I've enrolled, too. It looks like some of the blocks are the same as ones on her beautiful Shenandoah Baskets quilt, a free BOM on her website last year. I, too, am not sure I'll make the blocks...but who knows?? I definitely won't be buying the kit, as I have waaaaaaay to much fabric up there in the sewing room...

I'm impatiently waiting on my kit. I ordered it on 1-04 and have not received it. I could have made a leisurely drive to Kentucky to pick it up and be on my way back to Idaho. Oh well, guess I'll finish my Grand Illusion quilt.

Judy

Great information, Nancy and Judith. I'll plan on washing my fabric before I start. I generally wash in the machine and have not tried the fabric catchers. I have used both Retayne and Synthapol when I have dyed fabric. I have not tried the Color Catcher. I may try that since I use my washing machine.

SewMarti,
Yes, I recognize these as Jinny Beyer fabrics by RJR.
As a rule, I prewash everything, even kits. I had a few unpleasant surprises where colors bled and were hard to get out. Very dark colors and deep colors are the worse.
I serge the edges - barely skimming the edge of the fabric so I don't lose any fabric by serging or by fraying in the wash. Then I wash similar colors together with synthrapol and dry them in a hot dryer and then press them with a hot iron.
I also like Janet Stone's method of prewashing fabric. She wrote in her instructions for the last BOM: "Time preparing your fabric is time well spent. I recommend pre washing all fabrics.
Again, fewer surprises later on. I actually presoak my fabrics individually in white
plastic dish pans. I put the piece of fabric in the dishpan, fill halfway with warm water,
and let soak for about 20 minutes. That way I can see if a color is going to run. If it
does run, I keep soaking it until the water is clear. You can also add Retayne to the
water to stop the fabric from bleeding. Color Catcher sheets also work well if you
prefer to wash in the washing machine."

Finally, if it is a very dark fabric or a deep, rich color I might test it after pre-washing, to make sure it is okay. I test it by ironing the wet fabric between 2 pieces of white cotton to see if the color transfers to the white cotton. If it does, I keep working on it. It is a lot easier to fix it first than after it is in the quilt.

Judith

As I clicked submit it dawned on me that these are probably Jinny Beyer fabrics. Her fabric lines don't go away like others do, so you should also be able to fairly easily order more of a fabric if there is a problem.

sewmarti wrote:
I've always prewashed kits. Every once in a while it's a problem, but usually it's fine. Can't vouch for these kits since I haven't used them. I always figure I can find a way to substitute something else if things go awry.

Could not resist.
I ordered my kit today after thinking about it for a few days. I should have ordered earlier. They sold out in 2 days, so mine is on back-order and is expected to ship out by the end of the month.
It is just plain beautiful. It has some of my favorite colors. And it is queen-sized.

I received my kit yesterday. Colors are beautiful. Am looking forward to trying different techniques. I'm trying to figure out whether I should wash or not. I generally am a washer but since it is a kit, I am concerned that they didn't take that into consideration when they built the kit. Any thoughts?

I sign up too with no intention to make the quilt. But I must admit that I am intrigued. I love hand sewing but the swollen joints of aging interfere with the enjoyment of handwork. I don't have much pain in my hands. They just aren't as nimble. I've watched the 2nd lesson/1st month and I am thinking her techniques might make hand stitiching more doable. Hope I have time to give it a try. The goal here for me is to learn new techniques and not make another quilt. I'll love seeing what all of you do. I am along for the ride.

I'm there with you gynconnie! I can't do another project!!! But this would be something fun to watch & learn from! So I did sign up for it, however, I must keep my New Years resolution, I hope...

I signed up too and my kit should arrive tomorrow. I'm glad the first block is hand piecing because I'll work on that at work during breaks.
Still working on my A to Z BOM just on borders now so really want to finish that first. What fun that has been.
This will be my second JinnyBeyer quilt. Love her style!

I may not be making this quilt, but I'm going to live vicariously through those of you who are. Be sure to post LOTS of pictures of your progress!

What a great idea to sign up and just learn from the videos. I don't have time for another quilt.

I am making the blocks out of my stash of special fabric stash collection. I already have about 12 blocks made .... I am going to make the blocks that teach techniques I have not done... hand piecing being one of them. I will then put the new blocks in with the old. ( many of the blocks I have are NINE inch blocks. ) I plan to combine the blocks in some way shape of form and come up with my own quilt.

I put in a link to my blocks that I have made to practice my technique... they now need to be put into a quilt with Jinny's


nonniequiltingdreams.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/from-my-ufo-collection/