my little mechanic

owen came down to the shop with us today and put a new seat on jules bike (he did it himself). he said all i need to do is find the right wrench. i was so proud. he did too and proceded to fix jules bike then test drove it to make sure it was safe.
he fixed the chain on ians bike (mike walked him through it) and did a great job.
he filled all 3 bikes tires with air and was very proud of himself.

terry took the kids to oatman yesterday for something different to do. it is an old mining ghost town. very popular motercycle riding destination and fun to go see from time to time.

the burrows are everywhere. they roam the streets and you often can't keep driving because of them.

company kids

here are the kids in uniform. we have main stitch upholstery shirts and hats for the employees now.

terry got she, audencia and i all pink hats and the boys grey hats. now all of my employees look presentable and we are professional looking.

more work

this is a sissy pad for a motercycle seat that i stitched to match a paint job.
here is the before on the left, and my after on the right
these are cuddy cushions to an ocean grade boat that we redid out of tommy bahama- it is totally cool
this is the bed that matches the cushions. lots of work. audencia likes to "sew". she insisted that mike take out picture of us working. i had swimming lessons with her this morning. our pool is no longer a swamp and the kids couldn't be more thrilled. so, we are back in the swing of summer.

yes, god does exist.

i have been praying (i do several times a day for the record) but specifically for a sewer to come and help. i have the work for an extremely sucessful business, but only so many hours in a day to produce myself. i now have 5 people working for me (not counting mike or the new hire today). 3 are full time, and 2 part time. so, i have been praying for the right person to come along to help grow the business into "the most sucessful and reliable upholstery business in the U.S." i know that is alot to want, but i figure aim for the sky and disappointment is nearly impossible. so, today mark from paradise upholstery (diagonally across the street from me) called and said he was sending his guy up to get a job as he did not have enough work to keep them both busy. i am booking into may and that is over booking as i cannot keep up with the demand myself. so, this guy has worked for mark for 2 years (which i trust, he specializes in automotive and does beautiful work) and had his own business in santa barbara for years. he is 73 and done upholstery work for 53 years. so, i showed him what i have and he didn't blink except for the amount of work i have. so, i hired him, wonderful man, and as soon as he gets his ins and outs setteled he will be in to work! yeah! i hope to have him by monday. i called mark back and thanked him for the referral and assured him that i have no intension of competing with him, so i will refer any automobile work i get (which is much) to him unless they would rather wait a few months to be on the schedule. my shirts should be in friday and i hope to get window stickers (yes, they are huge here in town) in the next few weeks. let me know if you want some, yes, i am getting kid ones too. pink for girls and not sure what terry got for the short boys. big ones are grey, black and blue.

where did the sun go?

woke up this morning to clouds! what is up with that. it is chilly and breezy. mike let me sleep in so i got up at 10:30 which totally rocked, then we went out to lowes and home depot to search for a light we both like for our bathroom. we got one last week, but it didn't work so i think it was broken in the box, so we went out for another. we finally settled on one we both like and got one to match for the one by the toilet (which is currently a 1970's model painted aluminum in the shape of a desk lamp. it is painted a terrible shade of tan in case you are wondering. i will post pictures of the new ones if they work. i came in here to do some work. we have a cuddy cabin that needs to go out. the customers chose awsome tommy bahama fabric so i think it will look rad when it is done. hope you all are having a wonderful sunday. we are going to dinner at my parents house. douglas had friends fly in from wyoming last night so we are all going to hang out a bit. i will be home and in bed early to keep trying to get well.

the daily do's!

just finished these golf cart seats. they were rotten tan tweed before, no sections. i talked the lady into letting me do what i want (she gave me the colors of the cart) and i came up with this. turned out really nice. she is thrilled and just left a happy camper. really "classy" she kept saying. i love happy customers!
this is terry. she is my friend, nanny and secretary. she hates her picture taken so this is the best i could do. she is not very cooperative when she doesn't want to be. damn new- yorkers. she is a god-send to me and helps me in every aspect of my life. she is GREAT with the kids too.

we did this surburban seat this week. is was time consuming to sew, but really diffficult to assemble and disassemble for the boys. mike installed and cursed most the time, but it came out reallly nice. he doesn't not want to do another one soon!

which one of these guys looks the most guilty? ian and aaron were both in the office playing on the computer and these four were having the time of their lives out back. they want me to finish our boat this year. so do i! i don't think we will have time though.
fred and ahna tell me every day when it is time to go home. that doesn't mean that it happens, but they will sure let you know! they are sure good doggies. we have decided that fred is unarguably the scruffiest schnauzer on the planet. we love him!
did these patio cushions today. there are 8 of them. really nice. they are sunbrella furniture fabric and so cool! this customer is also thrilled.

on another note, i finally had to go to the doctor yesterday. i couldn't stop throwing up and had the chills and was so sick i could barely function with the sewing and the estimating and the phone and the walk-ins, at 1:00 i just broke down crying and went to see my doctor, which graciously fit me in upon looking at me walk in the door (i threw up in a circle K cup the whole way there) (yes, very attractive).................. i have a respitory infection and too much anxiety so she gave me anti-biotics and a mild anxiety pill to add to my effexor i already take. she knows i hate taking things, but said if i don't take a day off, i will not get better and i won't get better without the anti-biotics. i have been sick for going on 4 weeks now, and it sucks, so i gave in. i did ask for a day of in a pill form which she assured me that she did not have. talk about usefull inventions. someone needs to get on that one. i would buy lots! he he. heres to getting well finally, i hope. !

hi ho hi ho its off for more work i go!

we elves at the shop are busy bustling about creating all kinds of upholstery wonderment. the boys out back are totally rocking and it is so cool to see some serious progress being made on so many things at once. my end is still short-handed although i have a good friend at another high-end shop in town who totally helped me out today. she sewed 5 sets of roll-up shades for me which is a huge accomplishment for a day. that took some stress off me today, although only made a small dent in my daily to-dos which keep on piling with no end. i am hopeing that someone will come through soon on a regular basis. we have more than plenty for another full-time sewer. we ordered shirts today for the shop. i hope they come out cool. i will post them when they come in. she said about 2 weeks. my commercials are netting more business which, although we are slammed, i love the exposure. i must take the short people home now. it is past dinner time and nearly bed time. spring break is next week so the boys will get to see their dad and we will just have fabian and audencia. will post pics again soon. i have some neat patio furniture i hope to start on tomorrow.

blogger ettiquite.

so, i didn't realize that it would be necessary to post this, but apparently i think too highly of people in general. feel free to post any comment you want to my site, i encourage it, but if you are posting to me, it is polite to disclose who it is coming from. untraceable addresses are not accepable on this site unless you have let me know who you are by other means. my email is themainstitch@frontiernet.net if you feel that you need to write me something you don't want anyone else to know who you are. i hope all of you understand that i don't appreciate cowards. thank you. love, me

yet another new hire!

we got a new guy today. he came from the boat companies so has some experience which will be really helpful. my boss from the german restarant came in today and wants to work part-tome probably. she is german, been sewing her entire life and is awsome at it. i hope it works out. anyway, wish us luck!

hippy bus!

this bus is so cool. we did the complete upholstery job. it is going to be painted tan and chocolate brown. it turned out really nice. mike made the door panels and i did all the sewing. ian is all excited that we did a "hippy van".


this is a 4" pad that makes out into a bed with the "z" frame that is the back seat.

more work

finished this this morning. did the bimini and cover. it turned out really well. we have had very productive days the past few. hope it continures.

this is michael. he is my new employee. now we have josh michael and mike doing the non-sewing things, although mike does sew some straight line things. still looking for another sewer. i have another guy to hire mabye next week to help mike in back. he has lots of boat experience.

truck seat

this is what i made this afternoon. it was an ugly seat before, now it is a nice seat.

burried under my work- LITERALLY!

here is me in the midst of making a boat cover. thank god for long arm machines and my papaw for providing me with the oppurtunity to buy one!
these seats are for bob prigmore. you can google him and see the boat the seats go on. he is a 9 time champion for drag boat racing and i just finished the seats for him. he gave me the old ones, said look at the boat on the website and make me something cool. so, this is the result. the bands are baseball stitched and the centers are tuck and rolled. yep, again, i totally rock! they look better in person than in the picture. so, i am doing better lately and am getting over being sick. i am still crazy busy, i am booking into the end of april right now. i have some head cold still, but so much better than the flu. hope you all are doing well!

untitled

worked to midnight last night. i am at work now. imagine that! we are soooooooooo busy. one of the customers i had today is a council member here in town and said he knows someone who sews and is sending them to see me. i hope she can sew and wants a job. i need help so badly. i have so much to do. i am ready to fall over today i am so tired. hope i don't .