My First Quilt Retreat

Remember the first day of school each fall?  Were you the one that looked forward to it or were you the one that dreaded it?  I LOVED going back to school.  When I was in grade school, I used to practice my handwriting the night before the first day.  Then on the last day I would stay behind and help the teacher clean out the room.  I would take my papers home and then go play school.

I'm going to my first quilt retreat this month.  It's a one-day retreat, which is about all the time I can stand to be away from home.  One of the things you do at retreats is meet new people, so I thought the occasion naturally called for a new name tag.  Now, I could have chosen one of the ones I have planned, based on the clues in Who Am I?  And I still plan to make those eventually.  All except for the one that is supposed to be inspired by the green ruffle -  I don't remember what that was going to be.

I was at Stitcher's Crossing the other day buying some black fabric for my dress form quilt, and I saw extraordinarily cool rolls of ribbons near the cash register.  Now THAT'S what I need for my retreat name tag, I said to myself.

I've been listening to an audio program on The Art of Critical Decision Making.  I have trouble making decisions, and I think it might help me out.  But I'm not sure.  In one lecture, he talked about cognitive biases.  The idea is that if you're aware of them, you can tamp them down a bit.  One of the cognitive biases is called Sunken Cost.  A sunken cost is a past cost, and in a totally rational world, it shouldn't influence a future decision, particularly if that first decision was a bad and expensive one.  (You're familiar with the phrase "throwing good money after bad.")  Each decision should be made on its own merits. 

Let me expound on that, in an opposite sort of way, based on my upcoming first retreat. We start out, not with an expensive purchase, but rather with 60 cents (including tax!) worth of ribbon.  I got to thinking about all the pretty watches I saw last month.  Gee, I think I need a nice colorful one to match my new name tag-to-be.

Score!  This is just the thing.  But I don't have a sweater or shirt or top that can live up to the glory of my fancy new watch and name tag-to-be.  I decide I must have one.

My, that's a fine-looking shirt and it looks like it was just waiting for me to come along.  I was on the fence about deciding to get new jeans, because I saw some great colors, but they're that stupid skinny jean style.  Ha! Temptation averted!  That doesn't mean I can't have a cute pair of socks to go with my fine-looking shirt, fancy new watch, and name tag-to-be.

That was quite a decision-making process I had to go through in the sock department.  It was the hardest decision I made all day.  There was solid orange, solid aqua, all kinds of polka dots, argyles, and more.  I'm proud of my restraint in the sock department, since I decided to get just one pair.

 

Now it's time to make the name tag.   Remember the name tag, the reason this all started???  

After the pigs got done making a mess with my new hand-dyed fabric, I corralled them all into this suitcase.  The fabric, not the pigs.  I keep the lid shut, but don't worry, the pigs can open the latch.  As long as they put things back when they're done, I'm fine with it.  I'm going to use the 5-inch squares on top - navy and yellow/green.  You'll see the finished product on Wednesday.

See how the Sunken Cost cognitive bias works in reverse fashion?  You don't have to start with a large expenditure.  In this case study, we saw the dominoes fall from ribbon into watch into shirt into socks.  Oh yeah, I also bought a rotating cutting mat.  I heard they're helpful.  At least I didn't buy an iron.  Yet.