Color saver for old quilt
Yes, I see that this is supposed to be "non-quilting talk), but I can't figure out a better place to ask my question:
I have recently acquired an OLD patchwork quilt of questionable age (40+ years is my own guess), that is put together by hand; even appears to be paper-pieced in hexagons and strips. My questions concerns the red joining pieces (small, and many of them) seems to be fading into the adjoining squares of all different shades of beige/white, blue, brown; it is (or will be a gorgeous quilt when finished); but what do I do about the fading? And wash it before handling? Or do all the handling, then wash it? Of course it is smelly, ratty, you guess at it????
And, I am not good at hand-work, so should I go ahead and consider machine piecing repairs, and machine quilting to finish it? I know, show us a picture.....but my grandkids live 15 miles away, and their mama won't let them get out on our roads right now.