I also always wash for same reasons, but mostly because I don't think a quilt looks as good as it does as after it is washed and dried and becomes "crinkly'!

Everyone else has pretty much covered it, but for baby quilts I wash it in the harshest conditions possible because I want o know it is going to withstand anything the new parents throw at it before I give it away. Hot water and a hot dryer. (Even thought I tell them to wash it in cold.) That way I can fix anything that comes undone before they get it
I always use a colour catcher, too.
For anything I am thinking I might put in competition, I don't wash, as well as wall hangings.

Watson

I always do.