I’m counting this quilt DONE! I started it in 2005. It’s been tossed into the UFO pile on several occasions, but I finally decided DONE is better than PERFECT. There’s still a hint of pink on the background which is not showing up in the picture. And there are only 2 packages of crystals – amber and red. When I ran out of crystals, I sewed the bead back on that came off in the wash, turned it over and signed it with a Pigma Pen.
Looking at the backyard, it’s hard to believe that 48 hours ago, there was 5 1/2″ of snow in the yard. It warmed up significantly Sunday. Now it’s raining.
Several people suggested Shout Color Catcher and/or Synthrapol to get the bleeding out of my Poinsetta quilt. I know it didn’t look bad in the photo, or in a dark resturant, but in the light of day, it was really bad. Sunday afternoon I bought some Synthrapol and washed the quilt according to directions. You should have seen me shuddering at the though of HOT watter on the quilt. The only way I was able to use HOT water was knowing that I had nothing to lose. It still wasn’t good, so I ran it though the wash again. Now, in bright light I can see the spot (looks like the photo), but in dimmer light it’s not too bad. I’m going to go ahead and put the crystals on.
Yesterday I put a few hot fix crystals on the poinsettia quilt. It was my intention to put them all over the poinsettia print. Never having done that before (embellishing is outside of my comfort zone), I only put a few on before I washed the quilt. I wanted to make certain they, and the beads I sewed on last week would stay on the quilt.
I washed the quilt like I do all of my quilts. Cold water, gentle cycle (or delicate, which ever one is the ‘softest’), Liquid Ivory and a Shout Color Catcher. Also in the wash to help protect the beads were too small lap quilts which have been washed several times (one is 18 years old).
Pulled the quilts out and tossed them in the dryer.
When I pulled the quilts out, I discovered the red batiks had bled all over the off-white background. I could just cry. The photos don’t show the bleeding well. It’s worse in person.
The batik fabric was prewashed before I used it. In fact, I used this same fabric/pattern to make sweatshirts for all the women in my family for Christmas 2004. My sweatshirt has been washed at least 15 times with out any bleeding (picture is when the shirt was made).
I’m glad now that I didn’t put all the crystals on the quilt. But can this be salvaged? I’ve had 4 suggestions so far: 1 – rewash with a Shout color catcher; 2 – use a dye remover; 3 – take some of the offending fabric and dot on more color; and 4 – (from DH) give it away and start over.
I don’t have any more of the fabric — except for what’s on the sweatshirt – and it’s not bleeding. The center section of the quilt was finished several years ago, and I got the borders on it about a year ago. I didn’t have any border fabric to use for the binding, so I had to buy something else – not that you can really tell that it’s different.
Anyone have any success getting dye out? Or ideas on how to ‘fix’ this? I’m open to suggestions. And here I thought I was going to get another UFO done before the end of the month.
I started this quilt in November of 2004. Hung it up to take a look at it and decide on the borders and discovered I had the background fabric flipped over. It wasn’t pretty in good light, so into the pile of UFOs it went. A while back I pulled it out and got the top completed. I finished quilting it last week and finally got the binding on it Thursday or Friday night.
I’m not big into embelishing, but I really like the red beads I’ve sewn to the borders between the holly leaves. (They are easier to see if you click on the photo). Tomorrow I’m going to see if I can find some gold and red crystals. Thus ‘A Nearly Finished Quilt’.
