I had hoped to have this small quilt finished and hanging for the holidays, but it's had to be put on hold while I put the pedal to the metal on the wedding quilt. A queen-sized quilt takes forever to handquilt!! The end is in sight, however.
Anyhow, a few weeks ago, I decided to prep the top and bottom borders for applique, to have them ready to pick up and go as soon as the other project is finished. I'm dying to get back to this!! I cut two strips of the Moda Bella Snow and sprayed them lightly with some water while waiting for the iron to heat up. It was a sunny day and as I pressed, the sunlight was casting a dappled shadow on the fabric as it came through the shutters. A cloud passed over the sun briefly and I noticed that the dappled pattern remained. I blinked and leaned in closer to the fabric.
There were definitely some splotches of discoloration...bright discoloration...but I decided that they were areas where I had sprayed the water that hadn't yet been pressed dry. I continued. The sun came out, the sun went in. I squinted. And then I realized that the fabric was defective. My first reaction was *Phew!! Glad I caught that before I started appliqueing!* My second reaction was to dash over to the completed applique on the design wall and go over it with a fine tooth comb since all of its background was cut from the same piece of yardage. Good news. It all looked fine.
The photo above shows the splotches of undyed areas, marked with pins for easier identification. In some lights, you can't even see them, yet in others, they pop off the fabric like they're under a black light. I thought I'd mention it here because so many are using light background solids and, like me, probably wouldn't bother to examine the fabric before using, thinking that any imperfections would be obvious. Fortunately, I had ordered extra of the Bella Snow so I was able to cut new border strips from the same length, after careful examination. Another *Phew!*
Lots more to share...a list of things waiting! But not today. Off to do my morning quilting...yes, there's a daily schedule.
***To clarify a bit after receiving a few comments, the splotches definitely were not attributable to possible bleaching by my water spray. They were fairly large and well-defined, and although the remaining yardage was somewhat salvageable, there were more splotches found in areas I had not touched. It was a manufacturer's defect.

