When we were kids my dad had us reading and listening to ALL the self help, success and inspirational books! ALL! OF! THEM!!!! Zig Ziglar. Dale Carnegie. M. Scott Peck. . . I could go on. And yes a lot of them would be on cassette tape! I was a super quirky serious kid who started my first business with my sister when I was 10 and she was 11. That’s a story for another day but long story short we needed income to save the world – or at least the kids in our South Central Los Angeles neighborhood. 🙂 Anyhow, a few of those books and tapes stuck with me over the years and I occasionally reference them in my mind. One I always remember by the name the ‘Blue Vase Story’ but it’s actually called The Go-Getter by Peter B. Kyne. Mind you, it’s been 25 or 30 years since I’ve heard it but as I remember it, it’s about a challenge that this guy was given (unbeknownst to him) to test his persistence and will before being awarded a job. Basically, every obstacle that he could imagine and more was thrown in his path in search of this Blue Vase and he persists to the end. So, when I’m in a situation and running up against every obstacle I just think – this is my Blue Vase Story.
Enter The Rainbow Quilt. In this industry we are often producing things at the last minute. Thankfully I have an amazing group of quilters and friends that are quick to step up to the plate and rescue me!
I was scheduled to fly to Denver to shoot my Bluprint class. I knew my prep time would be tight since I had to wait until after Fall Quilt Market & Festival in Houston last year to even work on it. So, maybe a few weeks before I was to shoot the class I emailed Tia, one of my amazing regular long arm quilters at Tia Curtis Quilts and asked her if she’d do the honors. She is amazing and will quilt whatever I send her quickly and at a reasonable price. On rush jobs I just ask for a simple edge to edge computerized quilting that she can throw on one frame while she’s doing her amazing custom quilting on her other frame.
Then I made my first mistake. Aside from labeling the email HELP I neglected to tell her exactly the time constraints I was working in. It was a complete communication failure and it was ALL MY FAULT. So I sent her the quilt top and she said she’d get on it. In a day or two she sent me an email that it was done – told you she was amazing – and that she was shipping back it to me. Perfection. In my mind, if she got it out, it should totally get back to me in time.
The day before I had to fly out I knew I would be up late finalizing a few step outs last minute but that shouldn’t take that long. The big stuff was done. My quilted Rainbow quilt should be delivered and I could just throw on a quick machine stitched binding when the quilt was delivered. Worst come to worse if the quilt was delivered late and didn’t come in tomorrow EVEN if I had to have it over-nighted to Denver I could stitch the binding on in the hotel and we would still have it for the show.
Second mistake was that morning – before I had a clue how the day would end – I decided to add a crosshatch to my straight lines on my Double Wedding Ring Quilt that I needed for this same Bluprint class. That morning I got about 40% done. I would just buckle down and get the rest done that evening. No biggie, right?! Little did I know how the day would go.
By the afternoon when the quilt hadn’t arrived I thought I should reach out to Tia. I sent her a quick email and that’s when I found out that she didn’t make the post office the day she thought she could and since I hadn’t emphasized exactly when I needed it she sent it the next day. So this meant it wouldn’t possibly be delivered until Wednesday in LA – the day I needed it in Denver.
I immediately jumped into fix it mode. strategizing on how I can still make it happen. Because I didn’t have a choice. I HAD to have a completed Rainbow Quilt in hand for shoot day – two days away. No ifs, ands or buts about it. AND, I had to leave my house at 11am the next morning to catch my flight.
Do I have enough fabric? Check.
Can I piece the top before I leave? Likely.
What DON’T I have to get done. The step outs would have to wait until late night hotel sewing. I can pack my travel machine.
My first big obstacle was AFTER I got the top re-sewn that night, how do I get it quilted and in Denver no less? So, I hopped on email and Facebook and sent out an SOS to the quilting community and within an HOUR I had three quilters lined up to accept the quilt top in Denver when I landed. One hour! Whew! I picked the first one that raised her hand. And a few emails back and forth and we had a plan for me to drop it off when I landed and a simple E2E design picked out.
AFTER I figured out the plan, I sent a cautionary text message to my producer Evan just to let him know that I thought I had it under control but to also be honest with where I stood. Just. In. Case. Now, off to sew the top. . .
Wait. Discipline Latifah. First I had to power through adding the rest of the quilting to the Double Wedding Ring Quilt. Then I could start AND FINISH the Rainbow Quilt!
So, I sewed my butt off that night. I finished quilting the DWR first and straight line quilting is my jam but as you know it takes FOREVER! Especially when you just need to have it done!
Then starting around midnight, I stepped through remaking The Rainbow Quilt top. I wish I had written this missive sooner because I’m pretty sure during that hazy night that I remember bleeding on my quilt (a first) and a seam ripper or two. Maybe three. But, I never freaked out. Never. And it was freak out worthy. It was only blood and sweat though – no tears. I never once panicked. I put my 90’s R&B feel good sewing music on loud and sang and sewed my little heart out!
I didn’t sleep that night. I felt like it was 1997 again and I had to stay up all night to study for the Heat Transfer final in Dr. Boyd’s class. Anyway, I caught my flight to Colorado the next morning and when I landed at 5 or 6pm I Uber-ed straight over to the home of Cara at Sew Colorado Quilting. It was so amazing because she’s pretty new to the long arm game and she came through like a straight CHAMP hand delivering that quilt to my hotel just after midnight that same night. I may have cried. I could have given her a great big kiss on the cheek but I didn’t quite know her like that. 🙂
Wanna laugh? At the shoot two days later, I checked on the tracking of the original Rainbow Quilt that Tia had quilted and it said delivered but guess what?!!!! When my guy came home from work that night. IT WAS NOT ON THE PORCH. Seriously. Or anywhere around the outside of the house for that matter. At that point I could only laugh. Seriously, I just laughed. Like great big belly laughs. This quilt just did not want to make it’s way back to me.
After an amazing week with the Bluprint team I headed home. For the next few weeks I felt in my gut that I was going to see the original Rainbow Quilt again. I was actively looking for it. I started to actually HOPE I would see it on a homeless person in our neighborhood keeping him/her warm. And I was at peace with that. Low and behold two weeks later when I finally made it to my PO Box – on the other side of town – guess what I found snugly waiting for me?! I could only laugh again. My lack of communication again and Tia had sent it to my PO Box (which is default for me) and not my home address. Again, my fault!
I finally bound the quilt that Tia quilted and took it on a little photo shoot to a new amazing graffiti wall in my hood. It’s yummy with this lovely cloud design quilted all over it and a wool batting makes it really fluffy. Now I have TWO Rainbow Quilts for double the good luck. Maybe I’ll find a couple pots of gold at the ends of both.
Takeaways:
1. Never, ever give up no matter how dismal it looks.
2. Laugh. Stressing out doesn’t help anything! I definitely don’t always do this but I did this time since I HAD to figure this out and all my focus was on making it happen. I didn’t even think to freak out! And guess what? It was a much better experience. I just kept plugging along believing in my heart of hearts that it would get done. And it did! If it didn’t I would have known that I gave it my all!
3. Plan a little better. Even though I think I did the best I could do I am learning to be more deliberate about what I say yes and no too.
4. Treasure your Community! They make this life all better.
5. Communicate dammit! 🙂 That is all.
I promise making the quilt is a whole lot less work than my journey in getting samples to shoot the class with. The team at Bluprint really helped me to shine while teaching this fun bias tape applique quilt. It’s actually a quick sew with big impact. And the technique is a LOT of fun too. You can sign up for Bluprint here. And there’s even a kit where you can get all the fabric to make this amazing quilt.
So, what’s your Blue Vase Story?! 🙂 I’d love to hear it!
XO
Latifah