…get the “bakery” out
I picked up my quilts and potholders from the bakery/cafe where I hung them in the windows as part of the Downtown Glens Falls Holiday Arts Festival. When I got there the quilts were all folded in quarters and hanging in the windows barely visible. My insides started to churn and although it was cold out, I was suddenly hot. I took some deep breaths and told myself I would calm down before I said anything to anyone. I slowly and carefully removed and folded all my work placing it in plastic bags. A part of me was so angry I just wanted to leave. I was afraid I would make a scene, but I knew if I said nothing, I would feel even worse.
So I walked up to the counter (where I originally planned to buy a nice loaf of fresh bread, but now decided not to) and asked the woman if they folded my quilts because they blocked too much light. She said the owner thought that the store looked closed with the quilts in the window. I asked why they didn’t call me and she mumbled something about “someone talking to some quilter” (not me). I had no idea what she was talking about and left confused and angry.
Of course it’s not the worst thing that could have happened and after a few minutes alone in my car my anger turned to annoyance and eventually to just a memory.
So I’m soaking my potholders in soapy cold water in the bath tub to get the “bakery” smell out of them. That could be worse too, the smell of fresh baked bread on a potholder isn’t so bad.
January 6th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Good for you! You handled today with tact and reserve. Getting the bread smell out will help you forget today. You’re a patient soul. I think I would have lost it .
Can’t wait for my purse!
Cindy Chambers
January 7th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
I can only imagine wanting to smell them more than actually use them, or do both and burn my mose or fingers! Ha…typical ,flaky me…Mmmmmm, the smell of a bakery is right up there with freshly mown grass, the smell of lumber… freshly peeled oranges… if the smell doesn’t come out,let me know…I am curious nowhave a potholder from this collection and to begin an experiment with one of these bakery “fresh ” potholders!
Ps read Jon’s blog about the tub..tee hee… who needs to shower on these cccold days?
Good luck, always! :0)
January 8th, 2010 at 2:00 am
I’m glad you rescued your quilts and potholders from the bakery. They couldn’t possibly have appreciated you or your work. Their loss…keep on truckin’…you do it well!
January 9th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
I can so sympathize with you, Maria. Years ago I entered some pottery in our state fair. I’d been notified that one of my entries won 3rd prize. It was a small porcelain cup, about 3 inches tall, with carvings on the lip that looked like drapery. The carivng was the only ornamentation on it. I was very pleased and proud to have won a ribbon.
When I went to see the exhibit I discovered my work was crammed, along with every other pottery entry, into a tiny display case designed to properly display about 10 pieces. There were dozens upon dozens in there!. Every one of them was almost touching another piece. And my ribbon winning piece? My little cup with the carved lip? My 3rd Place ribbon - which was as wide as my cup was - had been draped right over the top of it and you couldn’t see it at all! I was angry and dumbfounded at the stupidity of the committee…on multiple levels!
The very first year I entered a drawing as well. I was grateful to win 5th prize but when I went to see the exhibit I noticed that the 1st prize winning drawing did not even meet the published entry requirements. It shouldn’t even have been accepted into the show, let alone awarded 1st prize.
The year after the non-visable cup incident I entered other ceramic pieces, (paid to enter them and have them juried as always), and all of them were accepted. I didn’t get to see the exhibit until two days before the fair ended. When I got there, I realized that one of my pieces was not even out. For the whole length of the showing! They had to go find it in some back closet, thank you very much.
That was the last time I entered anything in the fair. Three strikes and they were out.
Ugh! So…I empathize with you utterly!
January 14th, 2010 at 8:00 am
Folded in quarters and hanging? How strange!
January 17th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
That’s just strange how they acted about your quilts/potholders. I would have been mad too, had that happened to me.
January 17th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
I am sorry that your beautiful work was not respected properly. Their loss, truly…I can’t understand how one would fold a quilt into quarters and then hang it in the window; that makes no sense. Quilts are to be experienced in their entirety–that’s the whole point of them.
Your account reminded me of an experience my mother had about 14 years ago–she has always painted and is quite good but extremely shy and self-concious about her talent. One day she got up the nerve to apply to a show (she lives in NC) and was thrilled to be accepted based on the merit of her paintings.
She was so proud and excited. And she was eager to see the opening on the first day and when she entered the room her whole self collapsed. Whoever had chosen to hang the various artists’ works had put all of my mother’s paintings at the very bottom of the walls, near the baseboard practically, and my mother felt sick with rejection. That was the one and only time she ever showed her work or joined anything, though luckily she still paints.
I hope you know that so many people love and appreciate and value your work and artistry and would never do to your work what happenned at the bakery.
Best of luck,
Debbie