OK, I did a quick and dirty basting over the past couple of days and last night I washed it with woolite in the bathtub. I put it in the washing machine on "spin" and let it spin out most of the water for about 5 minutes. Then I laid it out on towels in the garage overnight.

It's now hung up in the house on two long kilt hangers, sort-of-close, but not too close to a heater vent. With luck, it'll be dry tonight and I can press it and take out the basting stitches.