Things.

Things have been quite a challenge here. Of course we knew when we decided to follow our dream and try to design & build an eco house that doing so with three small children was going to be difficult. We agreed to do it anyway. If everyone gave up on their dreams because they were too hard nothing amazing would ever happen right? I'm still not regretting the decision, not one iota, but the last few months has presented more than it's fair share of hurdles. The thing is there are many reasons why building a house rather than buying one is right for us. Firstly, we want to live there forever. We don't want to sell it a few years because it has rising damp, or not enough bedrooms, or not enough space out back for a studio. I want to plant an orchard and watch it grow, have it feed our family, enjoy its yearly cycle and marvel in it's progress. For me it's so important because I've never had a real home. My family were basically New Zealands equivalent to trailer trash and we moved a lot, sometimes several times a year. I lived in foster homes periodically and from 15 I was out on my own completely. I want my kids to have a real home. One they can always come back to. Secondly we need to live sustainably. This house with need little or no cooling or heating. It will have solar power, water tanks and permaculture garden to feed us. We will have little or no bills to pay and teeny tiny environmental footprint. In the end it will all be worth it. It's important to remember all of this when there is SO much going on, so many things that need your attention, so many things seemingly going wrong that you think you are going to just collapse and die from the stress of it all...

Hence the lack of blogging. 

A few major things have happened that almost made us give up. Luckily we never both wanted to give up on the same day, or we'd be wallowing in quitsville. Instead we cheered each other on and vowed to fight until the end. It aint over till the fat lady sings and all that. Things seem to be looking up a bit this week and hopefully soon I can return to some crafting and some blogging and some generally feeling good.As the state government has in it's infinite wisdom decided to scrap the rural first homebuilders grants, we now have four weeks to sort the remaining issues out and sign a contract with our builder. Wish us luck. If all goes well you will be some long awaited progress starting in July. Our builder has predicted a 25 week build so we will hopefully be living the dream by Christmas. If it doesn't go well, well, lets not even go there.

In other news our special little fella Otis turned 1. Happy Birthday little man.

He had a wonderful party and especially enjoyed wolfing down some cake for the first time. You are such a pleasure to be around Oty, I'm trying really hard to not miss the specialness of your first couple of years while we madly try to get this house done, I hope that I'm succeeding.

xx t

Lustful lighting...

Oh my god right?

These amazing lights are made by and old friend of mine, Chris Boots. 

He's a very talented fella that one- I remember loving his work way back when he was wrapping found chair frames with string. Oh the bad old days of crazy Melbourne share housing! Anyway, I can't stop thinking how fabulous (sure that word is an understatement) the second light, the prometheus, would look above our dining table in the new house. I wonder if he has any dishes he needs washing...
But seriously, I'm thinking if I could make all the other light fittings myself, maybe I could blow our whole lighting budget on this one light? If I'm going to spend any money at all on lighting I'd like it to be spent on something truly incredible, and something truly incredible that a friend has made is like awesome to the power of a million. Don't you agree?
Happy Saturday Peeps, I hope there are some beautiful things in your world today :)

We has a building permit!!

Terrible photo I know, I've not had a shower (is that vegemite on my nose?) & I don't have a photographer (the 3yr old is so not interested...) but people I am SO bloody excited! We finally have our building permit! This feels so absolutely momentous- after what feels like an eternity in the planning stage we are about move into some actual physical building. Holy hell. Let the grand designs nightmares begin! 

Just after my post yesterday I went to pick up what I thought was one of my million Ebay purchases from the post office... and it was a big fat beautiful council envelope. I actually squealed (seriously!) and did a little happy dance right there in front everyone. We bought a bottle of champagne, but were too tired to drink it by the time all the kids were tucked up in bed. So we spent the evening collating our quotes and tweaking our costings spreadsheet ('cause thats how we roll...) and then of course I couldn't sleep as my mind was racing- ideas swarming my brain. Oh my god! We are building our house!!??? Oh my god, I am now officially a project manager.... eek! I'm on a bit of a high right now, can ya tell?

So one more hurdle to jump- finance. Hopefully that won't take long. Our fantastic builder, the wonderful Mr strawbale maestro, James Henderson (you can check him out here if you are interested), is ready and waiting. Yay yay yay yay yay!!!

I'll leave you with these cute images I found on the weekend in my friends cafe Grigons & Orr (great cafe, you should check it out sometime if you are in Melbourne ;)

Seriously cute huh? God I love 50's architecture, I'd totally build that now! If only it would cost that little!! Have a wonderful day friends :)

My Creative Space... one million and one.

In my creative space today: the latest addition to the jumpers for things that don't need jumpers collection. Deer antler #1. Deer antler #1, lets call him Simon, has a partner, but she's still being dressed. She shall make her debut soon I hope. Knitting these is distracting me from the serious business of waiting for our building permit to come in the mail, the only thing holding us up now. It's a serious business this waiting. Every morning I race out to the letter box, and every morning I return dejected. Every day I mumble and curse the council, the building surveyor and even the post man, whose fault it probably is not. Maybe tomorrow will be the day... you have to stay positive don't you?

Bling.

Been busy busy adding some new goodies to the shop. I got my hands on this gorgeous gold italian calf skin leather and I'm LOVING it. So is Mr Singer, bless him. I'm so inspired at the moment to create, I only wish I had more time. Anyone wanna babysit? We are this (see me me holding up my fingers illustrating a teeny tiny gap) close to starting the building of our house. Maybe I'd better get as much sewing in while I can hey? Stay tuned for a housie update very soon. Oh and tomorrow I'm hitting a whole town garage sale- so stay tuned for some vintage finds (hopefully)! Hope you've had a rad week :)

Sewing machine love.

Hey! How was your Easter? Well, I spent Easter Monday with my new boyfriend.

Yes, that's right! He's quite a bit older than me, but man is he in great shape.

We are totally in love.

He's an old industrial Singer sewing machine, that my dear husband had stashed away in the shed. I always knew he was there, but he had a scary looking frayed cord, that I presumed too ancient to be fixable. Of course I once again underestimated the creative powers of my dear Mr Lovely and a trip to the hardware store and few cable ties later he was up an running like a dream. Oh except when the foot got stuck and I started screaming because I couldn't make him stop- but nothing a little lube couldn't fix.

He stitches leather as though it were silk and doesn't miss a beat when I feed four layers of heavy wool through him. Ahhhh why did I wait so long to be near your Mr Singer? You make my expensive Janome look and feel like a tinker toy. Imagine all the things we can do together? I hope this isn't just a fling Mr Singer, I really wanna go steady, so please don't break my heart.

Hello sewing, old friend...

After a couple of weeks of creative avoidance (mostly involving pinterest), I have finally recovered from my mammoth sculptural knit-off and am re-entering the realm of  the stitching bitch. Starting with these two custom orders I finished yesterday. Sigh. I do love custom orders- I find creating that much more enthralling when stitching with a real life person in mind. If I know the person, as I did with the first, it's an obvious pleasure (I chuckled at all the times I remember her requesting this song at parties...) and if I don't, I spend my time imagining what they look/sound/act like judging from just their name. I imagine lovely little scenarios where the item I'm creating may play an important role. Kind of like imagining stories to explain peoples demeanor and being in restaurants- do you do that? One of my favorite pass times!

So while I'm on a roll snipping little golden triangles I thought I'd have a crack at joojing (I googled it and apparently that is how you spell it...) up this dress I found reecntly at the op-shop. It had a crazy big pouffy sleeve on one side, which was so not my style. I've cut it but haven't quite resolved that particular issue. I think I'll do a row of triangles along the bottom hem too. If I works out, I might be able to wear it to the wedding we have coming up. If it works out that is. I'm not entirely sure my amateur dress making skills stretch to sewing velvet or to competently remaking a sleeve, but you gotta give things a go right? 

Yarn bombing sculpture... exhibition night!

Well there it is. Done and dusted. The exhibition was a great success- thanks to everyone who came along and showed their love. It was a lovely night and I was very proud indeed to have finished such a mammoth project in just three weeks! People seemed to really like it too, which is always nice :)

I'm really happy with how she turned out. She's a tricky one to photograph, but would look absolutely amazing in a funky bar or a cafe (or a brand spanking new strawbale house). 

Okay, proud and exhausted I'm taking myself off to make a cuppa xx

Le chef-d'œuvre!

I don't know why I wrote that in french, but It's almost finished! Arrgghhh For the past two weeks I've spent every spare waking moment knitting and stitching, knitting and stitching. Actually that's a lie. For the first week I did nothing, but since then I've been knitting and stitching like a loon. The small people are thoroughly sick of it I'm sure, though they are very encouraging and can't wait for the 'party'. Gee, you really find out how little spare time you actually have each day when you are trying to complete something this big on a deadline. I'm so inspired though. I really want to make jumpers for all sorts of things that don't need them. The trampoline, for example. It's important don't you think?  To tell you the truth I've actually already started two other projects as well- man I have such a small attention span! I am hoping to finish them by Saturday too, but I might be kidding myself. Especially if I sit here rambling for much longer! Anyway, if you are near to our fair town, come along on Saturday. There are other great local artists, Mr Lovely will be playing some sweet tunes and I believe that there is free booze...