Sunny, I had bright reds in the 1st quilt I did and I washed them separately from the other colors; 2 washings and I don't believe they bled more than the 1st time. I'm sorry you're having that trouble, and I don't have a clue how to fix. But, I'm surprised to read what Harriet says about vinegar. I have considered using that as fabric softener, as I'd read one can substitute that for the softener...no I'll not try that!
I know there is a dye catching towel one can buy to put in the wash and it catches dye before it gets on other clothing, but I think it just catches the dye, doesn't prevent the bleeding. Hmmm I'm wondering, Sunny, did your towels all turn pink? I hope not!
I'm working on the brown rocks beneath the lighthouse now. It's a mottled dark brown and I'm making what I think looks like piled up rocks. Then I have the sky and the sand to do and that's about 1/3 of the quilt, should go pretty quickly; but the border will take a while as I'm doing that tiny stitch stuff around all the sea shells. Learned my lesson about that kind of quilting with this project!