I had decided to start this blog with the resolve that I would post every day. But life has a way of interferring with life and its resolves. Two things came down the pike that immediately changed my direction, leaving me with neither the time nor the energy to post daily.
The first was a visit from an old friend (well, actually--as he is quick to remind me--he is younger than I am by twenty two months). We have known him for close to forty years. We always enjoy having time with friends--"old" and new. I really was a pretty bad hostess this time as I was rarely home during most of his visit. But he and Steve did some guy stuff. One of the projects that we were happy to see was to get our '36 Plymouth running once again. After a couple of days fiddle-dee-daddling with it, they decided to change the gas tank. Well, yeah, of course, we had a spare new one in the garage. Apparently there was some really old gas in the old tank along with a bunch of sludge.
The second excuse for not continuing my daily messages was a wonderful opportunity. Extreme Makeover, Home Edition with Ty Penington and crew was going to do a build in Gainesville. That's not that far away. Steve and I decided we would go to what turned out to be a pep rally to volunteer. He's a great handy man and painter. I can wield a hammer as well, iffen I need to do so. The Mayor was there along with the Executive Producer Conrad and some design team members (not Ty).
The rally was great fun, but, as it turned out, all the volunteer slots were filled except for some very specialized areas. One such area was "seamstress." (Poor Steve! No place for him.) My mother thought me how to sew when I was twelve. At one time I made most of my own clothes. Over the years, however, I have gotten lazy. I rarely sew these days. But, it is like riding a bike. You don't forget the basics (fancy stuff comes a little harder).
As an aside, my mother, at 89 with macular degeneration still sews. She likes pockets on her jackets. If she buys a jacket with no pockets, she will go to a store for fabric. The clerk will help her pick out a contrasting material and she goes home and adds her pockets. She does a really good job. She cannot see to thread the top part of the machine...my sister, the maintenance man in her apartment building or I--usually do that for her. But she has needles that can be threaded by feel. And, then shes off and running.
There are four very young children...three boys and a girls. The two middle boys are sharing a room. The girl and the older boy have their own. We did not do any work on the room for the two boys. We did work on the master bedroom and the other two children's rooms.
Like many seven year olds, the older boy likes super heroes. The design team called for a bed cover that included this theme. Two of us went out looking for material. Don't know what is going on, but in going to two stores, all we could find was Spiderman fabric--no Superman, Green Hornet, Flash, Batman. A lady noticing our blue shirts and stressed faces mentioned that the men's department had some tee-shirts with super heroes. She saved our day.
There were only seven volunteers to do sewing. (We heard that at the most recent previous build, there had been twenty-something seamstresses.) And the design team had a barrage of things that needed to be done--pillows, quilts, upholstering portions of their very custom made beds. The sewers met at Grace Methodist Church in an area of town known as Fort Clarke. We received our Extreme blue shirts even though only a couple had actually been out to the site. We met two days and completed most of the projects. Of the seven of us, I was the least talented, but I did pull my weight.
The "head seamstress" is an upholsterer by trade. She has a commercial sewing (non portable) machine. So, in addition to her working all day at the church, she went home and worked till the wee hours. There was a lot of vinyl pillows involved. There were also some stools that needed to be upholstered.
And, of course, the beds. Four of the women had gone to the "design" meeting. A picture was given to her without "tufting." Tufting was not discussed at that meeting. So, Lois, did the upholstering flat. The bed is transported to the sight. And, Lo and Behold...it was supposed to be "tufted." Anyone familar with the show knows that the entire build along with furnishing the home is done in a week. Lois, like most of the people involved in this project are proud of their work and tend to be perfectionists. Now, there is nothing wrong with that quality except that perfectionism takes added time... as I kept saying.
Three in the afternoon--two days before the bus is to be moved--Lois found out that the bed had to be tufted. She asked for help. All the rest of the sewing was done, so in effect we had been dismissed. But, who could leave her stranded. Lois, her son and his girlfriend, four of the rest of us who had been there to sew and Steve showed up on site to help her. Steve finally got his blue shirt.
Because of the timing and the fact that we just did not have enough material (and no time to order more), the project had to be done in a slightly different way--a kind of gerry-rigging. The visual effect was quite good, but the tufting--since it was done on vinyl--was done by carefully removing the vinyl, adding layers of foam, nailing the "tufts" and covering the nails. Upholstery tacks were not long enough (thus, the nails). Steve did all the nailing and cut the tacks so that the top could be used to cover the nails. I hot glued each and every tack over each and every one of the approximate one hundred tufts. Got some wicked burns, but the job was completed with satisfied acknowledgements of the designer that was in charge of us.
Later today is "Move That Bus." Steve and I will go out there with our blue shirts and bring our "Welcome Home" sign. This show has always been a favorite of Steve's, but we will never view it again with the same eyes. Everything does not go as smoothly as one would hope, but it all seems to work out. At this time, we don't know when it will air, but I will put it in this blog at the time. Look for the round lavender pillow in the little girl's room. That's mine.
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