Dining Room Chairs Progressing Nicely

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

Will be very glad to get this project finished.  I'm way out of shape as far as stretching vinyl goes.  Haven't done any real upholstery work since I finished the last restaurant the first of May.

Took the first seat over yesterday and reattached to the base.  Wanted to get approval before I progressed any further because customer increased foam from 2 to 5 inches.  I would have increased to no more than 3 inches but whatever the customer wants.

Cutting through 5 inch foam is not my idea of a good time.  Then there is a need for a slight bit of sanding to even things out where needed.  Stretching vinyl over 5 inch foam is an absolute joy.  I pretty much throw myself over the seat so I can compress the foam on the sides and get the vinyl tight enough.  The least of my worries is redoing the webbing - I can do that in my sleep.

She was over the moon with how the chair looked and felt when she sat on it.  So 9 more to go.  Yes, I am definitely counting these babies down.  Iffy being finished by Christmas.  May have 1 or 2 left but they only use 8 at their table unless company comes over. 

Anytime I get frustrated, I remind myself that this makes an additional payment on my sinfully expensive new dedicated quilting machine.  That helps to ease my discomfort level.  I probably wouldn't mind it so much but now that I take nothing stronger than Alieve, I'm being very careful how much I do in a day as I am definitely stretching the bar here.  I'll survive though.

[SteveA]

I can remember the days of starting and finishing a job without paying attention to hour.  Now I work for a couple of hours - go back to the phone and billing - and return to the shop for another hour or two. 
I break it up because if I try to work like the old days either my back or knees kill me.  It feels like I'm semi retired but I'm not complaining - just don't hire me to do a whole days work :)
SA

[kodydog]

Anytime I get frustrated, I remind myself that this makes an additional payment on my sinfully expensive new dedicated quilting machine. 

What machine did you get and how does it work?

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

I got a Bernina B20.  Here's the link to it:

https://www.bernina.com/cmsctx/culture/en-US/-/en-US/Products-US/BERNINA-products/Longarm-Quilting/BERNINA-Q-20-Sit-Down-Model?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6JL-3LWb3wIVkDVpCh32CgYYEAAYASAAEgIgSvD_BwE

I did get a hefty trade in allowance on my old long arm and frame but still this is the most expensive machine I've ever bought.  Can't imagine buying anything pricier.

All it does is quilt the designs you see on top of the quilt.  You put your quilt sandwich underneath the foot, press down once on the presser foot and move the quilt to get the machine to stitch.  I buy what are called rulers and templates that I use with the machine to make the cool designs but you can also do it free motion.  I put the template over the quilt, put the foot down and sew inside the template and the design is "quilted" on my quilt. 

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

Working on chair number 5 of 10 chairs total.  Eight are side chairs and 2 arm chairs, not like that makes any difference.  So far, all but one have had horrible stretching the elastic webbing.  The foam got so pushed through the hole in the frame that the frame had started slicing through the foam.  Plus, oxidation is in the beginning stages so it's a good plan to replace all the foam and webbing.  I just wouldn't have gone any thicker than 3 inches myself; but they are not my chairs.

Hoping to get the chairs finished before Christmas but that might not happen.  Depends on how many interruptions I get.

On a completely different tangent, I'm still in a slight state of shock.  I spent 17 days in Europe summer of '74, right after I graduated HS.  Met up with a guy there, a year younger who attended the school I had just graduated from.  We became what my MIL would have called "an item" and came close to getting married.  We broke up, ran into each other 5 years later and started dating again.  But it's hard to go back to what once was and it just didn't work out.  Haven't seen or talked to him in almost 40 years.  My SIL called me Thursday but I didn't get her called back until yesterday.  She had seen his obit in the paper and wanted to talk about it.  61 years old and died of heart failure.  One of the nicest people I knew and gone from the earth way too soon.  I did laugh at my SIL though as she was sure to point out that he had never married and was just positive that it was because no one could measure up to me.  I'm thinking that's NOT the case.

[kodydog]

I got a Bernina B20.  Here's the link to it:

https://www.bernina.com/cmsctx/culture/en-US/-/en-US/Products-US/BERNINA-products/Longarm-Quilting/BERNINA-Q-20-Sit-Down-Model?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6JL-3LWb3wIVkDVpCh32CgYYEAAYASAAEgIgSvD_BwE

Nice machine Virginia. Looks very versatile. I bet you're having fun with it.

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

I got a Bernina B20.  Here's the link to it:

https://www.bernina.com/cmsctx/culture/en-US/-/en-US/Products-US/BERNINA-products/Longarm-Quilting/BERNINA-Q-20-Sit-Down-Model?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6JL-3LWb3wIVkDVpCh32CgYYEAAYASAAEgIgSvD_BwE

Nice machine Virginia. Looks very versatile. I bet you're having fun with it.

Yup, having a blast with it.  Right now, I'm just screwing around and getting used to its speed, etc.   I do have a quilt top for a customer that I need to quilt.  That's next in line after I get the dining room chairs finished.  I'm also making a HD shirt quilt for a customer but I'm still in the cutting shirts apart stages on that one.  Working on a quilt to enter in the fair this year and also making a quilt out of Crown Royal bags for my niece.  Hope to have the last 2 quilts finished in time to enter in the Ne State Fair this August.  My quilt is almost ready to quilt and I'm just about ready to start sewing the blocks for the Crown Royal quilt.  Machine will be seeing some serious quilting in about 2 or 3 months.  Just love the machine though!

[MinUph]

That is one sewing machine Virginia,
  Pretty cool the way it works. Good luck with it.

[kodydog]

A quilt out of crown royal bags!. That's a lot of whisky. And the expensive stuff too. I'm sure you enjoyed it though. :o

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

A quilt out of crown royal bags!. That's a lot of whisky. And the expensive stuff too. I'm sure you enjoyed it though. :o

Sadly, I have not had one drop of the whiskey.  My niece lives in Lincoln and has been stock piling the bags for years.  She bought about a dozen on eBay.  Hubby's barber gives me his CR bags as well as the last restaurant I upholstered.  It is a crap load of bags though.  King size quilt which translates to 81 CR bags.  Not all the purple ones.  Green (apple), orange (carmel), an off white one and several tan ones, black and some purple camo bags.  Quite a collection she had going on!

Whiskey never did much for me.  I'm more a kahlua person.  That or absinthe.