Something crazy happened to me a few weeks back. For the first time ever, I missed a deadline.
Heather McArthur, the editor and publisher of Quilter’s Connection magazine asked me to do a smallish project for the Winter issue of the magazine. She wanted a project featuring some machine embroidery. Naturally, I pounced on the opportunity! I really love working for industry magazines, but especially for Heather.
So, I went about my business as usual. I marked down what I believed to be the deadline on my work calendar and chipped away at my to-do-list. In September, one full month before Heather’s quilt project was due, the quilt was well underway. I was humming a happy tune, just so completely proud of myself…I was on track!
Then, an email popped up in my inbox from Heather. I’m thinking she’s likely just checking in…to see how my quilt is progressing. Instead, I was beyond shocked when she asked me if my project was ready to ship. Wait! What? Ship? I hadn’t even begun to machine quilt yet. Evidently, I was a month behind! A month! I’d been mistaken about the deadline and I got it completely wrong.
As is my habit (I like to blame this one on my Mom!) from childhood, I started the mental bob and weave game. What could I do? What could I tell Heather? What was my excuse? Perhaps I could tell her the quilt was in my car and the car was stolen. Or even better, the dog rolled around on my beautiful quilt top, soiling it irretrievably and I had to start over. Maybe, I could blame my husband and tell her that he inadvertently used my precious quilt to mop up a mess in the garage.
Nope. None of those excuses would do. Sheepishly, I responded to Heather’s email with the simple truth; I had totally messed up the deadline. As is her style, Heather was gracious. She commiserated with me and just asked that, “I ship the quilt as soon as I could.”
Needless to say, the quilt was bumped up my to-do-list to the very top. I stitched and stitched, a little frantically, and finished it in a hurry. Shipping from Calgary to Port Coquitlam, B.C. is very fast, so Heather had the quilt soon after its completion.
I checked online today and Quilter’s Connection winter issue is now available in digital format, and will be on the store shelves very soon. Looks like my quilt is on page 19. Love the snowman on page 8!
Thank you Heather for your patience with me. It was so very much appreciated.
Kim
Leave a Reply