I have a partner in crime(so to speak). I have been dating Kelly for over 6 months

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She and I are going to tag team the rest of the preparations on Mary Lee.

I will continue driving truck. I will drive three weeks and have a week to work on boat projects each month. This is mostly unheard of in trucking. They usually want you to be out 30 days and take three days off.  We plan to head south at the end of this upcoming hurricane season.

It will be a very busy time.  As we get rolling on projects, I will try to post the upgrades as they are completed. Mary Lee will come out of the water soon

It has been a very busy time. Several very good things have happened in the last few months. I was on the fence about selling Mary Lee and buying another boat in Seattle.

I have been out seeing things. This is Oriental, NC. I am back in a semi truck full time. I was just salaried at a very good wage. I also have some part time driving jobs with the van that I am looking forward to.

The move back west is imminent. The boating adventure was never about the east coast. It was about the South Pacific. Also sailing the Alaskan inlets for a summer. I will be pulling Mary Lee out of the water soon. The end of next hurricane season will see everything done and she will be ready to travel. I am excited. I finally have recovered from the back injury enough to move forward with the original plan. The one I made when I first bought Mary Lee. FINALLY!!! So....there will be quite a bit of posting very soon. I will have to hire help to do some of the work....I will be too busy to do it all myself.

I have been meeting quite a few upholsterers with their own shops. I have been told over and over....You do not need that school. It is a waste of your time. I have taught myself how to sew well enough to undertake any job I am likely to get into. I think it is time to get set up and take the leap. I am going to go out in a semi again until spring. I am going to buy a pickup. Camper on top. Car hauler trailer set up as portable upholstery shop. I have a plan.

So. I have been out exploring the area around Hickory.

This is a place back up in the mountains that was interesting. That is all coffee cups.

This little lake. Lake Lure(near Ashville was used in a few movies.

Pretty small puddle. If you can read the sign. Used in Dirty Dancing and Last of the Mohicans.

That is a short update. I have been busy. I am going to be moved out of Hickory, NC. Before Oct. 1st. Going to drive up to Maine in the van for a few days. Then head out in a semi for the winter. Should be interesting. I have plans for Mary Lee this winter. She may very well end up on a trailer headed to Seattle and Puget sound. I want to cruise the Alaskan inlets for a summer. More on that later

Just a quick post.

   I have to take a day off upholstering. My back flared up. All good. I finished the second bucket seat yesterday. Seams are straight. No weird bulges. Everything lined up like it should be. I was going to pull the drivers seat out this morning. I need the van for class tomorrow. Guess I will start on passenger seat and save driver seat for next Friday.

   Here is the newest photo.

I like it. I will also be doing headliner and carpet when seats are done. Not sure if I mentioned that.

    We have not started doing any upholstery or sewing in school yet. But being in a town with several furniture manufacturers, There is remnants of fabrics left over from factories in all the second hand stores at $3.00 a yard. I decided to start reupholstering the van seats for practice. I may have $80 into everything needed to do four seats.

I have this neat sewing machine that I cannot keep my hands off of.
   The first obvious step was to get a seat out and take it all apart.

    Then start cutting the seams apart to make a pattern.

    seemed easy enough.   Pretty soon I had a mess going.

    So...It was time to cut out the new pieces. The new pieces needed to be cemented to the foam backing.

    Not horribly hard to do. First piece sewed together quite easily. Taking my time to get it right. The speed will come.


Next was the backrest. Many new things to consider here. Remember, I am teaching myself. I can be meticulous about making sure things look right as they go together...but I am just learning.

Got the pieces all taken apart. Seemed important to lay them out so the way they go together can be easily sorted out.

Sewing them together was interesting. I actually find the sewing easy.  Backrest went together fairly easy. Lots of extra things the seat never had, but okay.
    I ended up with this.

   I used some special bonding paint for changing the color of plastic.

   Ended up with this
Forgot to take pictures of headrest going together....It is a special little challenge of its own. Finally done. The following pictures are of the finished one. The next one in line to be done sitting next to it. Sort of a before and after. Then first one back in the van. Keep in mind that there were no rips or major stains in seats. I just wanted to get started doing upholstery.

   

   I will finish the seats and also replace carpet and headliner. It will be my rolling billboard.

I have a few more sets of seats to do for friends. I told them if they bought material, I would do it for the practice. Then I will start charging to do seats.  I am pleased with the visual this will create. The seat looks every bit as good in person as it does in the pictures. my seams are straight. I really like my new sewing machine.

   Upholstery school is off to a good start. It is sponsored by the local furniture manufacturers, so there is 2 months of classwork that has nothing to do with actually doing upholstery. I get it. They want us to take classes on teamwork, math, communication, etc.

   I keep thinking about the doctors that told me I would never work again. Maybe not in a grueling job at a plant, or driving truck for long hours every day. But I am beating the odds. I am tenacious. I will get there. Just barely getting started and the jobs are already lining up. Before I am out of school I will be going full bore. I won't get into specifics at this point, but....I have a hookup in auto upholstery. Tied to what I already knew before getting here, I am going to do very well.

I picked up my sewing machine today. It will be my main machine. I now have two machines.  My portable sailrite machine and this Consew 206. It was a bit more than I had originally wanted to pay, but it will last the rest of my life. I am getting ready to do some serious sewing with it. It sews beautifully.

Did I mention the little daysailer last post?

Let's not forget that.

I ran into a difficulty registering the trailer, but that is now just about solved. It is a Galilee 15. If you search Galilee 15 on youtube. you get a short clip of a guy sailing one.  The top photo is from the original owner. I am the second owner. The boat is a 1985 model. I will be putting it in the water very soon. Lake Hickory is just 8 miles away. Lake Norman(much bigger) is 38 miles away.

   Life is such an adventure.  While working on Mary Lee's upholstery, I had so many people ask me about doing upholstery for them, I decided that it may be the answer for making me gainfully employed again. I need something I enjoy. I also need a flexible schedule. I still hurt a lot, I need to be able to take a day or two to rest when I am hurting too much.

   So....after spending much time poking at different ideas. Throwing them out to friends for feedback. I came up with upholstery. As luck would have it, I was less than 300 miles from a top notch school. The Furniture Factory. Catawba Valley Community College.

   By the time I realized I could make it happen, It was a rush to get enrolled and find housing. I actually missed the first day. With all the driving I had to do(back and forth) I was finally here and had a bed put together at 10:00 pm. on the first day. I made the second day. I knew the decision to go to school was the right one after the first couple hours. I will leave here with the skill needed to start my own business.

A few pictures of the kind of furniture we will be upholstering. The local furniture factories sponsor this. They send the frames over for us to upholster. Workers from the factories(with many years experience) teach us.

     I just ordered my own machine to sew with at home. Not a requirement, but I intend to be using it to do projects of my own while I am in school. I will buy the machines I need while in school and be proficient with them by the time I am done with school.  I ordered a new Consew 206. As I learn which machines I need, I will buy them and start using them. I will be in school for 18 months to learn what I need. It is quite likely I will be practicing on car seats and panels.

   Something I like about this school. They will teach you everything. Emphasis on high-end furniture, because that is what the sponsors make, but we will learn all techniques. I am quite pleased to have this opportunity.

   Mary Lee is going to get all new upholstery when I am done. I will be much better at doing upholstery. Of course my boat will get the best I can do!