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Saturday, April 14, 2018

When Life Gives You Lemons….

What do you do when life gives you lemons?
I try really hard to make lemonade.
It's been that kind of week…

I've never been a supporter of pre-washing fabric. Do you pre-wash?

Well, I finally learned my lesson the hard way with a piece of "evil" red fabric that bled really badly after it was in the quilt…and yes it was good quilt shop fabric. Sooo, I decided to do the extreme and wash my ENTIRE stash color by color.

stash

I was actually a bit shocked by the Color Catcher sheets from the wash loads!!!
On the bright side this won’t end up in another quilt.

color catchers

Of course the drama continued while pressing and folding my stash ~ a  cringe worthy photo! The lesson here…it’s dangerous to rush this hobby…stay focused. 

arm


Hands2Help Check In

My longarm was sent back to the factory on Monday for a diagnosis and hopefully repair. In the mean time I’ve been a busy "serial topper".

Four cheerful sock monkey tops for the Hands2Help charities are ready for quilting.

sock monkey quilt


Randomness

Are you playing along with the Ostrich Round Robin at The Quilt Pattern magazine? Clue #1 and #2 are sewn and clue #3 is ready to be added. It’s been fun watching all the quilts grow.

round robin


My goals for the 2018 Scrap Attack Challenge

1. Make a string project – (March) 3 tops completed for charity – waiting on quilting  
2. Make a strip project
3. Use novelty scraps
4. Use  batik scraps – (January) top completed for H2H charity– waiting on quilting
Free tutorial HERE


5. Use red scraps 
 (February) quilt completed for Bright Hopes Charity
Get my free pattern HERE

6. Use blue scraps
7. Use red, white, and green scraps together Ho,Ho,Ho
8. Use food fabrics
9. Use pink and brown scraps
10. Use black and white scraps
11. Use a rainbow collection of scraps
12. Use scraps with the GO butterfly die
13. Use sock monkey fabric (April) 4 tops completed for H2H charity – waiting on quilting
14. Use dottie scraps
15. Piece backs for UFO tops
16. Use geometric scraps

 

I hope your sewing week has had less “lemons”
than mine!!!

6 comments:

  1. Dang, dang what a week. I never used to prewash, (how do you prewash jelly roll anyway?) However, I learned the hard way too when a red fabric bled onto my quilt top. If you google Bleeding fabrics and Vickie Welch, she has some great information on how to rectify a quilt that a color bleed. I have tried her method and it worked. Better days ahead.

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    1. I have hand washed precuts in the bathroom sink a couple times. Somewhere I had read that a salad spinner is good for precuts. That it does not cause they thread pulling that happens in the machines with larger cuts.

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  2. Ouch! That burn looks very painful :( But your sock monkeys look good and will make super donations after you get them all quilted up!

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  3. I wash EVERYTHING. Before the fabric enters my sewing room it is washed with a fragrance free detergent and dried with NO fabric softener. I do use color catchers for darker fabric. I wash for two reasons - to remove chemicals and after drying, they have a little static cling that sticks better to the design wall. I never iron until I'm ready to cut (which could be a while). I find ironing too soon leaves a stubborn crease when I don't use the fabric right away. LOL, my sister is just the opposite, she doesn't wash anything.

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  4. I was also going to recommend Vicki Welsh. Her method has not failed me yet. I am most definitely a prewasher. Partly because that was how I was taught in my first class. Partly because I see so many posts likes this where not washing ends up causing a huge problem. But mostly because it allows me another opportunity to play with my fabric. The washing, thread trimming, ironing and folding all give me quality time with all the beautiful fabric. I spend significantly more time with the lovely pieces that follow me home from the shop. It also helps. control the amount of stash I have. I don't tend to grab a ton of random stuff. My purchases are more controlled.

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  5. Oh no sorry about your burn. And look at those sheets! I always wash as soon as a box comes in the door but I wash with my clothes and make sure theresta towel in there...

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