Once again, sales would dictate: make MORE REPRESENTATIONAL quilts. People consistently respond to them more enthusiastically than they do to geometric/abstract quilts.
As Son #1 might say: “Meh.” But I will probably consider it going forward. And anyway, for a long time I’ve wondered: must my houses be so perpetually empty of creatures?
The air continues on the chilly side. Walked the dog wearing:
- a down vest,
- long sleeve shirt,
- flannel shirt,
- cashmere sweater
and was still cold!
Even die-hard New Englanders are getting fed up.
Everything is put away (quilts, dolls, staging crates, money box, pricing materials, extra tables) or put back (rugs, chairs and hassock, dog crate, pictures on the wall, lamps and plants). YES!
Normally, I take a lax approach to show breakdown, ensuring weeks of disorientation as one item after another is retrieved out of some drawer or closet. I wasn’t having it this time. Nope. Unfortunately, my style might’ve been a little too task-oriented (some might say, “militaristic”). Maybe lingering mess and resentment are better? It would’ve be so easy to wave co-presenter home with a casual, “don’t worry about it!”
And then there’s the essentially unanswerable question: was it worth it? Even decent sales leaves one unsure: the disruption, the intense, blind effort for a couple of weeks, and most of all, the unwelcome confrontation with a sickeningly low dollar to time ratio. I just don’t know.
These pieces below sold and a few others. I cleared a drawer or two out and made enough money to treat myself to some bodywork and have dinner out with K. Yeah!
Oh, and this also came out of the second day: a possible trip down to Montgomery with two friends to see the National Memorial for Peace and Justice (honoring lynching victims). Did you catch the feature on 60 Minutes last night? Oprah interviewed Bryan Stevenson (the force behind the memorial) and toured the site. It opens April 26.
Found in my FB feed this morning: Presidential ticket — “Oprah and Stevenson”. I suggested Kamala Harris for Secretary of State.
I just heard that the FBI have raided Michael Cohen’s office. Gotta go!
Looks like you sold quite a few items … that’s a good thing. Following you over the last few weeks you surely did put in a lot of hours getting it all together. I get that it is really hard sometimes to put a value on some things but think about how wonderful the people feel that took one of your art pieces home because they were affordable.
A few quilting friends will be taking a bus to the International Quilt Festival in Rosemount on Friday. Still doing painting and work on the basement and a Ukuladies performance on Wednesday… kind of crazy how busy we all keep ourselves. Warmer weather cannot get here soon enough … like you I have about had it. Sending BLESSINGS!
Thank you Tina for the reminder about the pleasure
given to the buyers. I don’t usually remember that. You DO sound busy. Stay warm!
Yes, SO MUCH work…but good to stretch oneself now and again?! Yes? The fourth one down, colorful houses…has me singing “Little Houses” 🙂 Love it! So glad you sold work and have a plan for a new adventure. xo
PS It was 97 here today! Too much heat for April.
yeah I heard it’s reallllllly hot in California. I will be wearing a down coat again today.
Another day out and I would write the post completely differently — it was really exciting, full of warmth from neighbors and friends, and I made some money. It was GREAT to have the deadline and push myself and also really gratifying to see so much of my work displayed beautifully around the house.
Hope it warms up for you soon. The seasons have gone mad! I agree about the time/ dollar thing; I made more teaching needlework than I ever did selling or working for a magazine. At 68 Ive given up and just do what I want!
Teaching was a pretty good gig for me, too. Glad you’re doing what you want!
I understand the hard work that goes into making but so does pleasure, emotion and you. I love talking to people at exhibitions as well, the pleasure they get from looking at something that you have put your soul into. I can’t believe you are complaining about the amount of work you sold I am lucky if I sell one piece and over the moon when I do. Admittedly I am not trying to make a living from my work I would be living in a box if I was.
I had many nice conversations and this particular show was “worth it”. A big win actually! I get a little deflated after these things, though, and so my postmortems lean to the negative. So many people ask, “how long does it take you to make these quilts?” And honestly, not only do I not know, I don’t WANT to know.
But, I have done shows where I don’t even make the expenses and those experiences are still part of what I think about when it comes to selling.
You point out two incredibly important things and thank you for that: the pleasure and emotion that I willingly pour into these things (absent considerations of price/market, etc) and the absence of pressure on these sales to pay the mortgage (or even, the electric bill).
Your work is beautiful! I especially like the birch tree pieces!
Thank you Catherine. Those birches were a total experiment. I need to go back and see what I used to mark the surface. Sharpie was one thing. I think fabric paint sticks were another.
congratulations on the sales and letting people into your home, you are very brave!
Thanks Mo. Our house cleans up nice and gets lots of compliments. Sometimes I forget how lucky I am to have so much light and 200 year old charm!