05 May 2009

The Good, The Bad, and the Hopefully NOT Ugly

After such a fabulous experience at the Artful Quilter, I was looking forward to a trip to another local quilting shop in Fairfax to grab a few more fabrics for the baby quilts I am making. Sadly, my experience there was quite the opposite.

First, the Quilt Patch is in an old Victorian house, which means that unlike the friendly open spaces in The Artful Quilter, the fabric is jam-packed into 3-4 tiny tiny rooms. But they do have a lot of fabric, and I could get past that if it weren't for the rest of the atmosphere problems I had there. Although I will say they need some better signage, because I wandered around for 15 minutes trying to figure out what was what and left still not sure about their organization method.

And the wandering brings me to the main problem. At the Artful Quilter, I was greeted when I came in the door, offered friendly advice, and given a lot of personal attention even to the point of the gal staying past closing to help me. She asked questions and when she learned I was a novice quilter, had all kinds of advice and tips. When I came back a week later, she remembered me and my project, and honestly seemed as excited about my progress and my quilt as I am. If it is an act, it is a damned good one.

At the Quilt Patch, no one said hello as I came in, although I did get what appeared to be a somewhat icy stare. I wandered for a time, with no one offering to help. Finally when I passed for the third time one of the sales people who was cutting fat quarters, she asked if there was anything I needed. I finally did get one small piece of fabric cut and then got the heck out of there.

I am not sure if it was because I am not one of their "regulars" or because I am quite a bit younger than the rest of the folks there, or maybe the purple and blue stripes in my hair. But I felt decidedly UNwelcome at the Quilt Patch, and I will not be going back. Next time I have some gaps that I can't fill with the stock at the Artful Quilter, I will go to G Street (which I try to avoid because I always spend too much money there) or buy online.

I am on a real quilting kick now, but I am willing to bet if my first stop had been the Quilt Patch, I never would have gotten the fabrics and started the first quilt, let alone making and plotting several more.

Speaking of the several more.....I got the top done for one of the baby quilts. I am making coordinating but not identical quilts for a work friend of The Husband who is having twin boys. Here is the completed quilt top, with a felt giraffe applique just laying on top of it for now. Hopefully I will start the actual quilting this week.



I am using the same animal print as a focus for the second one as well, only with blue sashing, as you can see in this photo of the second quilt in progress.



I also got a muslin done for the vintage pants I am making for a fellow dancer. We are doing a fitting tonight and I will take pictures. These pants have a lot of really fun details.

I am officially re-mojo-ed. :-)

7 comments:

Gretchen the Household Deity said...

I love that giraffe applique! It's such a cute little touch.

BeeBee said...

You have purple hair? How cool! I'd've never guessed, LOL. I like the baby quilts, nice designs that they won't outgrow when they're a year old. My son LOVES the truck quilt his grandmother made him 20 years ago. Still sleeps with it.
I'll keep an eagle out for the Quilt Patch and head for The Artful Quilter, instead. I like being treated nicely. And now I'll recognise you if I see you there, LOL.

gwensews said...

I've worked in fabric stores, including quilt shops, and had I been rude or dismissed customers--I would have been shown the door! As for your hair--I bet it's totally cool! I'm an old lady--and I have the absolute reddest hair possible, and it was not God's paintbrush that put it there!

I LOVE giraffes! Nice job.

Summerset said...

Very cute quilts! I like the giraffe a lot, too.

So glad you went to the other quilt shop first. Not all quilt shops are like the second one! You'd think they'd be nicer to someone willing to spend money these days. I wouldn't have even bought anything, but just left.

Jennifer Paganelli said...

so much easier to be kind and accommodating...

Bek said...

this quilt looks great- i love the giraffe too.

Thea said...

Thank for visiting my blog and entering my giveaway. Your comments are appreciated and noted. Your giraffe quilts are brilliant and the colors too.
DON'T go back to that store! There is never an excuse for being so rude and disrespectful to a customer (unless you provoked them, haha).