I'm switching camps.

My good friend's facebook status this morning said "Hi everybody! Do y'all have your slickers and galoshes ready? '"


Ugh... It is rainy and nasty plus I'll need them for the rain and my tears. I finally have finished my Scrappy star quilt I started back in March of this year; one I was hoping to sell. I knew that there was the possibility that the colors may bleed, since it they did on my wedding star pillow for Chanel, and the "Hanna quilt” and researched what to do before washing. I had read that you can add a cup full of vinegar to your cold wash water or there is a product you can buy to set it, but it is extremely messy and time consuming. So I said a prayer and crossed my fingers hoping for the best and added the vinegar. It didn't work. Let's do some math...time on quilt, 120 hours + bleeding dyes in a 12 minute wash cycle = oh f*%k.


The water's gonna be deep today.


I saw some bleeding and instantly felt my heart sink. Brody being the greatest, ran down to the store and got some Oxiclean, thinking I could soak it and get the dye stains out. It soaked for a few hours. All, save one barely noticeable spot, came out. I immediately went and found the culprit in my stash cursing and muttering”I never want to see you again!" as I walked it to the trash. So as the title states, I’m switching camps.

To which camps am I referring? Well the pre-wash fabric vs. no prewashing fabric camps, silly. I had read the opinions of various quilters in blog land and firmly planted myself on the no prewashing fabric side of the fence. I'd spend the time making the quilt, bind it and eagerly wait for it to wash and dry to see the finished product, all the while hoping for the best. After these two rounds of waiting and hoping for the best knowing full well that my soon to be finished "paint box quilt," will likely bleed as well, well...my stomach hurts just thinking about it. I am planting myself firmly on the other side of the fence now and making a declaration today. I will ALWAYS prewash my scraps or fabrics, especially those that are of questionable origin, before going through this again!


Anyway after starting this 8 months ago, it's finished. It measure in at 47 1/2 inches by 32 inches. It was machine pieced, with machine and hand quilting with some decorative double whipped embroidery in the center of each star. I will be listing it on etsy for sale in the next couple days.
Editted to add: This is winter weight, 100% cotton batting.

 

Take care,

Never drop your I phone into the toilet and other useful tips.

Yes, you did read the title correctly. Yes, I did in fact drop my new I phone right into the toilet. Yes, I feel dumb. Well, it wasn't entirely my fault, really. Brody's arm may have bumped it while turning on the bathroom light and I was messing with the glow stick feature. Either way it flew out of my hands and my world instantly went into slow motion just like you see in the movies. It was surreal. I snagged it out as fast as I could, 2 or 3 seconds tops and watched the screen fizzle out and then go black. I had only had it for 4 days, and then it was gone. The worst part was we had just come home from date night while my cousins watched the kids for us so we could get some much needed adult time together. It was perfect. We also used Christmas gift certificate to go eat at a well loved, can never afford normally, restaurant. A great night out and a few good laughs with the cousins came to a screeching halt at the bottom of my toilet.  UGH.

Oh well...it's just stuff right? Um...

I did some research and found that this is a quite common occurrence with I Phones and cell phones in general. I must say I enjoyed the ratings and visual descriptions Amy had on her blog. I had a few good laugh  rather than tears and uncontrollable tantrums that were surely coming.  Thanks for the comic relief it was definately needed.  I shook out as much water as I could, vacuumed out all the ports and popped it in a bag of rice while I tried to go on with my weekend. I convinced a clerk at a local sundries store to let me rifle though make up bags to collect (read: hoard) silica packets. As a parent, I always cursed manufacturers who put those in their packages; I have since realized that I may have been a bit irrational considering all that has happened. Bring on the silica!!!

Wool Hooooo!!!!!!I can happily report that the phone works  still with some quirks and there is no visible damage and I thankfully got off lucky ... this time.  i will be returning it a few more days to the rice bag just to be safe.  It could have been worse; it could have turned out like one guy telling the story of how he dropped his into a blue sani water Porto-potty. He eventually got his working as well, complete with a visible blue water tint under the screen and smells like poop every time he makes a call. We are still in the trenches of potty training here and I have all the poop one person can deal with thankyouverymuch!

 So I will continue to dry this phone out and report back to you all I've learned through this experience.  Who knows maybe it will be you one night frantically searching the internet on this very topic.  Or not.

 Have a great day.
Kendra