Tuesday, June 26, 2012

the green grass of home


Weve just received the news that the landlord has his permits through so will be going ahead and demolishing this house. We found out right this minute. 

Im surprised to find I feel excited instead of devastated that we face yet another move. It was the risk we took when we signed the short lease and as soon as I finish writing this ill be looking at real estate dot com to get my head around the task, probably beginning a shortlist to show the Mr when he gets home tonight.

We have five contingency plans in place, three of which involve a caravan. The other two are even more radical.  
But...
we will choose the sixth unspoken about plan where we do the normal and simply rent another house. We didnt even discuss it until this week. Life has been so up in the air. As if it would be the hardest choice of all to let ourselves be settled. 


There have been wonderful moments in this garden where ive mooched around unearthing and repotting the masses of terracotta pots left behind by the lady who once lived here. There must have been close to sixty. Her array of forgotten plants were just my taste so I have acquired a healthy bunch of, now thriving, cuttings to take with me. We heard from the back neighbour she had forty year old turtles roaming freely here. No wonder this place has an aura of untouched timelessness. I felt like I could play here like a child does.

Plants ive had for some time are recovering too.

I may yet get to see the first blossoms spring will bring but for now am happy to get to live here a little bit longer and prepare as much as anyone can for the unknown. 


Meanwhile ill sit at the freshly cleared dining table and sew the one final eskimo remaining for market tomorrow. 

Im liking magenta pink with chocolate and cocoa linings lately.

p.s   This isnt the only big news today. We heard that the potato has his first job trial in a Chapel Street cafe tomorrow night and I decided to scoot off to a local university and sign up for a horticulture course that ive been longing to do for way too long. Today was the day!


Sunday, June 17, 2012

the handmade show

Its a slow sunday. After one very full, indulgent bath, a few loads of big linen have been hung on the line only to get rained on, a pot of tea drunk and while the kettle is on to fill another, a very ambitious list is being written for the week.

Im finding it really time consuming to find and book into 
markets for winter. 

I dont wish to travel too far from home so have been trying to find local ones and yesterday ended up at The Handmade Show at Carnegie. Zjahlii came down with the kids to join me and here she is setting up her hairclips. She has made so many. She cant seem to stop herself and this time around they took over my market table. Being the first indoors since last year id forgotten how limited you are for space, and the table was full as soon as we began. Mind you it is a smaller table as I always need to take the clothes rack to fit alongside.



Apart from the obvious opportunity of spending time together, I also thought Zjah might feel ready to do her own stall one day soon, and now she is saying, she is. We both concluded that she wasnt allowed to use this hot pink hairclip board when she does though. It simply doesnt do her handiwork justice. Im looking forward to helping her get some props together, perhaps some natural linen canvases and a few easels and signage that we still havent seemed to come up with.




It wasnt until it was nearly time to pack up that I noticed she was growing her nails for I think the second time ever in her whole life. 

Archer is such a dream baby to have at market as he is such a serene little person who went off to sleep without a sound, just happy to be, and watch and take it all in.


Friday, June 15, 2012

clean scene

This was the scene at my place wednesday. If adults can wag then I guess I kind of wagged market and stayed home to clean house instead. This kind of bulk cleaning (where you put everything thats in a room on the higher surfaces and clean from the floor up) gives me new energy that I didnt know I had.

Do you clean this way? Im talking monthly, not just in spring?

I owe this fresh state of mind to the fact that we finally purchased a new vacuum cleaner. I was biding my time saving for a middle of the range super suctionater but then I got desperate, and what do you know, I am happily content with the little sucker.  Its a bagless too, which is lucky cos when we got home the Mr plugged it in and started vacuuming up all my fabric scraps and it wasnt til hed been going for half the house that I thought to check. Eeek.

Ive also found lots of teatowels this week at opshops, which spurred me on to then buy tablecloths to cut up into, you guessed it, even more teatowels. 

Supply was running low, (down to about four) because I throw them out if they get burnt holes in them. I just cant bear it being a fabric lover. Ive told you the Mr is the main cook here havent I? By the way I know how to spell havn't but I prefer 'havent'.

Theres even a new addition to the bedroom to keep my A Little Vintage cushion company.
There were two at the opshop so the twin was destined to be a gift for a friend.



Happy Friday to you wherever you are....
Im off for a night out with the girls. 


Tuesday, June 12, 2012

a night before a market

Its the evening before the market and all ive been working on is a quilt that seems never ending. Adding rows of squares and then stopping and counting and then adding some more, a truly professional approach dont you think? I began it from the other way around but then fell easily back into my old ways of the random and of course, found it more enjoyable. 

I had it laid out on the lounge room floor last night when the Mr walked in and said I needed to stop as it was huge. I was glad for his input or it may have ended up too big, me being a fan of all things upscaled. A final two rows tonight while he is on the late shift should be enough. 
I want it to look and feel like the original one I made for myself. I want it to fall around the bed at just the right length, not be annoying to fold at the foot but just the most perfect king size quilt ever. Hard to do when all you have is a queen bed to drape it over.

Im not in the best frame of mind to begin thinking about getting ready for market tomorrow.
The van is full of firewood and my marquee and stock is gracing the front porch yet again. I dont know whether to attempt to pack it quietly now or early in the morning at the risk of waking people up next door. But ill need to get out there to bring in the firewood anyhow so...

Time to put some more lamps on and stop the greyness coming in from outside.

At least the dishes are done and I can begin to settle in for the night while it lasts.

happy warm tuesday to you...

Friday, June 8, 2012

today

today I woke not knowing which market I would book for tomorrow
we went to the gym together for the first time in a while and I felt amazing immediately and have been bouncy all day

I altered a pair of chinos for the potato who said great things about them when he tried them on
today I told my mum that I didnt like the house she had been looking at buying and luckily she had decided against it too
I went opshopping in my gym gear for the first and only time
today I planned to run with the dog but it was raining so I couldnt 
for dinner im ordering pizza from his favourite new place two blocks away
im taking the night off to watch a girly movie of my own choice with no interruptions


tonight im not going to think about sewing

or custom orders or posting

or correct dimension pocket sizes 

but tomorrow will be a whole. new. another. day
I may be able to sneak in to a last minute local market while the Mr goes on a bike ride
I could easily be inspired to design something new for my wardrobe
or I might just begin knitting that scarf ive been dreaming about 
the potato wants to learn to knit.... he told me today



Wednesday, June 6, 2012

announcing the reindeer coat



Announcing the new Reindeer coat. 
This is one bit of the news I mentioned earlier. I have been working on some new designs and these have been hitting the shop recently. I know I should have mentioned them earlier by way of here but I was in the middle of a thought process and enjoying the make so much that I simply didnt feel chatty. I did however find the, ahem, time to place them on Facebook, which for the record I loathe but still abuse it. So easy to shove a photo on there and leave.





Ive also been doing different versions of coats to mix things up a bit and use every last piece of favourtie wools, pricewise too, as these take slightly less time to do than the Eskimos. Very. very. Yay.




Im still at the machine tonight, the Mr has just walked in and its nearly midnight, poor man. 
Off to show him some attention....






slow

Its an odd thing to be so long absent from this space but the fact is ive been having trouble finding the impetus to pen my thoughts like I used to. Oh ive stopped by here once or twice only to have nothing to say even when life was at its busiest. Things were on the other side of flow. I knew I needed slow.

I became aware a few weeks ago that I needed life to pace itself better leading into winter or things would stay accelerated. However I had no intention of coming to a full stop with my blog though and im apologising if youve been looking*, wondering where I was at. 



Weeks back, when we got back from holidays to the new house I struggled because I had no routine and I felt quite daunted with the everyday. But the good news is im back to basics these days, washing dishes as soon as I wake in this sunniest of kitchens, planning the day instead of waiting for it to come crashing in around me.

I so wasnt ready to get back into markets and all I could do was to try to keep up with custom orders that were flooding in. Props and cases sat on the front porch waiting. To be either put in the shed, (hopefully not) the van ( hopefully yes) as soon as I booked a market or two, (which of course I did) . 

 The everyday eventually slowed down as I tried to put out new designs while gathering some renewed energy.
And it worked a treat. Ive been back at markets for the last month, some friends have even been visiting me while im at Mornington Main st for the day. I think I had a record number last week with around fifteen people come past, and beautiful souls who came early and helped me set up. Talk about making a girl feel loved.




Things are definitely settled to how I like them and I even grabbed a roadside find the other day which spurred me on to spend the whole day in the garden, placing my new found outdoor table where it gets the morning sun, repotting and planting seedlings that are coming up plus a general spruce up. I was the happiest, chirpiest of people that night when I fell into bed. 



This is a mere snippet of life right this moment.I have other news that ive been dying to share but that will wait until I have the right words. When things get to a good steady flow once again. 

Catch ya!

*Hi Lyn, I know youre there, x

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