A Trip To the Laundromat

The hubs was tired of his new quilt covering him with thread, so he suggested we make a trip to the laundromat this morning to wash it. (For those of you unfamiliar with rag quilts, it is suggested that you wash it the very first time in a commercial washing machine, unless you have a machine with a lint trap you can clean...or you're married to the Maytag Repairman).

Now, I can't remember the last time I was in a laundromat. An apartment laundry room...maybe 30 or so years ago, an actual laundromat....probably 1975 in the Virgin Islands (and then it was only to drop off my laundry to be washed, dried, and folded while I was at work...it must have been ridiculously cheap because we didn't make much money). I digress....

We have two laundromats in our immediate area. One has been there for quite a few years, and one just opened about 6 months ago. The only reason I know of this is because they happen to be in shopping centers I go to...the newest one is next to Hancock Fabrics. Of course that one was the laundromat of choice. While the hubs babysat the quilt, I could browse the fabric store. Perfect. Well, not so perfect as Hancock doesn't open until Noon on Sunday. (Seriously?)

We arrived just after 10 a.m. and the place was rockin' like Karaoke Night at the Holiday Inn bar on a Saturday night. (Don't people go to church anymore?). The walls were mirrored, the machines new and stainless steel, and above them, every 6 or so feet, were wall-mounted 70" flat screen TVs tuned to various soccer games. Salsa music competed with the noise from the spinning front-load machines, and the vending machines dispensed Coconut Water in cans, plantain chips, and candy bars with names we couldn't pronounce.

We had grabbed a handful of quarters from the ashtray in my car on our way in. Totally unnecessary.  You had to feed paper money into the wall where it turned it into a plastic debit card that could be swiped by the washers and dryers. The card cost a dollar. The washer cost $4.99. That's right....$4.99. One load of clothes washed for $4.99. Or in my case, one flannel throw quilt washed for....$4.99.  I have no idea how much it costs to dry anything, as I didn't plan on sticking around to find out, as once our load was done I hustled it back into the plastic bag I carried it over in and we left without venturing to the dryer side of the place.

Tossed it in the dryer at home, and wah-la:

It's frayed. In fact, it frayed so darn good that I had to spend 2 episodes of Chopped this afternoon mending the seams that opened because I clipped the fringe too close to the seam lines (this was my first rag quilt...lesson learned). While I'd like to say that this is my last rag quilt, I've got the flannel to make one more just like it, so we're going to hang on to that reloadable laundromat card for a while.

Now it's time to move on to one of the challenges for the Guild quilt show.  The name of the challenge is 'Orange Blossoms'. Quilt or wall hanging measuring no more than 160" around it's perimeter or a wearable. Must contain the 3 print fabrics shown below in a recognizable amount:

I stared at this for a bit this afternoon. Came up and looked at it again after dinner, and it's been laid out in front of me
for the past hour. It's not speaking to me yet. Orange Blossoms isn't coming from this (and anyway, orange blossoms are white). I don't know where to go with a wall hanging, and what would I do with a 40" square quilt? I was thinking apron. Now I'm thinking tote bag....or not.

What I do know is that it's taking time away from the Baltimore Album blocks, which is not good. Tomorrow we'll look at it some more and toss in some white and see if that makes us view this challenge any differently.

What do you see?