Times, they are a-changing!

Many of you have commented on my lengthy absence - I’m honored that you’ve noticed! Truth be told, I have been working anywhere from 50 to 70 hours per week in our restaurant and trying to squeeze in my embroidery work in there somewhere. I am lucky to sneak a few hours of sleep in, let alone get any sewing done. Sooooo, after ten years, I have made the decision to close my embroidery business. I am just burned out! I know those ads in Sew News and Threads make it sound so fun and easy but, trust me, embroidery is a very competitive business requiring long hours and more physical labor than you’d imagine. I am ready to move on to something else and, happily, I may already have a buyer for my 6-head machine and my customer files. Do you know what this means? It means that I will once again have a few hours a couple of days every week to get back to my beloved sewing!

I have been running my embroidery business out of my converted two-car garage. Once the big machine is gone I’ll be left with a singlehead machine, five industrials and a heat press that absolutely won’t fit into my sewing room. So, I’ve decided to move all of the cabinets and machines from the sewing room out into the garage and allow my son to take over my old sewing room as a den where he can entertain friends away from the rest of the household. It will be awesome to have a huge sewing room where I can leave both cutting tables set up all the time! Unfortunately, there is only one window but I will adjust to that.

Where the action is

Some of you have never seen my sewing room and here it is. I know I’m not the only sewer who enjoys looking at everyone’s sewing spaces - or am I? The bones of this room have been about the same for ten years but it received a facelift last year in the way of new paint, new hardware, a new floor and wonderful water hyacinth baskets for organizing. It’s so nice not to lose pins in carpeting!

Here’s the view from the door. That wonderful little Bernette 334DS serger you see in the foreground has been sold since I took these pictures. I was feeling guilty that such a great machine had been sitting idle since the day I bought my industrial serger. I firmly believe that machines need to be used and loved.

The shelves above the industrial serger didn’t always hang so high. I moved them up in order to fit my industrial embroidery machine underneath back in 1999. That machine is now housed in my converted garage with my 6-head and the rest of my industrials. Just a quick walk to the other side of the house. I never bothered to lower the shelves back down. It doesn’t bother me and gives me more room for my thread racks.

Here’s the view to the right - pressing surface, small cutting area (which is usually just piled with fabric) and my Horn thread cabinet. I sure wish the thread cabinet had only deep drawers so that I could fit all of my serger thread in it. I have way too much regular sewing thread to fit so those shallow drawers on top are kind of useless. They hold tools and my knitting needles (I’ve been learning to knit for several years but haven’t progressed past garter stitch).

Here’s a little peek into my shop. The 6-head embroidery machine takes center stage, of course. She’s about 13 feet long. We actually built the room around her. We layed the carpet, painted, had air conditioning installed and then brought the machine in with a forklift (well, WE didn’t, the rigging company did it) and had the fourth wall put up. I usually stay out of here on the weekends - I have to go “home” sometime - but I am swamped with work so the machines are running as I sit here and type.

Okay, I’ve shown you mine - now show me yours!

Still working……

Yes, I’m still at it. Four of my teams are in a tournament this weekend which, ordinarily, would not be a big deal. But add in many days of delay due to UPS closing in anticipation of tropical storm Ernesto (which turned out to be nothing more than a mild rainstorm) and a holiday weekend and you have me about a week behind on my work. The tackle twill split front logos for one set of uniforms took forever and didn’t arrive until late yesterday afternoon. I just bit the bullet and stayed up until 2:00 a.m. sewing everything onto the vests. I did not want to face them today! As you can imagine, I can’t wait until I’m back on track and have some time to spend in my sewing room - after I catch up on my sleep.

Fun, interrupted

It seems that everytime I get really deep into a couple of fun sewing projects I am interrupted by W O R K. It’s just such a bummer! Sunday night and yesterday I laid a glass block divider in my husband’s restaurant (not only loads of fun, haha, but the mortar sucks every drop of moisture out of your hands). Then, today, it’s back to work, work, work. Blech. And, naturally, everyone needs their order yesterday. I need one of those coffee mugs that says “lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part”! Let’s face it, I am just down in the mouth today knowing that I will be trapped in my shop day and night for the rest of the week. The only thing that will bring a smile to my face is the thought of watching Project Runway on Wednesday! In the meantime, I’ll be watching this wraparound hat logo embroider out about fifty times. I know it makes you want to rush out and start your own embroidery business, doesn’t it? Admit, you know it does.