Over the past month, I have feverishly been working on a quilt. Yes, it is possible to work in haste and be creative – granted it is more stressful. However, it does keep one from hemming and hawing too much about design choices. When you are on a deadline, you just have to keep making progress. Personally, I set mini milestones for myself to make sure I am not pulling all-nighters to make the deadline. The milestones are based upon design elements how long I think it will take me to do each one. Sometimes, I get them absolutely correct, and then…. well you have all been there.
When entering a competition, I check the requirements multiple times, just to make sure I am still within the bounds. That includes deadlines. For example, is the piece due by noon or midnight? Of course, that one always throws me… 12 pm is noon and 12 am is midnight – right?? At any rate, I checked the requirements two weeks ago to make sure I was on track and on time. After that time/requirements check, I continued knowing I was cutting it close, but my fingers couldn’t embroider any faster… I was already in danger of bleeding on the piece as the callus on my middle finger wasn’t fully developed yet. I know you can use a thimble, but I have never had any luck with them. My stitches get wonky when I use one.
At any rate, I digress. I finished the piece on Monday – 6/29 for a 7/1 due date. No all-nighters and I was happy with the results. It was a good feeling to be able to sleep and take one final look before submitting the piece. Yes – I was still happy with it. Time to photograph and submit, which I did this morning….
After I hit the submit button, I received a message thanking me for my submittal and a notification that the deadline to December 31st! Don’t get me wrong, I was relieved to have the piece submitted on time. However, I was shocked to be 6 months early. How could I have been so wrong on the due date?
I scoured the internet and found an announcement on Cherrywood’s Facebook page dated June 17th. This was a few days after I had double checked my requirements. The Cherrywood team decided to delay the deadline due to the pandemic. They understood that many quilters were already well underway in their projects. The delay was not because quilters wouldn’t be able to finish in time – we are a determined and inventive bunch. Quite the contrary, the tour for the finalists of the 2019 Bob Ross Challenge was delayed because of the pandemic. They did not want that exhibition to get less attention. They wanted to make sure the quilter’s hard work had time to be appreciated. So Diana was delayed to give Bob Ross his due…
This was still an exciting challenge for me. In 7 months, I will find out what the judges think of it. This is a bit like being pregnant – a long waiting period to find out the results! Until then, I can only share the back of the quilt….
Happy Quilting 🙂
Laureen