Welcome Ritch! I think it would be very nice of you to make your dw (dear wife) a quilt. Most here use 100% cotton fabric. Some wash and dry prior to piecing (the actual act of sewing fabric pieces together). Others don't. If you want the quilt to have a wrinkled look, then you may not want to wash the fabric before cutting it up. If there will be lighter colors in it (mixed with the red), then I suggest you wash and dry first. That (hopefully) will prevent any bleeding of the red onto the lighter colors in her quilt. Hopefully I haven't totally confused you already. Do you have a date in mind of when you want to present this quilt to her? That may speed up your whole process. Good luck, at any rate and welcome to the qb (quilting board).