October 25, 2023
Dear Friends,
When our retreat building was new in May of last year, and we were in the process of furnishing it . . . . towel racks, dining & classroom chairs, washer & dryer and all the other stuff needed . . . . . . one of our concerns was finding the most comfortable chairs possible so that retreaters and classroom students would find it pleasant to sit in the chairs for extended hours at a time. As with other items, we sought the advice of several seasoned retreat goers on the best way to make our retreat inviting, comfortable, and with the best things any retreat can have.
For the best chairs, “Bungee Chairs” was the overwhelming response from several people. We could get them from the Container Store. So we bought 20 armless bungee chairs, for people to use while sewing or dining or elsewhere in the shop. These have round bungees for the backs and seats. Also bought six with arms and flat bungees. Donna and I use these armed chairs especially at the dinner table. Donna also uses one while working on the computer to generate FaceBook content, class announcements, and numerous other tasks.
The chairs provide the height of comfort for our customers and guests. Many have mention how they are the perfect chair for this business and perfect for them. Many inquire where we got them, or whether we have them for sale. No, we don’t sell them. A further plus the the bungeed chairs is in addition to being totally comfortable for long periods of time, but they are also durable. We haven’t noted any wear whatsoever on any of them. The bungees don’t sag, there’s no rust anywhere, there are no “catch places” to tear up knit garments, none of the bungees have come loose.
It wasn’t until early this week we finally found a negative side to these things. A group of eight wonderful ladies had been retreating with us and left on Sunday. So on Monday, we turned all the classroom chairs upside down on the tables, enabling us to sweep up fabric scraps, thread bits, a few pins and dismembered dust bunnies . . . the usual post-retreat clean-up stuff. With the chairs upside down, I think this was the first time any of us noticed how nasty the chair wheels looked.
Many of the axles had thread wrapped around them. Where the wheels meet the floor . . polished concrete . . fine grains of sand had become embedded in some of the tires. This enabled the tires to pick up a more thread, bits of fabric, and even an occasional needle or pin. This was scary! We truly make wonderful effort to keep our place clean, but this had gotten past us for at least some time. It wasn’t what I would call a disaster, nothing sufficient to scare customer and retreaters away or really gross them out, but still from our point of view, it was a definite blemish on our normally pristine domain. We did our best to get is all cleaned up.
Friends, if you can bring yourself to not turn up our chairs for close inspection of the wheel axles and tires, and resist giving them the white glove treatment perchance finding a minuscule fragment of unwanted dirt, we would like to invite you to come take classes from us, or just come in as a get-a-way for some sewing away from the distractions of family.
We have serger classes, embroidery classes, quilting classes, longarm quilting classes, Pro-Stitcher classes, and several specialty classes coming soon that Donna is cooking up. You would learn a lot from any of these classes and would find a great source of enjoyment while doing so.
Chip
