I Killed A Pillow

It has been a very long week since we got home from Alberta.  There were many loads of laundry to do as I was gone almost a month plus we brought all the bedding, etc. from the trailer. 

I usually do fall cleaning instead of spring cleaning so had that on my mind as well.  We also bought several light fixtures, so Barry had those to put up too.

I revived my sourdough from sitting dormant in the fridge for a month and baked a double batch of bread.

There were carrots to dig and leaves to rake.  The herb garden and ground covers needed to be put to bed as well.  Lots of odd jobs inside and out.

Anyway, back to the pillow.  A feather pillow came back from the trailer stained, as I think it was the one my son used when he had a slight nose bleed.  Now this was not the first time I washed a pillow.  But unfortunately it was the first (and last) time I washed a feather pillow in the same load as a set of fleece sheets.  My mind was elsewhere when I was loading the washer much to my later dismay.

Now Barry loved these sheets and they kept him warm in the trailer on cool nights.  Ever since we got them, he has commented again and again how much he likes them.

Anyway, when I opened the washer after the load was done I found it full of feathers.  The pillow had exploded.  Now I'm sure I don't know how all those feathers fit in one solitary pillow (a fairly skinny one at that).  The machine was full of wet feathers and there was water in the bottom when we lifted out the sheets.  (I think the feathers had plugged the drain.)

The sheets were heavy with water and full of feathers, and I do mean FULL OF FEATHERS.  We took them out to try to shake the feathers off and to wring them out with not much success.  All that happened it we got feathers stuck to our pants and cold, wet hands.  So we left them sitting outside while we tackled the washer.  It took a long day to get enough feathers out so it started working again.  But for many washes after, it still spits our feathers onto the clothes - all clothes - knit sweaters, fleece pants, socks, you name it all come out a bit feathered.

We tried to rewash the sheets to get out the feathers but the sheets still looked bad and now we had to clean the machine again.  The dryer took many feathers out of the sheets but you can only run them through so many times on fluff.

The only way they will be usable will be if I sit and pluck each and every feather out by hand.  (Barry tried a lint brush and the vacuum with little to no success.)  That may be my winter movie watching project but we'll have to see.  I hate to toss them out as they are very new but really don't want to spend hours plucking the sheets either.

Oh well, some lessons are learned the hard way.  Hope you week was better than mine.  ;)