Saturday, August 1, 2009

You Win Some, You Lose Some . . .

Hubby was invited to a friend's house to play poker tonight, so while he was gone, I changed all the locks. No, I didn't--that's just one of those little wifely fantasies I sometimes have.

What I REALLY did was meet up with Gran and Pam and our other friend, Darlene, for a girls' night out. We gathered at Bearpaws & Hollyhocks quilt shop, and from there, the four of us went to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner and then to a movie--The Ugly Truth. What a fun time!

The Ugly Truth stars Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler, and while it's not exactly Academy Award material, it had us dying laughing throughout the movie--a good movie to see with a bunch of gal pals! And--something none of us knew beforehand--it's set right here in Sacramento! Where was I when Gerard Butler was here?!

I smuggled two big boxes of Whoppers into the theater, but we were all too full of salad and focaccia bread from CPK to want to eat anything else, so I decided on the drive home that I'd empty one of the boxes into a bowl and count out how many were in the box--and the number of Whoppers would determine the winner of the little Halloween giveaway. Kind of a good idea, huh? Candy/Halloween? Yeah, I thought so!


Sixty-two Whoppers! And the 62nd comment was from . . . [drum roll please!] . . .



MICHELLE! Michelle of MichelleSews! Woo-hoo! Gosh, it seems like Michelle has been a Blogland friend of mine since I started blogging but I don't remember her ever winning one of my giveaways. Michelle, send me your mailing address and I'll get it in the mail on Monday or Tuesday. Congrats!


Now to tell you about the Big Quilt Catastrophy of 2009. Yes, Hubby washed one of my quilts--that red, white, and blue quilt pictured above--with a wine-colored blanket and a wine-colored bed skirt that had likely never been washed before. I seriously don't know what he was thinking--especially since the quilt didn't even need washing. Except that our new mattress was being delivered, and I guess he thought everything that went back on the bed should be washed first.

So yesterday afternoon, he called me at my office to tell me how very, very sorry he was--and, I suspect, to break the news to me when I wasn't close enough to kill him then and there. I told him to keep washing the quilt until I got home.

I've often heard Lindy at the quilt shop tell about a quilter whose red and white quilt bled and how she washed it and washed it and eventually the red came out of the white in time for her to deliver her quilt to a local quilt show. So I thought that was the easiest thing for Hubby to start with. By the time I got home, it had been washed three times and was still red, pink, and blue. I washed it several more times. We used laundry detergent and OxyClean. We used dye magnet cloths. And each time we washed it, it was just as pink as it has been the time before. Before bed, I washed it some more. Then I posted to my blog and asked your advice.

Several of you gave me some good suggestions to try. This morning, I went out to the garage where we keep our laundry stuff and rummaged through all of the cleaning supplies. Yep, I had a box of a cleaner somewhat similar to the Rit Red Out product--this was designed to remove dye that bled in a mixed wash load. So I decided to go ahead and use it. If anything happened, whatever it was had to be better than red, pink, and blue. Seriously. (Edited for inquiring minds: I used Carbona Color Run Remover.)

So, yeah, now I have a yellow, cheddar, and white quilt. Kind of different shades of yellow.


Yes, I did like the red, white, and blue quilt better, but I kind of like the yellow and white quilt too. I have a lot of yellow in my house, and the shades in this quilt now look kind of like an antique quilt. No, I wouldn't have set out to make a quilt in these particular colors, but it IS what it IS, and it's better than red, pink, and blue!

Now, I need to ask your advice again. Can anyone recommend a good "how to" book on laundry? Hubby's been doing ours for about 25 years now, but I think there are a few things he hasn't quite gotten the hang of yet.

38 comments:

Kim said...

Oh Kim.. is doesn't even look like the same quilt.. I actually did a re-take 3 times.. wondering if you were fooling us...LOL
If it has already bled.. would retayne still work? Well, at any rate.. you should tell us what you used.. in the event we want to really change and ugly quilt to something we may like alot better.

QuiltNut Creations said...

wow! that it amazing! i love how it does look antique now

Anonymous said...

Sorry about the laundry mishap Kim, but I would LOVE to know where you got the pattern for that quilt. It's gorgeous!

Molly in Sumner, WA
Mollylivebearer@yahoo.com

Leah Spencer said...

OMG!!!! I'm so stunned at the change. I think I had to re-look at least 5 times. Whew... I think I'll opt for the red, pink and blue if I ever have that problem.

It certainly does look like an antique quilt... and you can rest in the knowledge of the very one-of-a-kind fabrics that will never be found in a quilt shop. :)

Andrea said...

I can't believe it is the same quilt. At least the situation was rescued and the quilt is still beautiful. How are hubby's bruises looking ? LOL x

Louise SS said...

I kind of like the new look.At least it got rescued and I bet hubby won't wash a quilt ever again.
My husband was very plased with himself when he accidentally ruined a blouse.... he said "I won't do laundry again if you are going to complain". He got out of doing laundry.... and so it was for many years!

Louise SS said...

I showed your "two" quilts to my hubby. He laughed and said "tell her to wash his underwear with something red!"

Robin said...

OMG. Well, I actually also kind of like the new look. I've been sorry ever since I 'passed' on an antique yellow quilt at an auction once...kind of reminded me of your quilt now! At least it's cheery-looking! Anything would be better than the telltale-pink-laundry-disaster look.

Cynthia said...

I'm so sorry it didn't work out. I do LOVE them both!

Nancy said...

He doesn't need a book, just one sentence will do....

"If you haven't laundered it before, don't do it now"

Maybe you could have that painted on the wall above the washer...

I actually LOVE the yellow and white quilt.. it's really pretty. I wonder if it made the fabric weaker.

Anonymous said...

Hi, Michelle won the give-away but who won hubby??!!! Doris

Terry said...

Wow! I can't believe that's the same quilt! At least you got rid of the pink! And honestly, I kind of like the new colors! :0)

Quiltbirdie said...

No wonder you wanted to change the locks! Maybe you just need a lock on the laundry room door.

It really does look like an antique now. In many years there will be a quilt historian really scratching her head to figure out what happened with this quilt.

paulette said...

Hi Kim!
Now that's what I call taking lemons and making lemonade! I like your new lemon yellow quilt!
Have a great rest of the day!
Paulette

Judy D in WA said...

Wow! I bet you were shocked when you saw yellow! But it is a pretty yellow. :)

debijeanm said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
debijeanm said...

Sign me up for the re-look group. I have to say I love this quilt! I think you should call it the "When Life Gives you Lemons..." quilt. It's really stunning, and you have a completely unique quilt because these fabrics don't exist anywhere else.

You may even be onto a new trend for quilters. The true mystery quilt. Raid your stash for fabrics that never worked into anything, make a quilt top and (before quilting) wash the top with that product and see what you get.

Oh yeah, and don't tell hubby that people are saying this worked out OK. Don't need to reinforce dumb choices.

August 1, 2009 6:25 AM

Vicki W said...

I liked the original version but I admint that I REALLY like in the yellows. Very antique looking.

MichelleB said...

Holy Smack! I can't believe I won! And you're right, I've never won anything from you. I am THRILLED!

As for the quilt, I do like the new one, but it had to have broken your heart just a bit. I do like debijean's suggestion up there. I wonder if I'd be brave enough to try it.

Judy said...

Actually I scrolled back and forth many times looking...wow I Love the new colors, but I also worry that it will continue to work even dry. Maybe something milk like synthropol(sp?) to set the colors and keep it from doing any further damage.

Good thing my hubby never touches the washer...but he got warned!! This is the 2nd wash/hubby story I've read in the last week!

Cathy said...

Early in our marriage, I had to stop my husband from doing any laundry. No matter how much I tried to "train" him or give him instructions, he would wash all items/colors together in hot water.

I have a friend whose husband "helped her" while she was away on a business trip by scrubbing their hardwood floors with Comet. What a disaster!

Unknown said...

Oh my word - you'd never believe that would have done that to that quilt - wow - powerful stuff or what. I do like the new antiqued version and I feel the only way your DH can make it up to you is to fund a trip to your LQS to replace the fabric in the original quilt with some to the equal value - seems like a fair deal to me :o)

Jan said...

It's no wonder you almost "changed those locks!!!" Buuuuuutttt, I adore the look of the "new" "old" quilt :) IMHO, the whole episode had a "happy ending :)" He's a lucky guy (LOL).

Colleen Lunt said...

I left town once and my husband was doing the laundry for 6 kids. He decided that the TV said "Clorox will make your clothes whiter and brighter." He bleached the colors! My kids started dragging their laundry out of the hampers and into their rooms!

Sorry for your problem. Remember - "People are more important than things." Easy to say, but I would be crying if I were you. Tell husband you love him.

Vicky said...

Well, at least you ended up with a lovely albeit different quilt! I like it. Is hubby outta the doghouse yet? (Hugs)

Heckety said...

I play the Organ for funerals, I did one today actually. Just let me know if you need me????.....

Texan said...

I realllllly like the colors your quilt turned out in the end, amazing how much they changed!! But really good ones I think :O).

Sandi Linn Andersen said...

Oh my goodness, your hubby is sooooo in need of Laundry 101. And when you know where they are holding that class please let me know as my husband needs to take the course, too! LOL! Just like your guy, he has sometimes done the laundry to be nice and then washes something that ends up faded or much smaller than it went into the washer! I really don't mind doing laundry because I know what I'm doing and then my husband can do the car work which I wouldn't even think of doing - even if I was trying to be nice! The colors you ended up with on that quilt are actually quite complimentary and, you're right, a bit antique looking!

Tudy said...

It is hard to teach a man anything new. It sure changed the color and I would never expect it to change to those colors. But it looks nice.

Shari said...

So glad you were able to salvage your quilt! I like the new look - very vintage.

Anonymous said...

Oooh! I like the "new" quilt!

I like the quilt a LOT more than I like YOU! I can't believe we entered the same giveaway (bitty bits) and YOU won! I got all excited, waiting for the page to load, seeing the name "Kim" under "winner" and then (dang dialup!) the rest of the page showed up and it was YOU! *sob*

AnnieO said...

I actually gasped when I saw the last picture! OMG, THAT was unexpected. It's still a very fine looking quilt though!

Shirley--Knot-y Embroidery Lady said...

Boy, an evening out with your gal pals was perfectly timed. There is nothing like good food, a chick flick and good friends to ease the pain of "everyday" life in the Big Quilting Adventure that you are on.

I hope your weekend is relaxing.

Betty aka Fudgie said...

Just tea and coffee dye the thing!Then you will have a dirty, vintage, wannna beeee, quilt!

Greenmare said...

oh my gosh if not killing him doesn't get you a halo and wings nothing will!
you are an angel from heaven to allow him to live.
that being said, I do like your "new" quilt! it really does have a genuine antique look that is quite charming.

dianne said...

i dunno about the quilt ... if YOU are okay with it then ... ummmmmm ... no, i can't do it ... you just earned a bunch more stars in your heavenly crown! at this rate i'm never gonna catch up with you...

as for WHOPPERS and MOVIES - NOW i know why i left Harry Potter & the HBP the other night with a bellyache - it was the 62 whoppers because the box was EMPTY when i shook it for more about half-way through the movie

Mary said...

I actually really like the new colors. If you ever decide to get rid of it, let me know. I truly am sorry, though. All that work went into an RWB quilt because that's what you wanted.

quiltmom anna said...

Kim,
I am astonished with the color change but it did turn out beautifully even if it is a different color combination- That is pretty amazing color removal stuff.
I did like the original colors but this one is very pretty and antique looking..
I wonder who was more surprised by the color change - you or hubby.
I will keep my eyes out for a good laundry book LOL
Regards,
Anna