Classes started Saturday, January 6th. It reached 72 degrees that day! It was a lot of fun teaching in the new space. The sun was shining and we had the door open. People stop by to check us out. Fresh flowers, homebaked banana bread, and some sewing, (oops), made it a great day!

It has been a little while since I have posted. We worked very hard in the last 2 weeks and Christmas was in the middle of it.

My sister, the talented web designer who built my 2 sites, and I took a day trip to IKEA last week. It was the perfect time to go. Hardly anyone was there and I had all the help I needed from the kitchen and office designers. We ended up with 3 carts and they all fit in my sister’s Honda Element. They man who packed it did an amazing job fitting it all in.

The traffic back to Arlington was a breeze. When we got to the shop, we started unpacking the vehicle and it seemed a daunting task. I spied 2 strapping young men walking buy and offered to pay them to help us. They unloaded everything in a matter of 15 minutes and offered their services in the future. It was a great topper to a busy day.

Just this week, Donna found a fellow who assembles “anything in a box.” His name is Paul Dennehy. He and his son showed up Wednesday morning and by 6 pm, everything was built and installed. They were pleasant and hardworking. Since the doors and drawer fronts are being shipped, Paul will be returning to install those for me, too. I will post his phone number for anyone who is interested in using his services. His price was reasonable and relieved me of a large chunk of work.

That same day, I had 2 electricians by, and 4 old friends of mine showed up to do whatever needed to be done. I likened it to a Marx Brothers movie. Have you ever seen “Night at the Opera?” There is a scene where Groucho Marx’s character is shown to his stateroom, which is barely bigger than his bed. While he is there, every service imaginable comes into his room, from the maids to room service to a manicurist to the engineering crew. It felt that busy for me that day. But, it also felt like everything is working well and that I have a huge amount of support for all these changes going on in my life right now.

Yesterday, Tricia O’Neill, came to do the window lettering on the shop. It looks wonderful. The 2 large panes of glass say, “Laura’s Sewing School & More + website address.” The doors has a list of areas of interest taught. Let me know what you think. I do have some pictures. I will be learning later this week how to load them onto this site. It will make it all more interesting to look at.

The items are an office chair slipcover, a shirt that I copied from another purchased shirt that I love, a decoupaged dresser, a beanbag ottoman, a dog bed I covered and a lampshade. Also, I hung a quilt top that my grandmother made on her treadle sewing machine.
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I have set up a living room area at the front of the shop. I found a loveseat on the curb in my neighborhood, a couple of weeks ago. It was in great condition, the fabric was faded and could use a new slipcover or reupholstering. I just got some fabric samples from Fabric Place. They are having a 25% off Everything Sale, now through December 6th. I plan to make 2 slipcovers. One to match the chairs as they are. And, one to match the slipcovers I plan to make for the chairs. I have placed items near the window and have posted information sheets on the windows about each item that I made.

The bathroom was filthy, but after 2 heavy scrubbing sessions on the sink, the goop and paint splatters are finally off. I do plan to put in a new vanity, sink and faucet before classes begin in January. The floors are newly waxed and I have put up a balloon sheer in the bathroom window. I was able to use one that I had made for my old dining room. Since it was on a tension rod, I was able to shorten the rod and gather the curtain more. I shortened the support dowel at the bottom to fit inside the window frame. I had to adjust the length of the cords to make them even and pull up the bottom to fit the shorter length of window. But, it looks quite nice and gives needed privacy for the room.

I moved everything in on Monday, November 27th. We were lucky and got a gorgeous, warm day for the move. I used Gentle Giant and they were great. They really know how to work hard and fast. And, the guys were very sweet. They made sure that everything was placed where I wanted it. And, if it wasn’t, they insisted that they move it for me.

It’s a good thing that the storefront has a dry basement. I am able to store my large stash of fabric down there.