressor. The canned air is NOT good for your machines. My DH laughed at me wanting an air compressor until he read the label on the canned air. He doesn't want to have to buy me another sewing machine.

I have 2 small lint brushes that I use in conjunction with the little vacuum cleaner. I can loosen the lint and suck it up at the same time.

I use a small eyebrow brush, as well as the small vacuum attachments I got from Clotilde. Smitty, my sewing machine guy, told me to never use compressed air because that will force the lint/dust deeper into the machine and cause bigger problems down the line.

I use the little brush that came with my Bernina on all my machines, often also use tweezers to catch small pieces that could fall through

A small brush that with the machine and my vacuum attachment to suck the bad stuff out.

We had a sewing machine repair shop owner at our guild meeting & he said "NO CANNED AIR". It just blows that stuff deeper into your machine

In addition to all things I learned here I have a men's old fashioned shaving brush, the kind they use to splash the soap foam around.It' s great for a sort of all-around quick lint removal.

i use sample mascara brushes..the brushes that came with the machine.
i also have the mini vac attachment

http://www.google.com/search?q=micro...=com.microsoft:en-US&ie=utf8&oe=utf8

i got mine off if ebay a few years ago..paid $10 for it back then.

I use pipe cleaners. I took a class on machine quilting a few years ago and before we could do any quilting, the instructor had us take our machines apart and clean them out with pipe cleaners. Works great!!