Yes, wash, dry, and starch when you iron. I don't think it makes alot of difference what starch you use, it's just the canned gets pretty pricey if you make alot of quilts. I buy the starch concentrate and mix it to my preference (the directions are on the bottle) and put it in a spray bottle.
Do you have a pattern for your Dresden? If you find that your "plates" won't lie flat after stitching them all together, you may have to take a little bit more than 1/4" seam towards the middle of the plate in order to make them fit.
Your choices are beautiful- it should be a gorgeous quilt.