Old Tobacco Road Continues

Old Tobacco Road is almost ready for borders - it has been starched and pressed in preparation for trimming the edges. I don't want any stretching of fabric if I can help it!  I feel really good about this quilt and I honestly cannot wait to get it finished. I have my flying geese all made and pieced together into border strips and they are ready to add to the quilt top.

I have decided on my border fabrics as well as my backing and I think there will be some pillowcases as well!

Yesterday, I washed the fabrics in preparation for use and I was really surprised that the red fabric did not bleed at all into the wash water but the lighter floral print sure did. I really thought it would be the other way around! The dye discharge may not exactly be a fabric bleed but it sure would make any lighter fabrics in the quilt look very dingy.

top - first wash; bottom - second wash

Yesterday, my friend Vangie called to see if I was eating batteries for breakfast to get so much energy for quilting and blogging. :) I had told her that I was in the process of washing my fabric and that led to the discussion of whether it is necessary or not. She has had great luck washing a quilt that was mostly white on top with a red backing and it didn't bleed but I just don't want to take the chance. I had made a quilt for my sister Christine and I used prewashed fabric in it and it still bled. I am now very nervous about fabric bleeds into my quilts!

I am going to use the yellowy-beige floral print as the backing but I don't have quite enough. A length of the red paisley will be added to the back as well as using it for the outer borders. I think it will look good together.

I bought that floral print at Fabricland ages ago and I only paid $3.00/m for it and now I wish I had bought 20" more. :)  At the time, my sister Cheryl was visiting with me and we decided to go fabric shopping and we hit at the right time. They had quite a bit of fabric on sale for that price and we stocked up. We had no immediate plans for the fabric but we knew we would use it at some point. :)

My only hesitation on these fabric choices is with the greenish fabric for the inner border and binding. I hope it will work but I have to try it out first to see if I do like it.