Dr Jekyll and Mr DHL
May 31, 2007Well who knows, my package won’t be scanned again until it gets on a plane, so maybe my quilts will go to the show maybe they won’t and there is nothing I can do about it. I did call DHL first thing this morning and was told my quilts were help by outbound customs who needed a VAT number. I am not VAT registered, I don’t need to be so I told them this. I was then informed that my quilts would be going no where until I got a VAT number. They can’t be returned to me or shipped out. It’s OK though you can get a temporary VAT number before you register. Erm, NO! I cannot afford to be VAT registered right now. I don’t have the turnover to need it and it would either bankrupt me or make me uncompetitive. Not good.
So I tried calling my account manager, but whilst she is in the office she isn’t in, so can’t talk to me. Hmm. I did tell the story to the person who answered the phone though, in the hope he might tell her given they sit very close to each other. Well about 10 minutes later I have another call from DHL asking for my VAT number, so again I explain I don’t have one, no problem we just had to check your package will go out tonight. Now that is interesting. I asked the first person I spoke to why they hadn’t bothered to get in touch when there was a problem with my package and I was told DHL doesn’t operate a pro active service it is up to me to call and check (which I had yesterday as well) and now I do get a call.
Paranoia now kicks in and I decide to call exports to see if the customs paperwork has been done correctly for a temporary export. Yes it has I am assured. Great at least that part is working. Then 10 minutes later I get a call, “Could I have your VAT number please?” No I am STILL not VAT registered. OK not a problem and I hang up. Then it occurs to me, wouldn’t that question come up when you do the paper work? Which was done before I called? Hmm, I am not sure I believe this.
I have also been told the package will not be delivered until at least Monday (at which point I said don’t bother return it) and it will definitely arrive tomorrow (OK go ahead and ship it then). It is being processed, and it is being held. It has never had a problem, and it has been very difficult. All in all I have no idea what is happening except that by the time I can be sure it will be entirely too late to do anything.
No one in DHL seems to have a clue, well not the same clue anyway. I have 3 different procedures I have to follow for a temporary export. I have several versions of shipping time and even more versions of what my responsibilities are in making sure my package is shipped. I can’t take this level of aggravation. So either I need another shipping company or I need to give up the idea of entering American shows. Does anyone know of a courier who actually understands the process of temporary export for small businesses or individuals?
Oh yes, yesterday I was told by a DHL telesales person that he had only had to do 1 temporary export in 12 years. So he couldn’t be expected to know the process, and DHL did it so rarely they didn’t need to have proper documentation to explain to customers how to do it. Maybe this is my problem, I need to find a company who do this on a regular basis. When I said that he did entirely change his tune saying DHL do this all the time. I have the choice, do I believe DHL staff routinely lie (then I don’t want to deal with them) or that DHL don’t have much experience of this kind of business (then I don’t want to deal with them).
If anyone for DHL reads this and would like to explain what their policies are, how this process is supposed to work, and why so many staff seem to be confused about it, I would love to hear from you.
Am I allowed to be stressed?
May 30, 2007I checked the tracking number for my MQS quilts this morning and although the driver thought they would have been delivered today they showed as sitting in a warehouse in the East Midlands, this country. So I thought I would give DHL a call and just check on them, and see if there was a problem. Nope no problem they just missed their connection. They will definitely arrive tomorrow. OK so why are they still sitting in the same warehouse then with a later time? Maybe the tracking system is broken and they really have made it onto a plane to America, alternatively have they been lost in the warehouse and forgotten about. I really have got to find another courier, this is just silly. It’s not as if they are even cheap, this is the best part of 200 GBP ($400) to ship the quilts, and it doesn’t look like they will make it to the show. I can’t even phone them until the morning. Keep your fingers crossed that the tracking system is broken and that the quilts really are on their way. Thanks
Tired
Well I got my MQS quilts off today, and I managed to pick up the quilt that was waiting for me at the shop. I did fancy getting on with quilting it tonight but life wasn’t playing that game. Nor the type up patterns game, or indeed the fill in entry forms game. Still my friend isn’t badly burned and the car didn’t run out of petrol.
I have in new supplies of patterns for those of you who were waiting for them. I’ve sent out all the pre-orders today so hopefully they will be with you tomorrow.
Not what we had in mind.
May 27, 2007Ho hum. O2 have changed their mobile email in some way so I can’t blog on the go. I am writing this on paper to type up at home (actually I am typing right now :). When I get home I will have to try and find out how to fix it so I will be able to blog from the NEC again this year.
We have been trying to race. I was fairly calm when I found out that we were supposed to have rain on Sunday. I have a lot of quilts that need hanging sleeves, a job I find very dull. Perfect for the rain during racing. I’ve found that by folding down one of the back seats in the Capri I can make quite a reasonable workspace, which is also fairly easy to keep clean a dry even in a very muddy field.
There was a shower on Friday during which I got most of a sleeve on to a bed quilt. This was fine as we also managed a good amount of racing (more would have been nice but still). The Ugly stick is now behaving fairly well and we were hopeful for the rest of the racing. Sunday however seemed to have other ideas. We have had pouring rain all day, at 15:06 they cancelled the racing for the day.
OK so I did get a lot done, but we had paid to race. It did also give us a rare chance to socialize with the rest of the team. A plan was made to meet for pizza and then go bowling, both close to our hotel, what could possibly go wrong. Well, as soon as we tried to pull out of the hotel car park there was an interesting squealing noise. Not a problem with torrential rain the fan belt had probably got wet, it would be a miracle if it wasn’t wet. This was quickly followed by more crunchy squawks and we decided ti was time to stop. The fan belt had shredded itself and wrapped around the fan in the process. Great, still we had a spare and most of the tools we required, the next door garage kindle lent us a big torch and soon we were on our way again. It was funny that having left the track clean we now were oily and grimy. Still we were back on our way, but no not quite that simple, for some reason the car was running very rough and kept stalling on us. The hotel is on one side of a dual carriage way, to get back to it we needed to turn around twice, once pretty much at the pizza place. So we thought we might as well press on, if nothing else there
would be other people there with transport to help us sort the car out. So we find the first roundabout and turn, then quickly find a traffic jam, someone had managed to drive into the wall at the side of the road, they were fine, but the traffic wasn’t. It is exactly what you don’t want with a sick plane. Bizarrely even with the set backs, we got there and had a good time. The car wanted it’s timing adjusting and was then prepared to get us home. I even won the bowling, I can’t remember the last time that happened.
I have had a cunning idea. I don’t have a lot of space in my house and I have a lot of bed quilts. Some of the hotel rooms we stay in have a good amount of space around the bed. Are you seeing where this is going? Yup I have a plan to photograph a couple of quilts each time we rent a decent size room. My quilts are a bit big for the hotel beds but it is better than i could manage at home so I am pleased. It also means I am getting better value for money from the room. It does surprise me the range of rooms you get for very similar money. Size, quality of bathroom and toiletries vary enormously. The room this time was a good size, but no toiletries supplied at all. There was a vending machine in reception for you to buy anything you had forgotten. We couldn’t figure out a way to get any heating in the room either. Still the quilts look OK, which is the important thing, and it is close to the track and all the local facilities. It also has an American Diner next door which I would like to try sometime.
So here are the pictures I took this time. The upper one is ‘My Fat Quarter of Paradise’. As you can see it is a big quilt and doesn’t really fit a double bed. Still I think it looks pretty good on the bed in the hotel. I like the way the neutral decor works with the quilts, very handy. I bet they didn’t think of it when they planned the rooms.
The second quilt is ‘Road to Mondrian’, I have now bought the fabric for ‘Road to Mondrian 2′ but I don’t know when I will have time to make it. I should say the room walls weren’t actually that strong a colour, maybe it is something to do with the camera focusing on the quilts. These pictures also gave me another chance to play with my new flash. I think I need to spend a bit of time with it to get the best from it, but it does very nicely remove the shadow of my wide angle lens, which was a lot of my reason for wanting it.
Rain
May 25, 2007It’s another race weekend at Santa Pod. Most people are very keen for it not to rain as we can’t race unless the track is completely dry. As ever the weather hasn’t listened and we are having a long spell of drizzle. That really annoying rain that makes racing impossible, but really doesn’t deserve to be called rain. It certainly won’t do anything for water reserves. Still I have made use of the break to sit (something of a treat in itself) in the car and sew hanging sleeves on quilts. It’s a tedious job which seems a lot more appealing when you are bored and trying to stay dry. The forecast is for more rain so I see a lot of hand sewing in my future.
Binding!
May 24, 2007Big quilts don’t half eat binding don’t they. I made up 22 fabric widths of piped binding, which took forever, but I figured it would be plenty for the two quilts I need to do. Well, it was enough for the quilts but not by a lot. It seemed such a mountain of binding, but after the first quilt it was barely a hill. I really didn’t think I was going get away with it. On the bright side once you have made the binding it does go on fast and looks good. I love this binding. Although I don’t really know what I should this type of binding. I had been calling it a Ricky Timms binding but since I have found a lot of other people have documents essentially the same technique. Anyone know how long this type of binding has been around. It has the piping attatched before you put it on the quilt, you sew it to the back of the quilt first and then wrap it around the front. The stitching to finish is hidden next to the piping, it’s very neat. I’d love to know who actually did start it.
Curious
I’m hoping you guys might offer me some more points of view on my previous post. I didn’t intend to offend people in offices, in fact re-reading I still hear what I was trying to say, for me the point is the bravery is in working the 9-5 not in giving it up. Seeing people still stuck there made me certain that I had made the right move, I can’t live like that and really I don’t think anyone should have to. So please comment, I’d love to hear other peoples views on this.
Self employed – safe steady job?
May 23, 2007Having made the decision to leave the nice safe world of working for others you sometimes wonder if you have done the right thing. Usually days when there are bills but no work, they always focus attention on the lack of a regular pay cheque. Today was not one of those days. Today in fact was quite the opposite. I went up to my local quilt shop, to drop off some work and to pick up a couple of pieces of fabric I needed. While I was there I got to meet some interesting people who may be able to help me further my business,. It was all very friendly and relaxed though, not an office or conference room in sight.
On the way home I decided to catch up with a friend. This meant I needed to walk past one of those big open plan offices. All these people crammed together at little desks, looking so miserable. Lots of shirts and ties, and ‘proper’ office clothes. There were a couple of people in one corner who had managed to kick off their shoes, but they didn’t look any happier. I watched the people chatting outside, then seeing their faces drop as the break came to an end and they had to go back to their desks. OK they are secure (ish at least) but then so are caged animals. It was both depressing and uplifting. It reassured me that I have made the right decision, I don’t want to be caged in an office. I don’t want to be doing pointless jobs for people who don’t know what they have just asked for but think it might make them money. I certainly don’t want to be working silly hours to make someone else into a millionaire.
I love what I do, OK there are days when I wonder where the next months bills will come from. There are days when I need to work 18 hours to get everything done, but at the end of the day I am doing it for my future not for someone I don’t even know. People have told me how brave it is to start a business, nope I am just more scared of being stuck in a normal job.
Nude with Rope – Close Ups
I know it has taken a while but finally here they are. The close up pictures of my ‘Nude with Rope’ who is getting closer and closer to being renamed rope with nude. I can’t help it, I keep getting it that way round.
Here is a close up of her head and neck. In all the photos the lightest fabrics haven’t come out too well but I thought overall people preferred the lighter images. You will just have to believe me there there are several shades of light blue ending in white for the brightest highlights.
Here is her stomach and leg. I am really pleased with this picture as there is more shape here than I realised. It’s funny but when I am working on these I am thinking about the value of the areas more than what they are so I don’t see a lot of the detail I am adding. I only start to think about what the shapes are when I come to the quilting. For example the fabric from her leg runs straight into the rope, but the quilting doesn’t. I have outlined the contours of each as appropriate to the object.
A slightly wider angle to give you more of an idea where everything connects. I like the way she looks like she is looking into the light. Actually the quilt is lying on my quilt frame so I could get natural light from one end to try and show the quilting better. Funny how these things sometimes work out.
Finally some context for the leg close up. Hope that has satisfied some of your curiosity. I will be trying to get it into shows so hopefully you will be able to see it in person one day.
KDU – RIP
May 22, 2007For the first time the rust monsters have defeated us. Kdu is beyond repair, economic or otherwise. The rust which didn’t look too bad on first inspection (even by the experts) has turned out to be fatal. Sadly I do trust these guys to know what they are talking about and as fellow Capri enthusiasts they don’t make this statement lightly. They are certain the body shell is beyond help, and I am equally certain the running gear is. That leaves us with wheels, suspension and an interior, very little else. They are planning on checking over the running gear tomorrow so see if they think it is worth transplanting to a new body shell, but I am pretty certain it isn’t. I suppose nearly 300,000 miles isn’t too bad, but she will be sorely missed.
After spending some time looking for pictures I realised why I can’t find any. I had this car before I had a digital camera so the pictures will be on paper in a box. Doh! We think I have had this car about 8-9 years and I have done well over 100,000 miles in her.