Staying tuned for the next message form across the pond.....hope it goes well!

The current problems are that there are blobs of thicker starch here & there across the top and the wide white borders have also now aquired some marks on them The only way to remove the starch blobs will be to wash it despite the worry of bleeding. I have decided that it will be easier to just wash the top than to risk the nice wool batting as well, so it is off again and in the machine with lots of colour catchers & synthrapol (it can be hard trying to type with your fingers crossed ). I am sure getting a lot of practise basting a quilt

For what it's worth....I seldom block a quilt ! Only in very extreme cases of rippled borders..or
quilt density problems....

Rosemary, beware if you are blocking it. The colors could run again! I tried that on a little piece and the red colors wanted to bleed.

Well I've got to get it fixed & finished now, I sent the application form in this morning. I will be hand delivering it to the showground on the 27 August - so I even have a serious deadline. However if I get all the quilting done for the end of this month it might be possible to block it out in the front room and let it dry whilst we all go away visiting my parents (otherwise I don't know when it would be possible because there isn't anywhere else to do it and I don't know how long it would take )

It's so easy to be wise backwards . I think the quilting will help a lot. Maybe it needs a bit more basting in the critical areas.
Like your backing fabric. Good luck!

I admire your perseverance, Rosemary. I think it will get done and you'll love it all the more because of the 'birth pangs'

Good luck, Rosemary. I hope all goes well. It's such a beautiful quilt. Don't you just hate the hassles!?! I hope it just all quilts out beautifully. I am sure it will!!!

I did in one or two spots, but wasn't certain that it was making that much difference and I was afraid of gunking up my iron. I will try & remember to experiment for next time. Since it is all pin basted together now I am not taking it apart again

Rosemary, Good luck on it. It's a beautiful quilt. Have you tried using a light spray of water when you press it? Just a thought.

here is the back of CRH subtle but not plain.

I've done the unpicking & re-stitching ok, but then had a baaaad idea, I thought that the top where I had starched the fabrics for the blocks looked better that the borders which I hadn't starched so I thought 'I'll starch the whole thing whilst it is apart' Which I then proceeded to do - boy I wish I hadn't, I didn't quite get the starch thoroughly mixed in before I put the quilt top in so there are some places that have thicker starching than others and the darkest reds are thinking about bleeding ever-so-very- slightly. I will have to wash it at the end of quilting and it is going to be getting a bucket load of colour catchers & synthropol when I do. The disappointing part is that I wasn't able to press it any better than it had been before, in some places it is even more crinkled {!-- ia0 -->2013-07-01 17.45.50.jpg{!-- ia0 -->

I'm not a perfectionist in everything (umm housework - whats's that? ) but if a quilt is going for a competition you cannot send it in with grubby marks that show up, can you. Actually I pulled it all apart yesterday and spot cleaned that bit. There is still a faint line - tryin to decide if I can live with it. But I haven't done any unpicking yet.

Rosemary you are such a perfectionist no wonder you find yourself hard to live with. It is such a good quilt

I love this site! Not only do you get to rub elbows with extremely talented quilters and see their beautiful creations, you get to learn new quilty expletives to use yourself when needed! Sorry for the frustration, Rosemary, but thanks for expanding my vocabulary. I was needing a new way to talk to misguided fabric! I know you will work it out, but if you like I can send you some cowboy curses that have served me well!