petthefabric

As to prewashing…….. yes/no
Last year, all the fabrics were prewashed, I always prewash. One of the fabrics, I actually had to piece some pieces. If it hadn’t been prewashed, it would have been enough. The shedded edge, straightening cutting edges…. Even 1/4 inch waste was too much.

This year, ordered extra fabric. But 1, ordered all they had. And I have plans for finished project to be rectangle, not square. Borders can add size to twin. So most will be prewashed. But not that 1. And thinking to be cautious with clues that call for it.

Sync

Still working on the first clue. I had a friend gift me the Essential Triangle and I"m using it for this mystery. Couldn't find any Tri Recs at my LQS but I was able to get a set from eQuilter. So I'm all set with my quilting tools and still pulling from my stash of navies and neutrals. Here's my start on clue one:

Iceblossom

Big woohoo and a "you go" for MacyBaby to be the first announced finish on this round. And a cheer for Sync and the first look!

I'm all sewn but working on pressing my open seams and trimming down my deliberately slightly too large of blocks. I figure that I already have to handle the blocks to trim the dog ears, and I was already checking my blocks for consistency so I might as well make it worth my while to handle/trim them.

My suspicious mind which doesn't want to spoil anything for anyone thinks these are pretty big HST for a Bonnie Hunter project and that probably we will be coming back to work with them again... but who knows?? Not me at this point.

In the Clue she mentioned again her special fabric. I don't have a special fabric picked out but I have some ideas if I'm forced into one.

Here's a random assortment of my finished HST -- actually there is a theme and that is that all the neutrals shown came from the package I ordered from the link in the October clue. I am not buying any blues or reds, but I was low on neutrals.

PS -- is anyone else having problems staying logged in or posting??

joe'smom

Does Tri Recs have several uses, or are you anticipating that we will be making the triangle block (such as we made in En Provence, if you go back that far in mysteries).

(so far, no trouble staying logged in or posting)

sewingpup

Ha, I have been trying to pick and sort things out. Well, I have my reds in the washer and my blues in the dryer. I was thinking about not prewashing but decided to. The first wash with the blues, the color catcher came out sort of a medium blue. Decided to wash again and through two in, these came out a fairly light blue so they are in the dryer. I threw 3 color catchers in the reds, I will see how they came out. On to the rulers. Well I found the die for the first clue...so right now, I don't need the rulers but while I finally found Bonnies triangle and finally re-united it with the instructions after looking for it a whole year, All I can find of my Tri-recs is the skinny triangle. Where did the other one disappear to? I do have a couple of trangle in a square dies for the GO so hopefully, they will be the size needed or at least I find the other Tri Recs.

peaceandjoy

Clue one is out, and I'm still on the fence. I have SO many things I should be working on... But, it's always so fun to sew along with folks. The excitement makes sewing hundreds of whatever unit a lot easier. If I do join in, I'll be changing the colors. One of the projects I'm struggling to complete is R/W/B. Blocks are all done (I love that part!), ready to sew into rows (I hate that part).

I've never been a prewasher. When people use color catchers and they come out dark, I think "Of course they did - they have chemicals that attract the loose dye". Today's detergents have surfactants in them - it's what keeps soil from redepositing on laundry. Well, on Thanksgiving I was sewing a quick project, so did a little experiment. You can see it here (no membership needed to see the pics/explanation). Yes, my color catchers "caught" color - but my white fabrics that were added to the water before color catchers came out white, too. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...6571936&type=3

sewingpup

Thanks for the hint about the surfactants in the detergents. I usually actually do not pre-wash. I just did on my blues and reds this time as I was using up some larger scraps that I think I picked up at a quilt guild meeting free table. Both the dark blue and the reds did shed dye unto the color catchers and I went them through the washer twice. I am not prewashing the light blue and the neutrals. I have mixed pre-washed and un-washed fabrics before and it still came out OK. I used to prewash all the fabric I got and I still have some of that left in the stash. I remember when I used to go into a fabric store and my eyes would burn from the finishing chemicals in the fabric. Better now I think. I do buy the expensive fabric (mostly when they are sale). I have found some of the fabric from chain stores really needs to be prewashed mainly for me because some of them really shrink. I do remember getting a piece of fabric from a chain store because that is the only place I could find the color I wanted. When I bought it, it had a good feel to it. After washing it, it felt like a limp piece of cheesecloth. Must of been treated with heavy duty finishing spray or something.

Onebyone

The clues are so chatty, too much to print out . I condensed the first clue to this:


Part One is half-square triangles.

Make 36 sets of 4 half-square triangle units that measure 3 1/2'’ unfinished and will finish at 3’’ in the quilt. One neutral and one dark blue per set - but fabrics can vary from set to set. (144 half-square triangle units total.)

Iceblossom

While I appreciate the condensing down (and wrote basically the same thing on my copy), a reminder that Bonnie wishes the participants to not mention numbers. That way if there is a mistake she will correct it. The counts are on page 2 of the pdf. I used a different way than any of the options she listed, I cut a bit large and always trim down for accuracy.

The recent Star of Hope project was tons of pages... I think I condensed it down to 2! Btw, that will be taken down after Hanukkah so if you want to save it, now is the time.

toverly

Woo Hoo! Company is gone, it's a rainy day. Hopefully I will get to work on the clues this afternoon. I only print the page with the numbers/sizes on it. I like to read the post but not keep as a pattern. Long ago, pictures and other chatty info could be deleted. Now I don't even downsize to the pdf two column format.

IceBlossom, I thought the same thing. Pretty big HST's. Guessing it's to show the fabric patterns chosen as a focus fabric. I missed the special fabric mention. May have to go back and reread. Though my fabrics of that hue are the same.

Happy Sewing everyone!