February 2020 Daytona Show Trip
My new year’s resolution in 2019 was to learn enough about blogging software to start a blog. I did that, began to populate it with all my creative endeavors. I began to think seriously about my post retirement entrepreneurship and moved forward to put that plan in motion. Then, about mid year, my life went into a stressful time and I stopped maintaining the blog, as I dropped most of my creative activities for a while. It’s late winter of 2020 and I have come through a rough time by the grace of God, who had previously sent me friends who are some of the kindest people in the world. I’m also grateful for an extremely skilled retina specialist.
In mid July 2019 I experienced a large retina tear and had two laser surgeries. I’d wanted to take my parents on a quick weekend trip up to Chicago that weekend so my dad could see his ailing best friend. But, after laser surgery on my eye on a Friday, we stayed home so I could rest and heal. Unfortunately, the next night we were in the emergency department with my dad. He and a dedicated team of medical professionals fought valiantly to keep his heart going. But, the next Friday he got his wings and went to heaven. I rather think that he is with St. Francis and all God’s creatures because on earth, my dad had a special quality, a kindness and protective way with animals. This loss of my father changed my life considerably. He was 93, so it wasn’t unexpected, but still terribly sad, and reason to find a new comfortable living situation with my mom, also 93.
I have sold my four bedroom house and moved in with my mother. She has a two bedroom house with a sun room in a maintained community. I was longing to go to a home where I don’t have to worry about the lawn or snow removal. I also did not want to remove her from her home. She is doing fairly well. I don’t want to rock the boat. My home was only a mile from her, but I just don’t believe she should be alone. So, this transition is complete, except for some more box sorting. I’ve been able to shift my thoughts back to the post retirement career planning.
When it looked like my home would indeed sell as planned, and that I would obtain a little extra cash, I decided that a good way to reward myself from coming through the stress of the previous months would be to take a little trip to some place where I might just stare at the ocean for a while. My mom appeared to be doing well enough to be left home alone for a few days. I knew that American Quilters Society was having a show in Daytona Beach, Florida, so I checked the website for details. For three years I’ve been studying to become a certified quilt appraiser and it’s time I spend more time with someone already certified, to test my knowledge. I wrote to the show coordinator and asked if it might be arranged for me to shadow the appraiser at Daytona, and my request was most graciously granted.
I have to say, this trip, the way I traveled, was an anomaly for me. I spent more money than I normally would. I stayed at the Hilton because of its proximity to the convention center where the show was held. I traveled alone and am not familiar with the area, so I did that for safety. I am assertive and adventurous, but know when to be careful. I rented a car, too. An Uber to and from the airport would have cost as much as the car rental, and I wanted to go exploring, anyway. This added a parking cost, but again, this trip was to treat myself. I got quite a nice free upgrade and loved traveling around in a Nissan Rogue. I got to drive the highway A1A and see a lot of ocean, which made me really happy. I enjoyed the ocean view from my room, and the time to just chill out in the evening. These pleasures combined with the experience at the show working with the appraisers made for a great trip.
I was so graciously received by a seasoned appraiser, Sharon, and her assistant, Loraine. Although I have viewed many a quilt, learning fabric dating, and have gained historical knowledge, I hadn’t worked a show. I watched and took instruction when I could help. A second certified appraiser, Cheri, shared her techniques, as well. Cheri was not officially mentoring me because she is a rather new appraiser, a bit less than three years’ experience. During the slow time I learned about valuable resources for market data, favorite books for fabric dating, and handouts that provide valuable information to clients. Sharon and Cheri performed appraisals on many of the hanging show quilts. I watched their technique for doing that. We laughed when a guest came up and sort of slapped Cheri while she was performing the inspection on one of the hanging quilts. She had to touch the quilt to examine the backing and binding edge. Appraisers have to do that and they use gloves or have just washed their hands. This guest didn’t know that.
I got to see some fabulous quilts, both on the show floor and those presented for appraisals. The stories behind the quilts are fascinating. What I saw from this region of the country included quite a few quilts constructed by Appalachia’s women during the depression, and some to post WW II. The broad variety of fabrics in one quilt indicated that this woman had a deep scrap basket. The quilt contained fabric with a date range from 1910 to the mid 1940s.
I’m pleased with my ability to recognize the era of many of the fabrics in the vintage quilts that came for appraisals. After three years, a good amount of data is available in my memory bank. I am more knowledgeable on the value of the materials used in contemporary quilts after shopping the show and studying the cost of specialty threads. Thread painting on quilts is a popular technique and it clearly takes a lot of product, not to mention all the time and expertise of the quilter. I have made new acquaintances who deal in quilt acquisition and sales, and have grown my data base of cost resources. I feel ready to move forward with my own appraiser business this spring.
While I was away, my mom cared for our loud and obnoxious cat, Rory. This is no easy task because this girl likes to be fed at 5 AM. At least it was only for three days. I will be staying around home for a while, taking care of our loud friend, and getting my appraiser tools together. This get away was just what I needed to refresh and get myself back on the track to building a post retirement career.