Christopher is in The Three Musketeers, a production by the Sherman Community Players. They have been in rehearsal for weeks, months even. There is swordplay which is, I think, what got his attention in the first place. That's Chris, inside the circle. With the sword :-).

Chris speaks very little, he dies onstage at least 4 times, maybe 5. He swordfights and he's very cute with his hair all slicked back. Trust me, he is by far the very best henchman onstage (although he says he is not).

This is also the son who is still expecting a baby, Bear (not a baby bear), at any time and who now has 3-hour performances 3-5 nights a week and who is working on a PhD while also being a hands-on father and husband. I look at him and know we are genetically related. 

What makes a person over-commit? I do it (obviously Chris does it) and yet somehow we meet deadlines. But as I age, I can tell that over-commitment leads to stress, and stress equals crankiness and wrinkles. I think I need to cut back on commitments but it is so hard to do. Do any of you have strategies that might help? I'm happy to hear them.

I have begun ignoring the phone and email for 2-3 hours a day and that is really helping. 

I'm making progress on the color book. Oh happy day! I have begun marking off 3 hours a day with no email, no phone. I'm surprised at how much easier it is to focus. It's only been 2 days but I think this is a good strategy. I'm a little less crazy and that's a good sign. I'm getting back to the ABCs.

So, about that fabric… I've bought a lot of fabric lately for the quilts for the book. I thought it would be fun to share some of the more interesting ones with you. 

Have you ever noticed how a narrow black and white stripe or little, dense B/W dots can vibrate when you look at them? They make your eyes hurt. The bigger the piece of fabric, the worse it is. But this tiny dot doesn't do that. Why?

I had to look closely to see that not all the dots are black! If you look at the selvage, you can see that there is black plus two very dark grays. It's sort of obvious in a close-up photo but a lot harder to see with your eyes from any distance.

Those dots with 1 – 2 – 3 show the colors in this print. Brilliant! I wish I'd designed it but a friend, Patrick Lose, did which is just as nice. 

I bought a half-yard and I will be sorry when it's gone. I didn't buy more because don't stockpile fabric. I don't have room or an unlimited fabric budget. But mostly I don't have room. 

In other news, the ugly fabric just keeps on coming. I am nervous but optimistic that I can pull off this challenge. Todays ugly fabrics are ones I actually like which was a happy surprise.

If you read this post, you know that I am in need of some ugly fabric. Not a lot of any one fabric, just a little bit of many fabrics. Linda H. in Bohemia, NY, came through in a serious way. She had a box of ugly fabric, saved from a group challenge, that she sent to me.

There are some pieces I like but mostly, I hate it all. Way to go, Linda! I asked for a challenge and I got one.

Rita sent this:

It's not a fabric I would ever buy, but it is not nearly as bad as this, sent by Bernadette:

So far, these awful chimps win the prize for the fabric I despise the most. The only thing might be worse would be clowns… I am not a fan of clowns.

I am challenging myself, so I could give myself an out and give myself permission to discard the most awful fabrics. Instead, my challenge is that I cannot discard them. 

FYI – I bagged this assortment in my 5 lingerie bags for washing and it worked really well. After washing, I took them out of the bags, cut the threads and opened them out. They are in the dryer now.

If you have something ugly to add to my pile, please do send small pieces (up to 12" square-ish) to:

Becky Goldsmith, 919 Starlight Dr, Sherman, TX 75090

Thank you!

I tell this to nearly every class I teach because I think it's important. They don't like hearing it and you probably don't either. I'm sorry about that. I'm sharing this information because some of you may never have been given good reasons to wash (and dry) your fabric. You get to decide how to use the information.

I know that you probably don't wash your quilt fabric because when I talk about this in class only 5%-10% of students wash their fabric regularly. I ALWAYS pre-wash. Let me tell you why…

People quit washing their fabric when machine quilting entered the quilt world in the 1980s. It was noted that if you make your quilt with unwashed fabric, used a cotton batt, machine quilted and then washed the quilt, it would look more antique. This is true! Scores of quilters stopped washing their fabric and started machine quilting. They then washed their quilts and were happy with the shrunken, softer quilt. 

Now, think about it – is it your goal to make a quilt that looks like an antique? If so, that's one sure way do it. 

If you are not after the antique quilt look, you should prewash because:

• Fabric bleeds. How much has a lot to do with the water chemistry where you are. There is a lot of variation from place to place. Fabric that bleeds in one city may not in another.
• Fabric shrinks (more below). Different fabrics shrink at different rates. It is better if fabric is shrunk to size before being sewn into a quilt.
• Prewashed fabric behaves better for both applique and piecing. When the slick sizings and finishes are gone and the fabrics stay together better. You will find yourself pinning less when you piece. In applique, the pieces are easier to position and needleturn.

Fabric directly off the bolt has dyes, formaldehyde, insecticides, etc. I much prefer to wash those chemicals out of my fabric before I handle or store it.

I wash with Orvus Paste*. I almost always add a color catcher (made by Shout) in case something bleeds. I also have Synthrapol and Retayne on hand (the professional products for controlling bleeding). I wash in the washer in cold water. I dry my fabric in the dryer on warm. I fold it and put it on the shelf until I'm ready to use it, at which time I iron it.

Yes, my fabric twists together in the washer. I have to untwist and cut threads before moving the fabric to the dryer. I could serge or pink the raw edges but I don't. I do put small pieces of fabric in lingerie bags and that helps some. Front-loading machines may not have so much twisting.

Recently I found myself working on a quilt and I ran out of one fabric. I only needed about 1/3 yard and I had it on the bolt (which was nice). Being in a hurry, I thought maybe just this once I could skip washing this one piece of fabric. But I took a moment to check it against the same fabric that had been washed and dried. Oh my. This fabric, which is good fabric, had shrunk a full 3" from selvage to selvage! (The two fabrics are right sides together in the photo to make the top one easier to see.)

Some fabrics shrink more than others. Batiks have already been through so much in the manufacturing process that they rarely shrink. Hand dyes probably won't shrink – but they can and do bleed. Every other fabric that you buy off of a bolt will shrink and/or bleed a little or a lot and I can't tell by looking what will happen to any given fabric.

If you make a quilt with some fabric that won't shrink and other fabrics that shrink a lot and you wash it, the fabrics will shrink at different rates and you can end up with a ripply mess. (On the upside, it might look antique.)

You may imagine that your quilts will never be washed, and maybe they won't be. But what if they get dirty? Or spilled on? Or, or, or… stuff happens. For myself, I prefer to work with fabric that has been shrunk and that the excess dyes and chemicals washed have been washed out of.

If you have never worked with washed (and dried) fabric, you are used to the way fabric feels off the bolt. It feels thicker, stiffer, slicker than it will after you wash it. My suggestion is that you give working with washed fabric a try**. I think you might be surprised. 

*You can find Orvus Paste at Tractor Supply or feed and seed sort of store. In a full-size top loader, I use something like a tablespoon of Orvus Paste for a full load. If I had a top loader I would use much less and mix it with water before using.

If you google Orvus Paste, you can read much more, some of it good, some not. I'll still use it because I don't see another better choice and it has worked well for me for years. That said, if I find a better soap, I'll try it.

**I decided to do the reverse – I sewed with fabric right off the bolt. It was as I remembered. The two pieces slid against each other, making piecing accurately trickier. I used a lot more pins than I normally do. Auditioning fabrics on the design wall is harder because the slicker fabric does not want to stay put.

FYI – I don't use any of the ironing sprays either. If I need to spritz the fabric I use plain water.

I am going to start work soon on a quilt with 'ugly fabric'. This is a project I've assigned myself as a challenge and I have a problem. I don't seem to own any fabric that I think is ugly. I did buy a piece in Grand Junction that I declared ugly on the bolt. It was so bad that I bought a whole yard of it thinking that I'd probably need that much to be able to come up with a way to use it.

Unfortunately, once I got it home I decided it wasn't actually so bad. In fact, I have a great place to use it. 

So I have what I hope is a good idea. If you have some fabric that you think is really ugly, would you please send me a small piece of it? Nothing larger than a 12" sqaure. Smaller pieces are fine. I'd appreciate it. I'm looking forward to an interesting, challenging, loss-of-control sort of challenge. I'll let you know how it goes.

Send it to: Becky Goldsmith, 919 Starlight Dr, Sherman, TX 75090

Thanks!

I have been trying to de-clutter our house and it must be working – Steve finally noticed that there is less to dust around. We don't have a spartan interior by any stretch of the imagination but it feels more open. I like it. 

The quilt I've been working on is also spare – and I love it. If I didn't tell you that this is the back of the quilt, would you know? Quilting will dress it up, but I think it looks very up-to-date. Modern! 

Click on the photo to open it in a new window. Tell me what draws your eye… I know what I expect to hear but it would be nice to know if I'm right.