QuiltMouse

My first quilt was a Mystery Quilt at Summer Quilt Camp in Radford, VA.  I do have the top finished, but have not yet quilted it.  Since it was my first real quilt, I didn’t want to quilt it until I had more practice.  I think I know what I want to do to quilt it now.

To be honest, as a new quilter, if I had seen what the full quilt looked like, I would have been afraid to do it!  But by tackling it in bits & pieces and with the help of the staff at camp and other experienced quilters, I was able to successfully make a very nice, holiday-themed quilt top.

So, I have an attraction to Mystery Quilts. I follow a number of blogs in the quilt community.  Many very experienced & talented quilters share their skills through Online Mystery Quilts.  Sometimes I try to participate and other times, I will save the steps to attempt later.

I am way behind in the Craftsy Quilt of Valor Mystery Quilt-a-long.  There are 6 Steps which were posted once a week on Wednesday and the last one was posted September 19th.  First, I was late assembling my fabrics.  Then I got most of the fabric washed, ironed and cut, but other things interrupted me.  When I started stitching the pieces, it didn’t go together very well and I had to take the first block apart.  So I took a break and walked away from it.

Last night I got back to it. I worked on one of 8 Star blocks. One problem I had with the first time I tried this block was that a number of pieces were on the bias and were very stretchy.  After stitching, the block turned out wonky. This time I used Mary Ellen’s Best Press Spray (I love that name! non-paid endorsement) and stiffen up the pieces a bit.  This allowed me to stitch without stretching.  I stitched slowly, ironing every seam as I went using Best Press Spray every time I ironed.

So here is the Star Block for the Craftsy Quilt of Valor Mystery Quilt-a-Long.  I only have 8 more of these blocks to make.

Put a group of Quilters in a room and you just might get this question asked – “Do you Prewash your fabric before cutting & piecing?”

And you will find that the answer is —

• Yes, Always
• No, Never
• Sometimes, It depends

I guess you can say I’m in the 3rd Category – Sometimes, but mostly.

If you are using any of the precuts (Jelly Rolls, Charm Packs, etc. – isee the definitions of what a precut is, see Moda Bake Shop), it is hard to prewash these. This is the same for using scraps that you may have gotten from other quilters.

If you are using anything fusible on the fabric, most instructions advise to prewash to remove any sizing or other treatment that might be on the fabric.

In the case of Red or Navy or other dark fabrics, it probably is a good idea to prewash with something like Shout Color Catchers to reduce the risk of colors bleeding.

There is an argument that fabric should be prewashed to reduce the risk of shrinking after piecing the quilt top which might result in distortion.  Fabric like muslin tends to shrink – a lot, while some good quality quilt fabric may not shrink much, at all.

So, for me, I try to wash my fabric, but I don’t get too upset if I don’t.

Sunday we were out and about and I discovered a fairly new Quilt Shop.  Aurora Quilts is a family owned and run business, located in the heart of Historic Old Town Manassas, Virginia, which is in Northern Virginia. They carry a wide range of quilting cottons, patterns, books and notions.

I had a paper-pieced quilt block that I wanted to try making and I picked up some Fat Quarters to use.

The fabric on the right is what I purchased to test the block.  The ones on the right called out to me.

So my dilemma – how do I wash 10 Fat Quarters, which are not enough to bother filling up the washing machine? Plus add into the mix, because some were dark and some were light, I wouldn’t be able to have them all in one load anyway.

My alternative to using the washing machine when I have just small amounts of fabric is the Kitchen Sink.  Add warm water to a 2 gallon plastic storage bag, plus a couple drops of laundry detergent, swish and add the fabric.  Let it soak for a while, swish it some more, then rinse under running water.  I flatten the fabric between folded bath-size towels and roll up.  In the morning the fabric is damp-dry and ready to iron.

I now have 10 Fat Quarters of prewashed fabric, ironed & ready to start cutting.