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Bleach & a bucket

Daybook:  Do something with old, yellow pillowcases

There was a separate reason for sorting every single pillowcase by color, discovering at the end, there were 2, white, yellowed pillowcases, with petite, royal blue crochet trim, firmly and precisely attached to the outer hem of each.  It could not be ripped out and re-used.  One pillowcase had a tear and a hole.  Without bleaching, neither one was acceptable.

The perfect bucket for this project had sat on the backdoor stoop for months slowly filling with leaves. 

The first try was dicey.  Remove the leaves, put the bucket in the bathtub, rinse, fill with hot water, add bleach, insert the pillowcase up to but not quite at the hem.  Fasten the hem to the bucket handle which rested over the side, out of the water.  The angle of the handle relative to the water was shallow, and bleach water wicked into the hem and on to the trim.  Yanking the pillowcase out of the water, over the bathtub, hem-and-trim side up, gravity wicked the water downward and away. 

The second try went well.  More distance was put between the hem and the bleach water.  After 20 minutes both pillowcases were wrapped in a white towel to stanch the drips, hastily carried to a waiting, clean washing machine where hot, soapy water awaited.  Shut the lid, the machine set to gentle wash with a normal rinse. 

The blue trim emerged from the dryer, unscathed.  Refreshed, the pillowcases are less yellow and are more than willing to jump into the mending pile for repairs, and resume their place in the household rotation. 

Welcome, twins.

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