25 July 2007

O Fraggles!

Yesterday just wasn't a good day. I don't know why I even attempted to do anything.

CarGuy and I both had a touch of food poisoning from the previous night's meal. I have vowed to not buy meat from this grocer again: every time we get a bit sick from it. Suffice it to say, I stayed home from work.

I did a little bit of work on two different quilts. Remember Banana-fana? Well, I finally got it bound. I just did it all by machine. And then for the last step, I put it in the washer and then the dryer. Bah. One of the fabrics bled onto several of my beautiful plain yellow blocks. It is now sitting on the laundry room floor with Goop on the offended spots. I am going to rewash it with Synthropol and Retayne in the hopes the dye doesn't migrate further and that the spots come out. If the spots don't come out, I am going to paint something in the blocks to cover the migrated dye spots.

Ah, but that wasn't all. I got my letters and words appliquéd onto the challenge quilt. It looked good, if I do say so myself. I submerged it in water and pinned it to my blocking board to square it up. I looked at it later: O no! I had forgotten that inkjet ink is not permanent! I had run the Stable Magic through the printer to print the letters onto it, cut them out, and used them as the leave-in stabilizer. When I submerged it in water all that black ink around the edges of the letters bled into the center of the focus fabric letters: you know, that pale cream-colored fabric? It made me sick to look at it. It's still on the blocking board.

But after a (somewhat) good night's sleep, I have a plan. I am going to remove the offending pieces, cut out new letters with Misty Fuse attached and fuse and then machine stitch. I am NOT going to hand appliqué them again. Truth? I wasn't happy with the results the first time around but was going to live with it. Now I have a good excuse (like I really needed one) to take them off and try again.

My little stash of focus fabric just got a bit smaller.

14 comments:

  1. Bummer! TWO quilt mishaps at the same time! I have days like that--not necessarily with "bad" quilts but where nothing goes right. Hopefully you've used up all your bad luck for now--things can only get better!

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  2. How frustrating!!!! Hopefully things will go better and you can get back on track with those two projects.

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  3. Since things happen in threes, it seems that you are done for awhile.

    Sorry you had such a miserable time of it. Perhaps today will be better.

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  4. Woww that is a bad day! hope Goop does the trick.

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  5. Woww that is a bad day! hope Goop does the trick.

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  6. *argh* Hope everything comes out in the wash *s* Since I am a confirmed non-washer, I know this day is coming for me, too. But I know already I'll just put it in a coffee bath and move on *s*

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  7. Oh dear...that IS a bad day!
    Hope you feel better!

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  8. Ouch -- may your quilting luck be better and may none of your fabrics bleed!

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  9. Oh my goodness! I hope the excess ink does wash off from where it is supposed to, and stays where you want it to. I'm glad you can keep a good attitude about and a new plan already.

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  10. Don't be angry tomorrow will be better.
    ciao ciao

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  11. Anonymous1:24 PM

    Paula,

    Ok, which grocer made you sick (KS, SW, Alb)? Inquiring tummies need to know!

    I hope that your quilt dye bleed gets resolved without extreme measures.

    WHAT do you mean that you didn't like the results of your stabilizer!! I've been trying to get a local source for Ricky Tims Stable Stuff. Two of the local shops have said that they will order it. Would water soluble marker work for my application?

    Quilty Friend (who is enjoying this cloudy day)

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  12. Dontcha just hate these kind of days!!! A bit of sleep always allows new perspective and it sounds like you have a great plan. My daughter also had a marathon session of reading.....she was up all night until she finished the next day around 4 pm. You're all nuts! LOL!

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  13. Hi Paula, thanks for stopping by. Wow did you have a run of "stuff happens" You probably already know about it but I swear by the Shout Color Catcher sheets. I keep them on hand because my son and husband will occasionally wash without sorting. They "soak up" any loose dye in the water. I've had brown in with the whites and everything was O.K. When we get these kind of days I think the fates are trying to tell us to step away from the sewing. Hope you have a good weekend.

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  14. Please, take a before and after photo of all the troubled spots to give us all hope when we encounter an oopsy! Looking forward to seeing how creative you will be with this quilt.

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