I did it!

For the last three months, I have worked like a mad woman with only one goal in mind, a new commercial sewing machine. My old one had waved the white flag by the end of last year and right now I do my ‘magic’ on a loaner machine I could borrow from one of my former students.

Fortes fortuna adiuvat, a phrase I learned in Latin class at a very young age. In my native language German (with an Austrian accent), it would be translated into Das Glück ist mit den Tüchtigen, meaning Fortune is with the hardworking. In English, we translate it into “Fortune favors the bold/the strong.” I suppose it stands for the same.

My Grandma had similar phrases and they basically all meant sleeping in was not an option -and the lazy ones will never get things done. According to her, the early worm is raised, very seldom born.

With my husband still on light duty (restricted hours and weight limitations due to a work-related injury in December 2018) and with the ongoing inflation, money seems to go out as it comes in. After a year of Kaputt, where we replaced so many things, now the last item on my wishlist was the new industrial sewing machine. There was not much money left in the savings for extra purchases. The way it looks right now, some of our money will be used to make up for luxury acquisitions in the future -like ‘eggs’ and the diet-coke, which my husband can’t let go of. Our electricity company just announced another price hike of 28%.

A new sewing machine. How would I swing it because not swinging it is not an option.

I will turn 60 by the end of this year. Another sensational chapter in the book of life will be finished and a new one will begin. Perhaps now is a good time to gift me my dream machine and so I decided to take on some unusual project. Spring is just around the corner, and people want their outdoor cushions done, preferably before Easter, in case the weather will be nice -which in Ohio means above 50F with a little bit of sunshine.

This is not what I normally do, but money doesn’t stink! Also, one of my grandmas’ favorite phrases, and so I sewed a nice amount of outdoor cushions and walked away from my normal routine.

And then I got two calls. The first one didn’t sound like much at first. “Do you do dining room chairs?”

I normally don’t. I restore, refurnish, and reupholster mostly antique furniture or heirlooms, but hey, why not. Money doesn’t stink? With a friendly monotone but not a too interested voice I asked for more specifics.

“Please text me a picture -front/back and side- and add your name and your email address, so I can send you a quote.” The usual chitchat. “Is it just the seat or do the chairs have a reupholstered back as well?”

“Seat and back, I will send you the pics,” and two seconds later I heard a PING and the pictures arrived on my phone. Nice looking chairs, not the cheap kind, but the more decent ones you find in hotels and pricey restaurants.

“How many do you have?” I asked, still not very interested, but curious enough to ask more questions.”

“48,” he said and I almost fell out of my desk chair. Holy Mackerel! Could it be that I would get that lucky?

I went all in. I underbid everybody who didn’t need the job and spent hours helping the customers to find the right fabric, and two weeks later they let me do a test chair. A restaurant/hotel a couple of hours away had hoped to find a smaller business like mine. They got lucky and so did I.

I crunched the numbers. $95 each with a wood touch-up. I knew nobody would underbid me. They loved the price -and the result-and I valued the opportunity.

Hello Sewing machine, you better be ready, because I will place an order soon.

…

…

Right in the middle, when I tried to figure it all out. Another call came in. This time from a former customer.

“Do you want to get the craziness out of your system?” I laughed. I always tell my customers that I have visions of designs and colors in my head that need to come out before I burst. After years of off-white and gray, a trend I will never understand, I am thirsty for a more colored world.

“What do you need?” I asked and thought she wanted a piece of furniture reupholstered or perhaps had some wood furnishings that needed some tender love and care.

“I want you to create unusual stools and a few unique chairs or perhaps a small couch. Something bright, maybe with a Mexican influence, crazy and modern. Something that can’t be found in a store.” The pieces would be shown at a furniture show.

I had two months to come up with something. My ‘wood guy’ created the base for the stools and I finally got red of some of my fabric remnants. Creating the stools was fun and the sofa and the chair that I wanted to display with it, had been waiting for a second chance in my storage facility for way too long.

I set up the booth on Friday and my phone started ringing the next day. The show was a big hit, it looks like my ‘craziness’ attracted quite a few people.

I feel very fortunate. By the end of April, I will place the order for my new commercial sewing machine, and not just that, I will finally get rid of my old banged-up worksurfaces in my workroom and will replace them with two wood countertops 90″ x 26″ in Oak. A small bonus I decided to give myself!

I don’t know if luck favors the strong and hardworking, or if it shows up randomly anyway, but I know it feels better if you work for it.

Maybe the amount of good luck, depends on our willingness to act?

Whatever it might be, I worked for it and it feels good!