I've mentioned in a couple of other posts that I am making quilts as thank you gifts for my wedding party. I started with the quilt I was making for Dad, as it was the largest and most complex. At 1,350 pieces, it's more than twice the size of anything else I'd attempted, and really, really, fiddly; pretty much every seam was diagonal.
Last week, I finally managed to get myself down to 50 pieces. I was so excited. All the hard bits done, and just putting the blocks together! Suffice to say, I was really, feeling terribly clever and accomplished.
The next morning, I found the door to my studio/guest bedroom ajar, which happens occasionally, because none of the doors in this place latch properly. I also found that one of the cats had been in there (if only I knew which one it had been, then our household would be one smaller) and been disgustingly, violently, ill in my box of quilt blocks! I actually did check both cats before freaking out too much, but they both seemed well, and were eating properly.
I'll spare you the details. Many, many thanks to FI who very kindly washed the mess of the blocks, even though it nearly caused him to be sick himself, and more than once. Cue the me rushing to the laundry, filling the tub with cold water and a copious amount of stain remover, and putting the quilt pieces in there to soak. I had complete faith that this would all turn out alright. I'd already used this stain remover twice on this particular quilt, which spectacular overnight results - once I nicked myself with my rotary cutter and managed to bleed all over my work table before I noticed it, and another time it got that brown iron-spit out, which I had been told by two ladies the age of my parents was nearly impossible.
The following day, I checked the sink, and there was very little improvement in the staining. I cleared the water, and repeated the process. Again, no change. I tried three different stain removers after that, and FI suggested carpet cleaner, which just compounded the problem by making the colors run. I think I tried just about every "uses household ingredients" solution the internet suggested, and still, my beautiful quilt blocks were kind of brown. And how can I give my father a quilt covered in cat... well, you know what I'm getting at.
It's been a sad realization, but unless you guys have any suggestions, I think I might have to call it on this quilt.
I really don't have time to make another one, and I'm unlikely to be able to make complex quilts for everyone else. So, now everyone is getting much less spectacular, simple quilts. I spent somewhere around forty hours (that's FIs estimate, but I expect it to be higher) on this and produced absolutely nothing. I don't even know if there's any way that I can recycle these blocks without tearing them apart, so, more labor, and the best I can do with that is to put the pieces in a pillow case, sew it up, and make a bed for said annoying cat/s.
Sigh. Not to mention that I tried twice to knit a hat today and just ruined it so badly both times that I had to undo it all and start again. I'm putting that one down to being sick, and trying to learn how to do something new. But things are not working out here.
Thanks for letting me vent!