Sewing

Last weekend I finished a cushion for a bench seat for someone. In late June I had delivered three pillows for this same bench, while I went on to finish the cushion. I sent an invoice for everything with the cushion. Tuesday the client called, supposedly to question the bill, but it quickly became an attack on everything that I had made. It was ugly, it was too thin, the plaids didn't match, made her cry. Never-mind that she selected the fabric and neglected to provide enough to properly cut the cording or do any elaborate matching. The top and bottom had centered plaids, and the cording and sides were cut so that they were each one color and the strips were sew to carefully match the plaid within the cording or sides. There was insufficient fabric to match the sides to the top and bottom panels. And the thickness was exactly what we had originally discussed.

And oh by the way "I didn't receive any pillows." I pointed out that they had been delivered separately several months ago. I was told that I had never sent them. I followed up and my sister had put them in the car herself so the client was mistaken. Not that I wanted to call the woman a liar but the reality is that she called at least once a week until the pillows were completed. I didn't hear anything and concluded that she was happy with them. I didn't hear anything again for weeks until she called about the cushion. Then she called weekly about the cushion, no mention was made of the pillows. She ended the call saying that she would pay me what she owed me but that she was unhappy. (And to date I haven't seen a check.)

Unfortunately I am forced to conclude that this person wants something for nothing and was looking for any excuse to get out of paying the bill. Fortunately I don't sew to earn my living. Nor am I ever likely to do something like this for non-family ever again.

On a happier note, today was sunny and clear and after a week of wet and well below normal temps it was really nice. Blue skies, warm sun and I took advantage of it to clean out the tree beds and plant blue and yellow pansies. They look so cheery.

Startitis

In the past week I have knit 1 shell, 1 cardigan, 1 pullover, a scarf and swatched for 2 more sweaters. (And they were all from stash. yay) Now I just have to finish them. Along with the kimono and sweater that are half assembled from last fall. Especially if I want to show them off at my machine knitting classed in two weeks.

And the repaired electronic head for my knitting machine was delivered this afternoon. So now I can swatch patterned stitches too. Unfortunately when I looked at the details on the bill, it appears that they billed me for the replacement part that I had included when I sent it in for repairs. sigh.

Why is it...

That I can build stone walls or install pavers for weeks on end and simply feel sweaty and grubby at the end of the day and pulling weeds for 7 hours is exhausting?

Irony

I was talking to my friend Barb this afternoon while I was driving for work to a nursery up in Union County. Thought I would give her a heads up as there seemed to be an unusual amount of State Troopers on the road today and she and Jack were driving home from Arkansas. As I stopped at the intersection of SR 33 and 42 I even said "there's even one here."

I made my turn and kept going. We're chatting away and I glance up into the rear view mirror and crap there's a trooper behind me but the lights aren't on. Barb laughed and asked what he could possibly stop me for because I had just double checked and was actually going the speed limit for once. Glibly I replied, I don't have my belt on. No sooner said than the lights go on behind me.

Sure enough. He asked if I knew what I had been pulled over for. I honestly stated that I had no idea. He said that I had failed to use the turn signal when I stopped at the top of the exit ramp, and that it was a moving violation and would attach points to my license, but that he would be nice and give me a warning instead. However I wasn't wearing a seat belt and they don't give warnings for that. He did ask why I wasn't wearing it and I honestly replied that I had taken it off when I had been in the last nursery because I was scrambling in and out of the truck to load things and had simply forgotten to put it back on. 20 minutes later I was on my way with a ticket for $68 on the seat beside me. So much for anything that I earned today.

Just in time

Hurray! The siding has been repaired on the kitchen gable. It literally took me years to find a handyman willing to replace the aluminum siding on the kitchen after a windstorm took it off. Most people I talked to quoted me prices that would re-side the entire house. I had a box of siding, I just needed the labor to install it.

And now the rain is pouring down in a rather nasty thunderstorm.

TNNA

Just got back from the TNNA fashion show. There were about 100 items shown on the catwalk tonight and as you would expect there are some that I liked and some that I went "bleh". Overall what I was seeing was stripes, both vertical and horizontal; texture, especially cables and lace; cardigans, more short than anything and with a bit of swing; skirts, a surprising number and especially in suits, and more than the usual amount of men's sweaters. The yarns were much bulkier than last year, and many of the shapes were more fitted.

Of course there were new yarns, the most memorable being "Harley" from Trendsetter. Harley is a carry along yarn with little bits of metal chain dangling from it every so often. Interesting concept, not my cup of tea, but I really liked the shape and fit of the sweater that it was used in.

Great Lakes Fiber Show

After working almost 14 hours yesterday, I got up bright and early this morning to meet up with Barb and Merida to head off to Wooster, Ohio for the Great Lakes Fiber Show. This is an annual event occurring on Memorial Day weekend and we look forward to it after a long winter.

We took Merida's new car a Honda Fit and had been warned that we were only allowed to eat/drink non-staining things in her new baby. In fact we were her first non-family passengers. It was a smooth 2 hour trip and a dry run for our trip IwannaKnit ReTreat in 2 weeks. The car was comfortable, our only concern at this point will be getting 3 knitting machines, accessories and yarn, luggage for 3 people and a cooler in the car for the 4 hour drive.

We hit the festival a little after 10 and planned our attack on the vendors. Merida wanted her first stop to be Noah's Landing as Susan tends to have interesting Habu yarns on clearance from time to time and Merida loves their yarns. Me, I just needed to find some acid green yarn from Fleece Artist, similar to what I used for Barb's stole. My sister loved the scarf I made for her daughter from the leftovers and has indicated that she wants one for herself. We wandered through the 4 buildings running into numerous friends and exchanging many hugs.

I am always amazed by the memory of some of the vendors. Catherine at Knitting Notions commented that I looked so much better than the last time she had seen me at Stitches East last fall, that I had seemed down and not feeling well. Merida reminded me that I had gone to Baltimore with a serious prescription of antibiotics and had slept through most of the drive as I had been recovering from a respiratory infection and high fever the day before. I had forgotten that I was even sick on that trip. Jim from Aunt Aggie's greeted me by name as we arrived. I only see most of these vendors 2 -3 times per year and they remember little things. It's just amazing.

I think we managed to look at almost everything before starting to buy. I am admittedly on a yarn/fiber diet with my change in employment. Being an architect brought home much larger paychecks than a landscape foreman/production manager. So the budget is different and Lord knows that I am not hurting for yarn or fiber to work with. So I made more thoughtful purchases. I couldn't find the yarn for Robin and so bought dye and undyed base yarn and will dye it myself. I love an excuse to play with yarn and color, so this really breaks my heart. Several braids of seasilk/silk and seasilk/wool roving also made the trip home too. All three of us bought three pound bags of undyed/neutral NZ wool for use in class samples at Machine Camp, 3 pounds for $10. What a great deal.

We rounded out the day with a trip to Lehman's Hardware in Kidron. A truly fascinating place to wander through. And after a quick stop across the street for ice cream and we were headed home. We were all tired but happy, it was a good trip.