Fabric Washed

After heat setting the fabric in the very hot dryer for half an hour or so, its time to wash it. Washing is not that crucial. I sometimes feel the fabric seems softer, but I think its more imagination. However in this case, since I used a lot of chalk to draw with, the washing will certainly get rid of any chalk residue in the fabric.It was very heavy all wet! And when the fabric is wet, it becomes delicate. The paint can soften after a while when wet, and its VERY IMPORTANT not to scrape, twist or otherwise disturb the paint on the surface of the fabric when its wet. When its dry its almost indestructible, and holds up to pretty rough use. Crazy. It was a cloudy stormy looking day. I was eager to get the fabric finished off and delivered the next day, the day before it had rained a lot....argh. What to do?? Nothing dries when its rainy in the summer here....and this piece was too big to try to dry indoors...I watched the weather radar on the computer for a couple of hours, and there was no rain anywhere...
I was a nervous wreck when the fabric was almost dry, and it still looked like the sky would rain a downpour....

I laid it on the picnic table when it was just damp,and the sun came out for a while and really toasted it nicely!

A minute later, I looked out the window and it was raining! With the sun out! Argh! I rushed out and got the fabric inside , before any of the rain had a chance to stick.

Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures in the future of this piece made up into the lightweight quilt that's planned for it.