A Fun Surprise

I've been wanting to write this for a week now, but I've been waiting for a package to be delivered to the recipient before posting about it...

In my last post, I shared a picture of the cat quilt that I made. Amanda, a long-time blog reader who has always been so kind and supportive, said that if I was to ever make a dog quilt, she would "be first in line to order one". When I read that, I started debating if I should offer to make one. I don't typically like to make things to sell because I'm not super confident in my abilities and I would feel really bad if the recipient didn't like it. Also, I only want to make things that I truly enjoy the process of working on--and if I'm doing it to sell, it would feel more like work than fun.

I mentioned Amanda's comment to Jerry, and he said, "You should make it for her as a gift and give it to her as a surprise!" I absolutely LOVED that idea. There is literally nothing that makes me as giddy with excitement like giving someone a gift that I know they will like and appreciate. (I have such a hard time keeping gifts a surprise, too--I always want to give it to them right away, or tell them what it is, haha.)

I bought the fabric and got to working on the quilt right away. (Here is a link to the pattern, if anyone is interested.) I ended up getting COVID, which wasn't fun, but since I couldn't go anywhere or be around other people, I had plenty of time to work on the quilt. I worked on it every spare moment and I love how it turned out. I used different color backgrounds for each block and I like the color scheme more than my cat one!

I really like the backing, and I did a much better job at the quilting part... my stitches were (mostly) even and it only took me one try (it took three for the cat one).

This dog was my favorite :)

Duck's favorite part about helping me quilt is when I lay it out on the floor to pin it and get it ready to quilt...

I was super excited to ship it to Amanda, but I was also very nervous because I would be crushed if it got damaged or lost in the mail after working so hard on it. I researched the best shipping carrier for something like this and UPS was the winner (the best reputation for getting things to their destination without getting lost or damaged). Also, I didn't really trust USPS because when I made a million masks and shipped them in early COVID days, only about half of them reached their destinations.

I had some leftover fabric from the backing, so I even made a cute little bag for it...

I took it to the UPS Store a week ago last Thursday, and I had them package it for me--again, I wanted to make sure it was done right! Normally, I wouldn't talk about the cost of things when it comes to a gift, but it's kind of relevant here. The shipping was $20-ish, and the box was $10.50(!), "packaging materials" $2.00, and the "labor" of packaging $2.00. I was shocked at the cost of the box and the person working there told me I could send it in an envelope for cheaper, but I told her, "No, I don't care how much it costs--I just want to make sure it gets there undamaged." She asked me what the value of the contents was, and I joked, "Blood, sweat, and tears". Anyway, she reassured me that it would get there safely and it would be delivered last Saturday.

I was SO EXCITED for it to get there. On Saturday, I looked at the tracking online and it said: "Package damaged, returned to sender". I immediately burst into tears. I've been going through a lot of emotional stuff lately (I seriously feel like I'm reliving two years ago) and I couldn't believe this was happening. They didn't include a picture or tell me if the quilt itself was damaged or anything. And it wasn't going to arrive back here until Tuesday. So I had to just sit and wait for three days, imagining the quilt I worked so hard on arriving in shreds.

On Tuesday, it was delivered to the UPS Store, so I had to go there to check it out. When she showed me the box, I was a little relieved because it looked like it was just the box that was damaged. But then I saw the "15x12x10" box I paid $10.50 for, and I was pissed. It was actually two small boxes smushed together and taped. And there were zero "packaging materials" (I'm assuming bubble wrap?). THEN, I was told that they couldn't give me a refund on shipping because I would have to file a claim online. And if I wanted to reship it, I would have to pay the $34-ish dollars again!

This is how it looked when I picked it up.

I said no way, and decided to take it to USPS and hope for the best (if the quilt was intact). First, though, I brought it out to the car and opened the "box". I was SO relieved to see that the quilt was okay. The greeting card, however, was sliced in half--missing the envelope and the other half of the card. I wondered how on earth they sliced the card when it was in the box?! (I thought maybe it started in a different box, which they cut open with a box cutter, damaging the card and then smushing it into the makeshift box? Dunno. Neither did the employee.)

But I stopped and got a new card, then took the quilt to USPS. I bought a box there (the same size as the one I paid for at UPS) and the total for the box and 2-day shipping was only $17. I gladly paid for it and just prayed it would make it to Amanda. The estimated delivery was on Thursday (yesterday).

When I got home from the post office, I went online to file a claim with UPS. I tried for a long time but it just wasn't allowing me to do so. I was finally able to chat with someone who told me that the claim has to be filed by the person who printed the label--which would be the UPS Store that I shipped it from.

I was ready to tear my hair out at that point, because the store had told me I had to do it online. I called the store and spoke with the manager--she was super helpful and filed the claim for me. I haven't heard anything about the claim status yet, but at least it's out of my hands now.

On Wednesday evening, I got a message from USPS saying "Your package was unable to be delivered due to incomplete address..." I almost started crying (again) when it hit me that I get that exact text once in a while and it's a spam text that wants you to click on the link. That was a relief--of all the times for me to get that spam text, that was the worst.

So anyway, all day yesterday I was watching the tracking and my email, just hoping it would get to Amanda. And last night, I was SO relieved to see that it did! Amanda was surprised and thrilled with the quilt and sent me this pic with her two dogs...

It was super fun to work on, and like I said, I love the background colors. I feel like I aged quite a bit in the last week while I worried about it making its way to Amanda, haha--but it made my heart very happy!