This is not my job

I have written this post a thousand ways, not quite sure how to put into words how my weekend at quilt camp went.

I could list the positive things...yeah, thinking positive is supposed to be good for you isn't it? It lowers your blood pressure and makes you live longer.

Positive things:
1. The weather was lovely
2. I love hanging out with my two friends that I met from the knitting retreat.
3. I finished the quilt from these fabrics.














4. I did not commit murder.
5. I did not throw my seam ripper.
6. I did not throw my sewing machine at another person's head.
7. I did not scream "I'll cut you bitch!" while brandishing my rotary cutter and doing a passable scene from West Side Story.

Can you tell where I'm going with this?

Here is how the whole quilt camp thing started: I volunteered to create the brochure and sign people up for quilt camp because there is no longer a camp secretary to do this. (I used to be the camp secretary about two and a half years ago.) The quilt camp is a YMCA sponsored retreat that was started by a single individual who is not a YMCA employee. This means that the YMCA is responsible for making a brochure and mailing it and signing people up.

The Northwoods Fiber Retreat, which I personally run, started out in the same way. I started it when I worked at the Y and then when I left, I took it with me since I didn't want the Y to muck it up. I didn't want to rely on anyone else to create the brochure or market it or get people signed up. This was because there wasn't anyone there that cared about it as much as I did. I honestly felt that if I didn't take control, it would die a slow and painful death.

So, when we have the fiber retreat, I am the "go to" person. If people need to pay, they come to me. If people have a question, they come to me. I am responsible.

Now, fast forward to quilt camp. The only compensation that I asked for when doing the brochure and getting it mailed and signing people up was that I got to come to quilt camp for free. Not to work, but to quilt.

So, why is it that I was expected to take people's payments? Why is it that people came to me with their questions? Why is it that I am not allowed to partake in a retreat that I am NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR without having people think that I am working?

I guess the woman that started the retreat never partakes in its running, she just comes to quilt and have fun. Hmmmmm, kinda sounds like what I was planning on doing!

Well, I won't be going to quilt camp again. I won't be doing their brochures. I won't be signing people up. And I won't give a damn if the whole thing comes to a screeching halt when the camp director, who will now be in charge of doing everything for quilt camp, realizes that he is far more adept at canoeing than computing. The quilt campers are, in general, a demanding lot. They want their brochure by a certain time, they want their phone calls returned ASAP, and they want the process to go smoothly or else they will start bitching until your head explodes.

Hey camp director? Good luck with that...

And I haven't even expounded upon my murderous thoughts in regards to quilt camp

It involves meeting the clone of this woman at quilt camp, with both looks and voice being a dead ringer for Kitty Forman from That 70's Show.


























She never shut up. EVER! She inserted herself into every conversation, walked up to people and told them her opinion of their work whether you wanted it or not, talked to herself when no one was around, and was rude, obnoxious, intrusive, and annoying.
And then she had her negative traits...

It will be very interesting to see what happens over the next year with this retreat. As for the fiber retreat that I run? We'll be at a different camp for our next two retreats. I'm kind of glad about that now. It's easier to just take my toys and go home rather than to give in to my base need to tell everyone to fuck off.