This week I wanted to show you my finished Paeonia, but recently I lack the creative power. Of course, it is already stretched on the long arm, and I keep quilting, little by little. Even for me, progress has been extremely slow.
I have the impression that this is all a result of stress, something that has not left me for several weeks.
A while ago I entered my art quilts into the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. I paid the entry fee. All that was left to do was to just ship my art quilts to a certain destination, on time.
That’s when the stress started, because I paid the entry fee (which was not small at all), I paid the cost of returning the package back to Poland, and once the quilt was back in my possession, I had a very hard time trying to find a company that would ship my package. I searched a very long time until I finally managed to find someone.
Finally, I found a UPS store, that agreed to ship my package. My joy was great. I packed the quilt back up, filled out the papers, and the courier took it on its way. I paid a fortune for this. Based on my experience, I recommendation against shipping non-standard sized packages.
I had never shipped packages outside the European Union before, so my experience was nonexistent. I did not know that when my package was picked up, I should have received an email confirmation number. Of course, I got a paper note (the bill of lading with all the information) but nothing ever showed up in my inbox. At the time, I didn’t know how important this was.
I tracked my package online. However, after a week, its status still did not change, and the date of collecting the entries by the organizers of the Festival of Quilts was getting closer. I called UPS, and a very nice gentleman informed me that my package was stuck at the customs agency. Thanks to his help, we were able to contact the agency and it turned out that there was a spelling mistake in my email address in the system (although it was correct in my paperwork, but wrong in their system), so they were not able to contact me.
I have to admit that I did not know exactly how to fill out the shipping form and I didn’t know what should be selected to determine the type of package I am sending. The UPS representative didn’t know either. As a result, the shipping form was not filled out correctly, so my package was stopped at customs.
Thanks to the nice gentleman from the customs agency, all mistakes were corrected, and my package continued on its way. But time was flying by, and quickly too.
My package finally arrived at its destination. But the stress has been eating me since. I have this reoccurring thought in my head that my quilts will not be put on display. I think the only way I will finally have peace of mind is when the exhibition opens, and a few friends of mine, who are attending the exhibition (Lena have a mercy on me), inform me that my quilts really are hanging there.
Cross fingers for me.
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