This post is really about bleeding fabric, but to get to that part of the story I have to start with the iron. My cheap Sunbeam iron began spitting brown stuff before Christmas so I had to buy yet another iron.

If I had $1000+ to throw at an iron, I’d get a Laura Star ironing system. (You know it’s going to be expensive if it’s a ‘system’.) Instead I bought a Rowenta Pro Iron Steam Station. The base is the water reservoir. It wasn’t cheap, but it also wasn’t $1000.

I read the reviews on this iron and many said that it was prone to spitting water. It is. But once it quits spitting, it puts out a huge amount of steam. My solution is to leave a folded towel next to the iron and every time I pick it up, I first let it spit on the towel. So far that’s working for me. FYI: I can go several hours before I have to refill the reservoir.

I started work 2 days ago on the last quilt top for the color book. This one features light prints in a rainbow of colors…

With the top made (it’s way cute!), I decided to piece a square of each fabric that I used to make the quilt back. I pressed as I sewed. My iron did some spitting and, in a few areas, the fabric got wet. I was absolutely stunned when a fabric with red dots bled! And later, even more stunned when a smaller red dot did the same thing!

I prewash all my fabric. This should not have happened, but it did. I replaced both fabrics—on the quilt top, and on the back. I was mildly annoyed at first but then I realized how lucky I was to have found this out when it was still easy to fix.

The dragonfly fabric you see in the quilt back (below, 2nd row) replaced the larger red dot. I used a different small red dot to replace the small red dot that bled.

I wish I knew why that fabric bled. I wish I knew what other quilts those two fabrics are in! But for me it is yet another reminder to wash very carefully. With color catchers, or synthrapol and/or retayne.

And, because I like the photo, here’s a shot of the scraps from the quilt top: