Sorry to hear about all your troubles, but glad that you saved the quilt. What could be happening is the batting is shrinking causing the fabric to pucker. I personally like this look for my quilts as it give them the old fashion look. If you want the batting to not shrink, read the batting directions and wash/dry the batting before putting the quilt together.
For my quilts, I pre-wash the fabric and if it bleeds, re-wash until color catchers are clear. Once I get the quilt together and quilted, I wash the quilt twice in cold water withour soap to remove all markings. Then I have the final wash in warm water with soap and fabric softener. After all three washes, then I put the quilt in the drier.
I have bad eye sight and tend to mark the quilt top with a darker marker than most quilters. Hense, I was the marks out first using cold water. Been doing this for fifteen years with no problems.
Hope this helps. And good luck with any future quilts.