"Winter Sherbet" quilt

The quilt I got as a kit for my birthday a couple years ago is totally done. I picked it up from the quilt shop yesterday and bound it last night.

I had actually just gone into the quilt shop to look around, they hadn't called me. The owner (the one who does the quilting) was there and she saw me and said, "Your quilt is done" and my response was "Oh, great!" and then she said, "But, um, something went a little wrong."

And I thought, "Oh no, did I not get one of the seams backstitched and it pulled apart?" (I've had that happen before, but usually I find it when I'm ironing off the top before I send it to be quilted.)

She told me, "When I was taking it off it got snagged and got a little hole. I tried to fix it but you can look at it." And I sighed and said, "Well, I have scraps of most of the fabrics left, so if necessary, I could applique a patch over the spot."

Turns out the hole was on the back only. And what's more - it was like a 1/4" long (or less) snag, she had carefully handstitched over the tear with a matching color thread. I would not have seen it had she not pointed it out to me. When I got the quilt home and wanted to check it again, I had to run my hands over the backing to feel for the little lump where the stitching was. That's how minuscule the snag was.

But because of that, she wouldn't accept payment for the quilting! I told her I felt terrible that she wouldn't take any money and tried to encourage her to charge me SOMETHING (I wouldn't have even expected a discount, the damage was SO minor, and this is a quilt that is "my" quilt and not a gift for someone....) but she wouldn't hear of it. So okay. I gave up pressing the issue and accepted the quilt. (I did, however, run home and put together the backing for the Backyard Baby quilt, and took it down and dropped it off. Partly because I wanted that quilt quilted next, but I did also want to very visibly demonstrate "no hard feelings" even though I was in no way upset - and made that clear - about the other quilt).

So anyway. Here it is.



Unfortunately, the quilt is now in the dryer. Why? Because I didn't see (though that little brown splodge near the lower left center of the photo may be it) the pile of dog droppings in the yard, and the corner of the quilt touched it when it was flapping in the wind. (My neighbor to the south has a dachshund that is an escape artist; she burrows under a different part of the fence each time, goes in my yard, and, well, GOES in my yard. And I really think they need to let up a bit on the fiber in her Ken-L-Ration).

I'm far more unhappy about that than I am about the truly insignificant snag. But I decided this was a good point to try washing a quilt - this is a smallish one (just a bit wider but shorter than twin bed size), and it's made of precuts, so they weren't pre-washed. I really prefer my quilts to be from washed fabrics, because there are sizings in fabric, and while they're not as bad as they once were (when I was a kid, I remember fabric stores had a particular SMELL about them - and some of that was probably formaldehyde from the old, 1970s-era sizings. I'm sure they don't use that any more, but there is still sizing in fabric). Also, washed fabric is a bit softer.

I had bought some of those "color catcher" things in preparation for pre-washing the baby quilt for my (most likely to be) niece....it was also of pre-cuts and was not pre-washed, and I always worry about fabric bleeding. And this quilt has red fabrics in it, as you can see - typically red and black are the worst for bleeding.

The color-catcher sheet came out perfectly clean from the washer, and there's no evidence of bleeding. (So yay Moda for making good colorfast reds). I did use the delicate cycle and cold water, I figured that (plus laundry soap) was enough to get the stuff off the quilt. (But yeah, kind of a pain. I don't think to look for doggie-bombs in the yard, not ever having had a dog myself).

Here's a close up.



I love the cute Aneela Hoey novelty fabrics. I have another top to put together from another one of her fabric lines, and I have a jelly roll of yet another one. I also like the colors she uses - they're a bit different, a bit greyed-down, compared to some other fabric designers.

And here's the back. I splurged on backing fabric from the same line, and I'm glad I did. This fabric is school scarves, kind of like the Harry Potter scarves or the British school scarves (I'm pretty sure Hoey is a Brit.)


Edited to add: The quilt survived! It looks like the batting may have shrunk a bit (it was part cotton) and the quilt has the slightly "puckery" look that I know some people go for, especially on quilts made with reproduction fabrics. And it smells nice now. (I have started using regular detergent again....or at least, am using the bottle or two I had on hand unopened when I started to think that that was causing my hives. It probably wasn't.) But, still, grr: stupid dog. Or rather, stupid owners who don't give the dog enough attention or training.